Retrospective (#1)

#1 Tulane 41; BYU 27 (December 31, 1998)
Liberty Bowl



A crowning achievement of a century-plus of Tulane Green Wave football- the Perfect Season.

Not since 1931 had Tulane finished the regular season undefeated. Then, they were beaten in the Rose Bowl by Southern Cal. Here, they had a date with BYU- the WAC runner-up.

Sporting a 9-4 mark, BYU was a disappointing match-up. Only their fifth ranked defense, extremely annoying future Eagle Reno Mahe playing for benched tailback Ronny Jenkins and some Tulane ennui figured to allow the Cougars to hang around. But after a shaky start by both teams, Michael Jordan returned a late first quarter interception 79 yards to get the initial separation on the scoreboard (10-6). From there, Tulane blew their doors off. Shaun King was outstanding, repeatedly gouging the slow BYU perimeter players: 23-of-38 for 276 yards and rushing 16 times for 109 yards. Buried 34-6 through three quarters, BYU was thoroughly routed. Tulane could have scored fifty.

By then, Tommy Bowden was gone- but his bold remake of C-USA power found vindication that afternoon. We forget what a bold, counterintuitive series of moves he made. In 1997, C-USA was a power League. Southern Miss dominated by being bigger up front, big tight ends and fullbacks, pro-style pocket passers, rushing the football, win the box and point of attack defense- a real vanilla power team, stronger than the other guys.

Bowden changed it all. King was anything but a pure passer, anything but vanilla. Bowden realized the League’s weakness was an utter dearth of speed on defense edge players: DBs, OLBs, big safeties asked first to stop the run. He spread those slower run-oriented guys out- and took this heady quarterback, trusted him to make decisions- and scored and scored. Until ECU won the League this year, no “defense first” team has won a league title in a long time.

This win anchored a pretty darn good six year stretch for Tulane (1997-2002): four winning seasons, two Bowl championships, much good fun. Six years is not an insignificant stretch, particularly at Tulane. It fortified the pro-athletic community during the Review. It changed the BCS. Without Tulane running the table against not a great, but a legit collection of I-A teams (not a Sunbelt schedule), the BCS mid-majors breakers of the past few years are perhaps pushed back another cycle.

But, in the end, it is what we at Tulane hang our hat on- it is our institutional story, our “remember when?”, the banner proudly flying the Dome somewhere up there with the 2010 Super Bowl. In 2023, when Coach Bowden slowly ambles out for the 25th anniversary salute, all will be forgiven. That is the power of it, right? No matter what Tommy probably does, his bio starts “coached, of all places, Tulane, can you believe it, to undefeated season, ranked seventh overall”.

Since that 1998 campaign, only eleven I-A schools have run the gamut. This Retrospective spans some 25 years. In the next 25, Ole Miss won’t run the table. Boston College won’t. Washington can’t. Taking twelve straight against your class is near high impossible. But for one season, that perfection came to New Orleans.

Retrospective (#2)

#2 Tulane 36; Hawai’i 28 (December 25, 2002)
Hawai’i Bowl

The 2002 team got off to a rough start- which had emptied the Dome and moved this good Green Wave team off the alumni and student radar. However, a late season surge (5-2) coupled with a smashing home win over USM (see #3), rekindled fan interest and set up a rare Bowl tilt with a fun Hawai’i team.

June Jones’ Warriors were no joke either. The Warriors were 10-3. The three losses were to Alabama, BYU and Boise State. Charismatic Timmy Chang was prepping for a CFL career by putting up explosive numbers: completed 1,388 of 2,436 passes (57.0 percent) for 17,072 yards, breaking the records for completions, attempts (both held by Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech) and 15,031 yards (Ty Detmer, BYU).

So we all pushed away from our Christmas dinners as two TD underdog, watched the Wave recover an opening on-side kick, then "seemingly" do nothing for a half. Until this:




Then, it turned out they had not seemingly done nothing in the first half. Committed to keeping Chang chained to the bench, the Wave committed to running the football- eventually winning the TOP battle with this super Warrior offense. Tulane didn’t run it well, but 44 carries for 144 yards show an uncharacteristic determination to stick with it.

