Tulane football will compete for American Athletic Conference title in 2018
By Dean Mullen
Locals and tourists would be hard pressed to find anyone wearing any type of Tulane gear. Now, Tulane football is on the cusp of an improbable bowl game.
The year was 1998, and the quarterback was named Shaun King. Tulane was invincible. They opened up with a 52-34 win over Cincinnati. Then wins over SMU, Navy, and Southern Mississippi. A victory over Louisville put them in the Top 25. The Green Wave put up points galore, with 63 against Louisiana Tech and 72 versus Louisiana Lafayette.
Eventually, they rose up into the Top 10 and played BYU in the Liberty bowl, where they rolled to a 41-27 win. Tulane finished at an unbelievable 12-0. The Green Wave finished undefeated. Shaun King finished with mind-blowing numbers with 3,508 yards passing and 38 touchdowns versus just six interceptions. He should’ve been in the running for the Heisman Trophy. King finished 10th in the voting.
Tulane finished their magical run ranked No. 7 in both polls and 10th in the BCS Rankings. Tommy Bowden was the head coach and the wave were rising. In his first year in 1997, Tulane finished 7-4. That’s back to back winning seasons. That probably wouldn’t be much of a big deal, but the last time that’s happened was 1980-81.
So nearly 20 years later, the Tulane Green Wave have a chance to get back to .500 at 6-6. SMU stands in their way this Saturday to cap off yet another benchmark for this young team under coach Willie Fritz. Regardless of the outcome, Tulane football is back. A bowl game would be splendid for a team that was supposed to finish dead last in the AAC. If Tulane can beat SMU, they would finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the AAC West.
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Don’t blink on this team. Next year this team could be looking to compete for the AAC title.