Tulane made a statement Friday night as they punched their ticket to the playoff

Tulane made a big statement Friday night holding the high-flying North Texas offense to 21 points and winning the American Conference Championship with ease. You always wonder how a team will perform when it has been announced that their coach is moving on to another program right before the championship game. This was the case for both the Green Wave and Mean Green and it seemed to have no negative effect on Tulane who entered the game as a slight underdog despite playing on their home field.

The only drama of the game was North Texas jumping out to a 7-0 lead on a drive that took over six minutes off the clock. After that, it was all Green Wave who scored the next 24 points and headed into the half with a 24-7 lead.

Tulane didn't take its foot off the gas in the second half, going up 31-7 before North Texas scored a few touchdowns to make it look somewhat closer than what it really was. The story of the game was the Tulane defense that forced Drew Mestemaker into three turnovers and held the highest scoring team in America well below their season average. Jon Sumrall, who is going to Florida after this season, leaves New Orleans with a conference championship and a spot in the college football playoff.

It will be exciting to see who Tulane's matchup will be against in the first round of the playoff, and even though they will be going on the road, there isn't a team that wants to see this team in mid-December. The team we saw dominate in the American Championship Game can beat any of the at-large teams they might face in two weeks.

It will be very interesting to see where Tulane goes for their next coach, but they did survive Willie Fritz moving on to Houston, so one has to think long-term, they will be ok after Sumrall as well. Blake Baker turned the job down to remain at LSU, continuing the search. For now, though, the season continues for the Green Wave, and they are good enough to make a run.