And eventually Hawai’i, on both sides of the ball, broke under the physical demands. The running game gave JP Losman time and room to throw, Mwelde Moore ripped off a 25 yard scoring run- and the Wave generated the necessary points. The defense was fresh for once. Helped by two key injuries on the Hawaii o-line, Tulane shut down the run and really got after the quarterback. Chang was knocked out of the game. Then add in Tulane’s best special teams’ effort probably ever: two big Elpheage returns leading to scores, the punter (Brad Hill?) had a great game, recovering the on-side kick (taking an early possession away from Chang).

Losing, faced with a rolling clock, and a back-up quarterback… Hawai’i could not overcome- and the 2002 Hawai’i Bowl goes into Tulane lore as the program’s biggest Bowl upset.

It was Chris Scelfo’s crowning achievement: his players, his system, etc. The Bowden hangover was gone- and there was not insignificant buzz about him leaving to go to Marshall (#23 in the country in 2002) or being groomed for the future Georgia job. As a season’s body of work, particularly with the late horrid home Army loss, no one could justify the Wave as a top 25 candidate. But they were probably just short of receiving votes. I mean, Hawai’i did in the final AP poll. Tulane was a real top 40 national team with NFL level talent littering the offense and defense.

Further, this win arguably really helped save the program during the ignominious university review to kill the program. Certainly the Hawai'i Bowl was in the “for football category”. The victory, so soon before the review, meant no one could argue that football was a hopeless on-field endeavor- and even casual alumni struggled to understand the imperative to shut down something that seemed to work. Tulane was coming off a six year period now where it had won more than it had lost- and had two glittering Bowl trophies to show for its dollars and efforts. I don’t think the program was ever as close to being shut down as popular opinion suggests- but without the Hawai’i Bowl it would have been a lot nearer thing. To make this list, games had to be entertaining, of relevance and of future impact. This game had all three.

Retrospective (#5-#3)

#5 Tulane 28; Louisville 22 (October 17, 1998)

The undefeated 1998 Green Wave makes its second appearance on my list- and this game represents surely the most competitive, scary contest of the Perfect Season.

Tulane came in ranked for the first time since 1974. Accordingly, this game had “trap” written all over it: coming off an off-week, handling prosperity (an emotional win over Southern Miss), simply respecting a Louisville team they had throttled 64-33 the year before.

Things had however changed in Lousiville for the better. John L. Smith had taken over, Bobby Petrino was the OC, and Louisville was en route to the Motor City Bowl championship. Louisville was well along the path the Cardinals would take as Tulane's immediate successor as C-USA’s top, intriguing power. To that end, the great C-USA contemporary of Shaun King had taken over at quarterback full time. Chris Redman was well on his way to establishing Conference USA and Louisville season records for attempts (473), completions (309), yards (4,042) and touchdowns (29).

So when Brad Palazzo missed a 46-yard field goal with 1:06 remaining that would have given the Green Wave a nine-point lead, who wasn’t panicked? Redman was 41-of-55 passes for 477 yards as he took the final game snap from center at the Tulane 3 yard line. Fortunately, Tim Carter broke up that last pass.

Shaun King was a pedestrian 16-of-29 for 273 yards, but managed three TDs. JaJuan Dawson had 9 catches for 141 yards and a TD. But John L. Smith found a way to defend them- he has always been a sound coach. Hey, if Tulane needs a new coach, how about Coach Smith?

This game moved the regular season’s toughest opponent into the win column- and talk began in earnest for an undefeated campaign and possible Sugar Bowl bid.

* 1974: a 5-0 start followed by six straight losses. The first loss, at Georgia Tech, dropped the #18 Green Wave from most national rankings.

#4 Tulane 31; SMU 10 (September 24, 2005)

You could substitute any number of games in here- and still capture the deep humility the Tulane fan feels about this collection of kids whom kept trying to play despite their homes being destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Perhaps the first game after the ‘cane at Mississippi State? Or the first home game back in the Dome in 1996?

