SMQ: Tulane latest to receive belated reward of New Year’s Six bid

Two decades ago, Tulane was denied a BCS bowl spot after a perfect season. This year’s Green Wave will earn the Group of Five bid into the New Year’s Six.

Back in 1998, the Bowl Championship Series was in its first season of existence. The system, designed to take the mythology out of the national championship picture, was entirely focused on achieving that primary goal. After years of split national championships, the goal was to determine the two best teams in the country and pit them against one another for a winner-take-all shot at the crown for that year.

That first season of the BCS, the decision was relatively easy. Undefeated SEC champion Tennessee squared off against Florida State, after an algorithm based on the AP Poll, the Coaches Poll, and three computer systems determined the ACC champs were the best one-loss team in the land. But aside from Tennessee, there was still another undefeated team in the I-A ranks that never really had a shot at playing for a title. That team, Tulane, swept through Conference USA but couldn’t even sniff a spot in one of the affiliated BCS bowl games.

Nobody expected the pollsters or the computers to give the Green Wave a chance at the national title. After they finished the regular season ranked No. 10 in the BCS standings, Tulane watched as head coach Tommy Bowden left New Orleans to fill the vacancy at Clemson. Offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez, his innovative scheme powering the Green Wave to their perfect season, followed Bowden to South Carolina to take over the same post with the Tigers after being passed over for head gig at Tulane. With most of the bowl spots in the BCS games tied to conference champions, there was no space for the outsider with the perfect record.

So the Green Wave were shunted off to Memphis to face BYU, the runner-up in the WAC that season. Running on adrenaline with a skeleton crew of coaching staff, Tulane won their 12th game of the year in a 41-27 takedown of the Cougars. The game against BYU served as a referendum of sorts. Despite the down season, the Cougars were two years removed from their own bowl snub after finishing as 13-1 WAC champions. They still basked in the lingering glow of their 1984 national championship at that point. In terms of consolation prizes, the Green Wave could have done far worse than BYU that year.

And then Tulane crumbled into disrepair over the next two decades, unable to sustain the momentum built up by Bowden. Chris Scelfo, hired from Georgia to replace Bowden, lasted eight years in New Orleans but never won more than eight games in a season. Scelfo’s replacement, Bob Toledo, stayed five years and won just four games in his best season at the helm. Curtis Johnson seemed to be building some momentum after winning seven games in his second year at the post, but then Tulane switched affiliations to the American Athletic Conference and fell back down the league pecking order in their new home.

After back-to-back 3-9 seasons in their first two years as an AAC member, Johnson was out the door. In came Willie Fritz, hot off two strong seasons with Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt. Touted at times for Power Five positions, Fritz proved a steal to rebuild the Green Wave to punch at their new weight class.

By his third season in charge, Fritz guided Tulane to the AAC title game and took the team to its first bowl game in five years. Three straight bowl appearances followed, but a dip in form in 2021 saw the Green Wave fall to 2-10. The athletic department did not panic, keeping faith in Fritz’s project, and was rewarded with the best season since Bowden and Rodriguez teamed up on the sidelines at the Superdome.

Much like BYU back in the late 1990s, UCF in many ways served the same function for Tulane in this year’s AAC championship game. The Knights, themselves just four years removed from back-to-back perfect regular seasons, can boast two Fiesta Bowl appearances and a Peach Bowl victory over the past decade.

That will make December 4, 2022 all the sweeter for the Green Wave and all their fans when they look back on the date in decades to come. No longer playing at the Superdome, Tulane hosted UCF at Yulman Stadium and proceeded to take apart the Knights in a 45-28 thriller. Momentum shifted back and forth, with the hosts getting the early jump and leading 10-0 after the first quarter. UCF pulled back a touchdown midway through the second quarter.

Then Michael Pratt found Lawrence Keys III with a short pass toward the right sideline, and Keys did the rest of the work. Forty-three yards later, the Green Wave had a double-digit lead heading into the locker room and all the momentum.

After three quarters, Tulane still held a 10-point lead over the Knights. A pair of UCF touchdowns early in the fourth quarter risked pealing the bell on Tulane’s Cinderella dreams before midnight could come around, but Fritz’s squad responded with two late touchdowns to open a gap that would never shrink again.

Pratt did his best Shaun King impression throughout the game, finishing with 394 yards and four touchdowns on 20-of-33 passing. The quarterback added 48 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Pratt wasn’t perfect, throwing an interception in UCF territory when the Green Wave had the chance to extend their lead further before halftime, but there were few gaffes overall in what proved a remarkable performance.

In addition to Keys and his electric touchdown, Duece Watts and Shae Wyatt also caught scoring strikes as each hauled in more than 100 receiving yards apiece. Tyjae Spears pounded the rock for 199 rushing yards on 22 hard-run carries. Tulane finished the showdown with 648 total yards of offense despite holding the ball for nearly nine fewer minutes.

Unlike 1998, Tulane won’t be left on the outside looking in when bowl slots are divvied up. Thanks to the stipulations baked into the College Football Playoff that provides an automatic New Year’s Six bid for the top Group of Five champion, the Green Wave locked themselves into a major bowl bid against a Power Five opponent with their AAC title victory over UCF. Their landing spot, the Cotton Bowl, marks the site of the team’s first major bowl appearance since squaring off against Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day 1940.

Tulane’s victory is the latest in a string of belated rewards for smaller schools that were let down in the BCS era. Houston redeemed the ghosts of 2011 when they defeated Florida State in the 2015 Peach Bowl. UCF’s own run of success came on the heels of joining the Big East just as the Big East crumbled into what became the AAC, as the league fell from the power conferences into mid-major status.

A unique confluence of events allowed Cincinnati to earn a bid into the College Football Playoff in 2021, shattering another ceiling for Group of Five programs. While Tulane did not equal that achievement, they nevertheless get their moment in the sun.

It is a somewhat pyrrhic victory, as nothing can completely salve the sting of being rejected more than two decades ago. But Shaun King, Toney Converse, Jamaican Dartez, P.J. Franklin, and the rest of the Green Wave roster that closed out a perfect campaign in 1998 walked so that teams like this year’s Tulane squad could run to daylight.

The Cotton Bowl offers a chance to forge new beginnings for the Green Wave, especially with Willie Fritz committed to staying in New Orleans beyond this season. With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams by 2024, access will expand even further for Tulane and other AAC contenders in any given season. Until then, a shot at a powerhouse opponent will serve as just reward for a strong campaign as well as a belated nod to all those Green Wave players who never got the chance.