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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-07-09 13:29:46+00:00.

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.

At #45, Tulane (high = 36, low = 63) comes in as the favorite in the AAC conference and the second highest rated G5 team in the consensus preseason rankings. They managed to reach the AAC title game in head coach Jon Sumrall’s first season riding the Green Wave, falling there to Army before dropping the Gasparilla Bowl to Florida to wrap up the season. Now 2 seasons removed from being the G5 representative in what was then known as the NY6 bowls, can Tulane pass Boise and capture a CFP bid?

Roster outlook

To do that, the Green Wave are going to have to replace quite a bit of their offense. While Tulane ranks 70th overall in returning production, they’re 90th in FBS on offense, losing star QB Darian Mensah to Duke,Makhi Hughes’ 1,500+ total yards and 17 TD’s to Oregon, and leading WR Mario Williams to the LA Rams. On defense, they get ¾ of their leading tacklers back from last year’s team (LB Sam Howard and safeties Bailey Sespanie and Jack Tchienchou), which should give Tulane some time for the offense to adjust. Sumrall brought in the 2nd best portal class and 3rd best recruiting class in the AAC, including Iowa QB Brendan Sullivan, Illinois QB Donovan Leary and Ball State QB Kadin Semonza to have a full blown competition for the starting spot. What about former 5 star QB Ty Thompson? Oh, he’s still there, but he’ll be lining up at TE. Look for a few unorthodox flea flickers out of the Green Wave in 2025.

Schedule and outlook

Last season, Tulane got jobbed had a late game tying touchdown called back against then #17 Kansas State, which they followed up with a road loss at Oklahoma, which toughened them up for AAC play but more or less ended any chance they had at the CFP bid. This year, they take on 3 P4 teams in the OOC, opening against Northwestern and also getting Mensah and Duke to come to New Orleans before traveling to Ole Miss. With that OOC schedule, the Green Wave is definitely in the mix to get a CFP bid if they take care of the rest of their business. Their AAC schedule sees them avoid both USF and Navy (projected in these rankings as the 3rd and 4th best teams in the conference), but they do get Memphis and UTSA on the road (in consecutive weeks!) while Army comes to Yulman. Given that schedule, they’re certainly the odds on favorites to be hosting the AAC championship game there as well.