I had a good feeling about the 2005 team pre-season. I wrote:

They ought to be better than the five I-A teams left on the schedule- but again home games at neutral sites, a bad defense and potentially inconsistent quarterback situation probably means they lose one here. That squares the mark at 5-5, they crush SE Louisiana, and that gets’em to 6-5. And that is where I will hang my hat.

I wanted to play the games despite the destruction. I wrote:

But there is no shame in playing the games somewhere, trying to play them in Louisiana, striving to make them a small event in the restoration of the city. After 9/11 in New York, the tribulation of the Mets and the Yankees, the Giants and the Jets, were completely unimportant. New York was not exactly glad to have them back- but maybe we also wanted the games again. Honestly. Try and play them.

But coming in to this game, so soon after the despicable "shut it down" athletic review, there was Doubt.

The game was no great shakes- a fortunately quick game on a brutal hot day. SMU was terrible: a "-4" underdog to the literally washed out Wave, managed 127 yards of offense. Tulane punished them physically (nine sacks!), kept the ball for 40 minutes. Lester Ricard was 22 of 34 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Matt Forte, Jovon Jackson and Ray Boudreaux rushed for 150-ish yards. It was an impressive chastisement given by a Tulane team that probably could have flirted with .500 given any luck or home games.

But the idea, the fact of the victory, was important. The “shut football down” forces still exist- but they fortunately probably reached their apex about two minutes before kick-off.

This game was covered on the blog here.


#3 Tulane 21; Southern Mississippi 7 (October 3, 1998)

Some wins are just pure relief- and this tops that kind of list. As entry number five above alludes, the Tommy Bowden years were a brief interlude between the reigns of Southern Miss and Louisville.

But 1997, and the great start to 1998, had the Tulane fan itching for a showdown with perennial tormentor Jeff Bower. We at Tulane believed in Bower- and for good reason, he ran a very good, play-anyone program. We also believed we owed him a whipping. Then Shaun King went and broke his left wrist the week prior versus Navy.

Shaun did play (as did back-up Jeff Curtis)- but the offense struggled all day to move the bigger, physical, always well-coached Southern Miss defense. So it really was Tulane’s defensive backfield (and defense in general) that won this game. Tim Carter forced one time annoying Philadelphia Eagle Todd Pinkston to fumble at the goal line. Alphonso Roundtree then returned a pick for the key first score- allowing the Wave to play from ahead and protect King. It also helped that really underrated USM quarterback Lee Roberts probably had his worst day as a collegian (four interceptions).

There is no perfect season without this big win over the early League’s best program. USM was our ever growing League rival- and there was and is a satisfaction that the early C-USA signature season campaign will always be Tulane and not our big brother conference rival.

Retrospective (#10-#6)

#10 Tulane 64; Louisville 33 (October 11, 1997)

The underrated PJ Franklin had seven catches for 106 yards-and Brad Palazzo had the best day ever for a Tulane kicker (5FGs, 7XPs). Add that up, Tulane scored an astonishing twelve times.

Some might slide the previous week’s 41-0 Dome humiliation of Army in here. I don’t know- both Army and Louisville were pretty bad in 1997. School was still definitely out on the Bowden experiment, even after the good Syracuse effort (see Retrospective Two), Tulane needed the Army win to square the mark at 2-2. There were maybe 8-9K at that Army game too- so folks were not yet sold.

But this game sold a lot of us. After this second successive week of extreme scoring, the rise of cartoon number C-USA football can be traced right here, right to this pair of C-USA games. Again, the Wave scored twelve times! Twelve!

The new C-USA was born on this day, given birth by the first true read-and-react quarterback (Shaun King) and Tommy Bowden- a guy who figured out the way to circumvent the USM style of brawn was to go after the weakest spot on the field in C-USA: defensive backs.

#9 Tulane 31; Southern Mississippi 10 (November 23, 2002)

We are pretty late in this list to finally be including a win by the nifty 2002 Hawai’i Bowl Champions. Perhaps indicative of the entire Tulane community, a clutch that has never really embraced this group as much as other winning Tulane teams.

This outfit really rounded out in the second half of the season- a four game winning streak mid-season turned the campaign around. Unfortunately, a 2-3 start (including a horrid beat down at Texas) had already emptied the Dome, and the team never rekindled a real in-season interest. A bad late home loss to Army did not help much. So a smallish (12-15K?) crowd filed in to see the finale to see the typical Jeff Bower’s quality 6-4, play anyone anywhere, Southern Miss squad.

