College football: Which G5 team is most likely to next join a power conference?
By John Scimeca
3. Tulane
Tulane’s benefits for a power conference are obvious. The Green Wave have won at least 11 games in back-to-back seasons and as the defending league champions are set to defend their AAC title at home against SMU.
Under head coach Willie Fritz, who turned down overtures from Georgia Tech last season, the Green Wave have combined a talented defense with an experienced and savvy quarterback in Michael Pratt.
New Orleans is a premier destination city and southern Louisiana compares with any region in the nation in terms of producing top high school recruits. While Tulane’s success has been pretty bare before the last two years, the team has underachieved before Fritz’s arrival and is capable of seizing the momentum of 2022 and 2023. It’s a well-respected academic school and, of course, the Green Wave knocked off eventual Big 12 champion Kansas State and Heisman winner Caleb Williams and USC in the Cotton Bowl last year.
The commitment from the university is there, too: Yulman Stadium is a new on-campus stadium that has significantly improved the game-day atmosphere and sense of belonging on the Uptown campus for a program that used to play its home games in the Superdome.