Tulane football expectations higher than ever after rough 2021

When the college football win totals came out last spring, Tulane’s was an eye opener.

The over and under was five.

Turns out that five was overly ambitious.

Hurricane Ida chased the Green Wave out of town for a month. When the team returned, it never was the same.

“In my mind, football was an aberration last year,” said Tulane director of athletics Troy Dannen. “I thought the Oklahoma game (a 40-35 loss in Norman) was who we were,” said Dannen.

“And the month in Birmingham did us in.”

The schedule, after an evacuation, turned out to be too much to handle. In the final college football rankings, Tulane played #11 Oklahoma, #10 Ole Miss, #21 Houston and #4 Cincinnati.

Before spring practice kicks off next week, it could be very safe to say that the Green Wave will win more games in 2022. This season, Tulane’s first three home games feature UMass, Alcorn State and Southern Miss.

UMass won one game in 2021. Southern Miss won three, including the final two games of the regular season. Alcorn State is in the FCS.

Regardless of the extenuating circumstances of 2021, Tulane head coach Willie Fritz had to make changes, and he did.

Offensive coordinator Chip Long departed for Georgia Tech, and Fritz brought in Geep Wade from Georgia Southern to coach the offensive line.

New offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda is an interesting hire. As head coach at Nebraska Wesleyan and Central Missouri, he posted a fine 137-62 record.

Wade’s offensive resume also includes success at Tennessee-Martin and at East Carolina.

Tulane’s win total should increase exponentially if running back Tyjae Spears is healthy for an entire season.

The Green Wave’s best player was coming off major knee surgery last year, and it took Spears about half of the season to regain his confidence.

When he did, Spears was electric. He ran for 863 yards last season, but 747 of those came in the second half of the season

In the season finale at Memphis, Spears ran 30 times for 264 yards and two touchdowns.

In his final three games, Spears averaged more than 8.3 yards per carry.

In the final four games of the season, the Tulane defense was also decidedly better. In three of those games, the Wave held opponents to 14 points or less.

Dannen expects big things this fall.

“I have high expectations,” said Dannen. “Higher for football than I have had for any fall coming in.”

Fritz is signed through 2026. Sometime in the 2023 season, he will break the record for games coached at Tulane.

The record is 94 held by Chris Scelfo and Clark Shaughnessy.

Fritz is not only expected to right the ship but have a chance to win eight games, a mark not reached by the Green Wave since the 2002 season.