After the bad Army loss, the Wave was playing for its post-season life in front of a low confidence, mixed fan base crowd- and responded impressively. Tulane routed Southern Miss. Losman had a quite day. Lynaris Elpheage scored a touchdown (on offense!) and had a key interception the Wave turned into points. And the old reliable Mwelde Moore had just under 200 yards of offense. Bottom line, Tulane ran it down their throats (52 attempts-226 yards) and possessed the ball forever. Just how often have we seen Tulane just physically whip another outfit?

And it got this team a Bowl bid to a fun game versus a fun opponent- not to be counted lightly.

#8 Tulane 56; Southwestern Louisiana 0 (November 1, 1997)

This might be a surprise entry to some, but anyone who lived through this era of Tulane football knows this game was a huge, huge deal.

One of the utter aggravations, and there were many, about the Teevins era (and the end of the Davis term), were the persistent home losses (some real ugly) to USL: 48-6 (1990), 36-15 (1993), 32-28 (1995).

The Tommy Bowden experiment was increasingly validated. Sure, the Wave was a nice 4-3, a welcome change from the routine Teevins’ debacles. And yes, 1997 was a down year for a Nelson Stokely team that had played .500 overall the past two seasons (plus a win over Texas A&M in 1997). But again, USL was the real tangible symbol of the depths that Tulane had fallen. When we complained in the parking lots before the game, it was the utter lack of success vis-à-vis USL that stung the most. The Tulane fan had not yet come to expect to absolutely crush second tier programs- and here, going on the road...

And yet, the crushing began. Just a brutal whipping: better athletes, better coaching- and further left no doubt that this Tulane team was a huge jump ahead of the past witlessness. It was here the talk, the buzz, began in earnest. A real nice, but mostly overlooked Tulane RB, Jamaican Dartez ran for like a zillion yards (18-167)- one of seven 100+ yard rushing days in his career.


#7 LSU 41; Tulane 36 (November 21, 1987)

If you “believe” in college football, this game has to belong on the list.

Mike Archer brought a super LSU team into the Dome- only a loss to Alabama kept them from a national championship. And Mack Brown had completed his turnaround, had a roster full of I-A talent peaking emotionally here. The result was an utter college football classic. The Wave fought them hammer and tongs- taking the lead late, then losing in the final minute after LSU converted two outrageous fourth downs. Terrence Jones played his best game as a Tulanian: 27-of-40, 316 yards, 3 TD.

It was just a wonderful college experience. There is an axiom in sports that occasionally no one deserves to lose- and this was just such an affair. It also felt like a game you see on television from the Swamp or Happy Valley or South Bend. The Dome was full (70K plus) and loud and electric with a goodly contingent of fans from both schools- like the Red River shootout sort of vibe. The only time in my two decades plus following Tulane football did it feel complete, unadulterated big time: fans, level of play, juice, a true rivalry game that lived up to its name.

In my experience, only Perry Clark and Mack Brown have achieved the total game day experience. I miss that.

Last time I ever felt I was at a Tulane big-time football game like you see on television.

#6 Tulane 63; Louisiana Tech 30 (November 26, 1998)

Some might have this game higher- the completion of the 1998 undefeated regular season. Very fair.

But I kept it out of the top five (which will obviously still be littered with 1998 games I feel of more competitive merit) because, while it was a great celebration in front of a great crowd, the game stunk.

Heck, the Wave did not punt. Tony Converse, bless his heart, went for 24 rushes, 182 yards, four TDs. The four TDs might still be a record. Shaun King hammered home another three TDs passing (19 for 26, 330 yards), targeting Kerwin Cook (9 receptions-171 yards, 2 TDs).

Really, it was like an exhibition. Louisiana Tech mounted no serious opposition, the Tulane defense was a little bored, the fans just acted grateful. Probably the night I saw the most Tulane fans (maybe 35K) in the Dome, rather than attendance pumped up by the visiting draw.

Retrospective (#15-#11)

Retrospective installment three kicks off today. Today’s survey features all victories for Tulane- and Frank Helps You Think It All Out revisits the 1987 collective in some detail.

#15 Tulane 38; Southwestern Louisiana 10 (November 14, 1987)

Since I began following the Green Wave in 1987, I think I have followed five “good teams”: the two Bowden Outfits, Scelfo’s Hawai’i Bowl team, the high-flyin’ 2000 outfit, and Mack Brown’s 1987 Independence Bowl run.

This game was sort of the capstone of the Mack Brown experience. Mack had taken over a program semi-devastated by the Gibson and English follies and steadily built a nifty entertaining independent.

This USL game unfurled probably the greatest game ever played by a Tulane WR prior to the cartoon number C-USA era- Marc Zeno, 12 catches, 238 yards, 2TDs.

In a lot of ways, this game was more a turning point than Katrina, the review or the perfect season. This was the last time the Wave walked off the field victorious as a “good” tier one program playing a national schedule. Nine of twelve games were versus what are today BCS schools. There was a clear route for downtrodden independents, particularly southern independents, maturing to real powers: Florida State, Miami, Southern Mississippi, Louisville (the Schnellenberger resurgence). Major college talents littered the Tulane roster: Marc Zeno and Terrence Jones.

Tulane has had good on-field success since-but never playing this sort of schedule week in, week out.

#14 Tulane 42; Navy 10 (November 6, 2004)

This was a darn good Navy outfit (finished 10-2, won the Emerald Bowl, only other loss was to Notre Dame) that came in a 12.5 road fave... and got destroyed.

Lester Ricard was a darned good quarterback with the hugely important proviso of having excellent protection. The he was capable of this sort of destruction: 18 of 19 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns. Roydell Williams caught six of those balls for 148 and two scores. Jovon Jackson and Matt Forte rushed for just shy of 200 yards.

But the real story was the Tulane defense, who played the arguably the best, certainly the most physical game of the Scelfo era. Presented with a lead and Navy team whose singular weakness was the quarterback passing, the Wave played with gusto, really got after people in a very satisfying upset win.

Showing the age of the blog, this game was covered on Frank Helps You Think It All Out.

#13 Tulane 25; Iowa State 12 (September 12, 1987)

Back to 1987 again. The Cyclones were coming off a decent 6-5 season- and figured to be a decent test for the emerging Tulane Green Wave. The Wave had opened the season with a sloppy 42-40 loss to the last of Howard Schnellenberger’s bad Louisville outfits. Another loss meant an 0-2 start with the real schedule heavyweights yet to come- and the probable end of the eventual Bowl bid.

The Wave didn’t play great again. But perhaps that was a mark of a team on the rise, able to win pretty convincingly despite the second rate effort. The offense rode the amazing Mark Zeno again: 9 catches, 135 yards, 2TDs.

Plus, it was the home opener- and that success brought 40K+ for Ole Miss, and other good crowds, down the road.

#12 Tulane 32, Mississippi State 29 (September 16, 2006)

Again, for a guy who "simply could not coach", Scelfo turned in quite a few double-digit underdog style upsets. Here, after being routed the week before (looking horrible at Houston- Eagles’ quarterback Kevin Kolb went for 350 yards passing), Tulane went on the road as an 11-point underdog, and picked up the sole road SEC win of this millennium.

It was a brutally hot day- but the stars played well- Lester Ricard completed 16-of-23 passes for 298 yards and four scores. Matt Forte had one of his best games- going for 29-170.

Then the defense folded when presented with a deep reserve quarterback- and a 32-7 lead going into the fourth quarter became a little too dramatic. Still a good win over a Bulldog team loaded with players who would later that year beat a good Alabama team and then win eight games the following season.

This game was covered on Frank Helps You Think It All Out.

#11 Tulane 59; UAB 55 (October 24, 2004)

Mack Brown’s brother Watson had UAB 5-1 (good wins over Baylor and Mississippi State included) and an 18 point favorite coming in to Tulane’s 2004 Homecoming. What spun out was the most entertaining tilt of the Scelfo era- just wild. Roddy White going for 253 yards, flashing that first round talent. Seven alternating TDs in the fourth quarter. UAB taking the lead with 1:43 to go. Ricard (36-49, 417 yards, a record six TDs) threw the winning TD pass with 27 seconds left on a great individual effort by Chris Bush.

The game threw a lot of routine conventions about Tulane on its head. Tad Gormley had an electric, enthusiastic crowd- despite a mid-day kickoff, a hot day (90+ in those stands), and a nearly four hour game. The Wave was a 18 point ‘dog- but here we have yet another double digit underdog win, featuring an aggressive, entertaining game plan from the dope Scelfo.

Ultimately, this Tulane team wasn’t very good: the defense was obviously problematic, Forte was a chief 2004 underachiever, and Ricard was only good under very specific optimal conditions. But what an exhilarating, gutty performance.

This game was covered on Frank Helps You Think It All Out.

Retrospective (#20-#16)

Our retrospective continues:

#20. Tulane 49; Cincinnati 7 (October 27, 1990)

Probably the best win of the Greg Davis era. This team had high hopes with senior quarterback Deron Smith. It probably was the best of the four-win outfits Davis produced. The schedule was hard- among the seven losses were Florida State, LSU, the three Mississippi schools.

This outright beat down of Cincinnati was probably a better measure of Tulane’s ability (a 4-2 mark against the more “manageable" portion of their schedule). The Bearcats were genuinely awful- and the Wave whipped them thoroughly for a goodly Homecoming experience. Tulane followed up with a good win at Syracuse... and it looked like this team, obviously better than its record, was on the right track. Then Woods and Duncan took over at quarterback in 1991- and Tulane couldn’t score anymore.

#19. Tulane 38; TCU 35 (November 27, 2004)

Another real false hope game that was great fun. Covered on Frank Helps You Think It All Out, freshman Richard Irvin (22-of-37 for 282 yards) became my great white whale for life. After an awesome fourth down goal line stand, Irvin took over at the one yard line. His 99-yard game winning drive on the road, complete with last minute TD pass, showed all the cool ball control competence a C-USA quarterback can possible have.

Unfortunately Tulane could not realize it had the new C-USA prototype quarterback in front of them- the pure Chase Clement distribute the ball type rather than the athletic King option. Irvin left school- and Tulane has been looking for a quarterback with his raw promise ever since.

This game turned Chris Scelfo into a minor hot coaching property. Marshall was interested- Georgia unofficially too. I wrote at the time:

I think the part of the Tulane community that has brains and has a lick of understanding how I-A athletics works as a whole appreciates that Tulane is a hard place to win consistently- and thinks the Scelfo regime is doing an altogether commendable job.

With a 2005 8-4 season under his belt, Scelfo would be an attractive hire: literally zero embarrassments, low maintenance, affordable, an exciting offense featuring NFL quarterbacks one after another. Match him with a recruiter and a defensive guy- and why would he not be a good fit at a lot of places?

#18. Tulane 14; Mississippi 9 (November 5, 1988)

One last hurrah for this pretty good group of talent that Mack Brown put together before his departure: Terrence Jones, Richard Harvey, Michael Pierce. Any road win versus the SEC is worthy of mention- extra delicious given it was Homecoming in Oxford. Arguably could be ranked higher, but the game was somewhat desultory.

I think the only other road win over an SEC outfit in my post 1987-era is the 2006 game at Mississippi State?

#17. Tulane 50; Navy 38 (November 11, 2000)

Back to a familiar theme from the previous retrospective- the wildly entertaining 2000 Tulane football team. Tulane scored at will against a bad Navy outfit. Here, it was the style points that mattered.

Patrick Ramsey threw for 380 yards and five TDs, the Wave scored touchdowns in its first four possessions-but to add to the “entertainment” quotient, the Wave defense allowed an astounding 724 yards. Perhaps even more astounding- the exact same 362 yards passing and rushing.

Navy lost a game where they did not punt!

This was the middle of a three game winning streak to close out the 2000 season. Again, a pretty underrated Tulane team that only lost a single home game- to #16 Southern Mississippi- that would have won eight, nine games against the 2009 schedule.


#16 Syracuse 30; Tulane 19 (September 20, 1997)

This might seem rated rather high- but this game, being on television, was for the national alumni the first real inkling that things were changing for Tulane. Had the Green Wave actually managed to win this game, it would be top ten.

After a pair of anonymous home games, Tulane really took the fight to Syracuse- losing late when Syracuse intercepted a pass from the heroic Shaun King and returned it for a score.

But unless you saw it, you don’t understand. Honestly, just the way they lined up- crisply, like they knew what they were doing and had confidence in it. With just his second career 300+ yard day, King moved from raw talent to a guy you couldn’t stop watching. Punter Brad Hill single-handedly won the field position game for Tulane. I honestly remember thinking “who are these people?” The sad Teevins era died that afternoon. Tulane would win 18 of their next twenty.

Retrospective (#25-#21)

I’ve only been following Tulane football since I arrived on campus in the late 80’s. Sure,it has been a span of mostly challenging football. But ultimately, we follow Tulane football not because of the off-field angst- but for a chance for some diversion and fun. So, I decided to put together a list of the top games I can recall. Obviously, we are in sort of a dead spot for Tulane athletics- baseball mercifully over and football mercifully yet to begin. So it is definitely time for a retrospective.

I was surprised how it easy it was to come up with 25 entries of pretty entertaining afternoons and evenings. There perhaps is a lesson: no matter how bad a programs is, it is still fun in batches. Admittedly, it is a question of expectations- but here are 25 examples, counting backwards over a series of posts, of either good or great or fun days following the Wave since 1987 (ed. note: before we start, any guesses what opponent appears the most on the list?).


#25 Tulane 27, Navy 25 (October 2, 1993)

Buddy Teevins only appearance on this list. Depressingly, this was probably the high point of his best season (3-9). After blowing a 4th quarter 24-13 lead, the Wave got the ball back with about three minutes left. Bart Baldwin drilled the game winning FG from 43 yards as time expired. It was the Wave’s football centennial- and the best win of the Teevins era.

#24 TCU 38, Tulane 35 (September 1, 2003)

First of four losses on my list- this one to the Horned Frogs. Down 31-7 to pre-season ranked TCU and their marvelously named quality quarterback Tye Gunn, the Wave scored 28 fourth quarter points, but failed to cover a last ditch on-side kick. J.P. Losman was 25 of 42 for 303 yards.


#23 Louisville 35, Tulane 32 (October 28, 2000)

Another wildly entertaining loss. As the USA Today wrote:

The Cardinals survived an aerial assault as Tulane's Patrick Ramsey and J.P. Losman attempted a combined 72 passes. Ramsey was 34-of-54 for 388 yards and two touchdowns and Losman was 9-of-18 for 87 yards and a score.

I was actually at this game in Louisville. The best game of Ramsey’s career when you consider there was no pass protection whatsoever. The Lousiville QB Dave Ragone might have been the best qb in C-USA history-and the Wave gave them all they could handle.

The 2000 team was not a bad outfit. Any dismissal of Scelfo as an idiot ought to be forced to account for this group’s consistent ability to play over its head. With Ramsey’s big number ability, they played a ton of entertaining games.

#22 Tulane 38, UL-Lafayette 37 (October 7, 2000)

Ramsey was an amazing 31-of-46 for 403 yards- but the Wave had to block a late XP to keep from losing a 21-point lead. Looking at the box score of this game and the proceeding Louisville tilt, I am reminded what a nice player Adrian Burnette was- first team all C-USA this year (2000). Again, this 2000 team gave you your money’s worth.

#21 Tulane 45, Rice 31 (November 17, 2007)

Covered so, so optimistically on Frank Helps You Think It All Out, this is the high point of the Toledo era- coming right after a nifty win over UTEP. Forte had five touchdowns, 194 yards rushing. Tulane played well, led most of the fourth quarter by multiple scores and, for the second straight game, pretty much handled a mediocre C-USA outfit- suggesting they were ascending past said mediocrity.

Unfortunately, one of my fave C-USA players Chase Clement threw for 345 yards- and in the end, the discovery of a lethal C-USA quarterback meant that Rice was the one rising.