Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 111. Tulane
The best mascot in football?
Surprised to see Tulane here, coming off a Cotton Bowl win over USC? Don’t be, they’ve had had some really good years but a lot of mediocrity as well. Still, they’ve had their moments and produced some great players. And might have the best mascot in all of sports with the Green Wave.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+--------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+--------+------+--------------+--------+
| 10 | Tulane | 2022 | 30.889 | 12-2 |
| 9 | Tulane | 1998 | 30.731 | 12-0 |
| 44 | Tulane | 1997 | 0.611 | 7-4 |
| 58 | Tulane | 2002 | -5.971 | 8-5 |
| 66 | Tulane | 2019 | -10.886 | 7-6 |
| 71 | Tulane | 2013 | -10.923 | 7-6 |
| 78 | Tulane | 2020 | -12.195 | 6-6 |
| 81 | Tulane | 2018 | -12.64 | 7-6 |
| 60 | Tulane | 1987 | -13.747 | 6-6 |
| 69 | Tulane | 2000 | -15.859 | 6-5 |
| 70 | Tulane | 1983 | -19.479 | 4-7 |
| 90 | Tulane | 2017 | -20.294 | 5-7 |
| 76 | Tulane | 2004 | -20.369 | 5-6 |
| 70 | Tulane | 1988 | -21.044 | 5-6 |
| 74 | Tulane | 1990 | -21.706 | 4-7 |
| 83 | Tulane | 2003 | -26.424 | 5-7 |
| 79 | Tulane | 1986 | -27.896 | 4-7 |
| 78 | Tulane | 1989 | -29.649 | 4-8 |
| 84 | Tulane | 1984 | -30.737 | 3-8 |
| 100 | Tulane | 2016 | -34.231 | 4-8 |
| 98 | Tulane | 2007 | -35.106 | 4-8 |
| 100 | Tulane | 2006 | -36.76 | 4-8 |
| 97 | Tulane | 1996 | -39.456 | 2-9 |
| 107 | Tulane | 2014 | -39.52 | 3-9 |
| 103 | Tulane | 2010 | -39.864 | 4-8 |
| 102 | Tulane | 1999 | -42.358 | 3-8 |
| 97 | Tulane | 1992 | -44.47 | 2-9 |
| 115 | Tulane | 2021 | -45.154 | 2-10 |
| 102 | Tulane | 2001 | -46.6 | 3-9 |
| 100 | Tulane | 1993 | -47.146 | 3-9 |
| 98 | Tulane | 1995 | -48.767 | 2-9 |
| 118 | Tulane | 2015 | -49.445 | 3-9 |
| 109 | Tulane | 2005 | -49.958 | 2-9 |
| 111 | Tulane | 2009 | -50.626 | 3-9 |
| 101 | Tulane | 1985 | -54.305 | 1-10 |
| 115 | Tulane | 2012 | -54.342 | 2-10 |
| 114 | Tulane | 2008 | -55.647 | 2-10 |
| 104 | Tulane | 1991 | -56.398 | 1-10 |
| 103 | Tulane | 1994 | -57.935 | 1-10 |
| 117 | Tulane | 2011 | -65.75 | 2-11 |
+------+--------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 615 (111th)170-301 record
2 conference titles
5-3 bowl record
1 consensus All-American
36 NFL players drafted
As you can see, Tulane’s had 2 VERY good years. A 5-3 bowl record is nothing to scoff at, either. The resumes in this series are starting to get thick with accolades: Tulane has 150+ wins, multiple conference titles, a winning bowl record, a consensus All-American, and 30+ players drafted. For a brief moment, Tulane was a QB factory, producing Shaun King (2nd round 1999), Patrick Ramsey (1st round 2002), and J.P. Losman (1st round 2004) back-to-back-to-back. Kicker Cairo Santos was Tulane’s only consensus All-American in 2012. Surprisingly though, Tulane players haven’t done much in the NFL, outside of Matt Forte and more recently Darnell Mooney.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2011 (2-11 overall, 1-7 Conference USA)
Despite multiple 1 win seasons, 2011 takes the cake as the worst. It doesn’t make a ton of sense, either, as there were a few decent players on this squad. I think you can probably chalk this season up to poor coaching. Head coach Bob Toledo never had another head coaching job after 2011, co-OC Mark Hutson was a positional coach the rest of his career, co-OC Greg Davis Jr. doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page, and DC Steve Stanard spent most of his time as a position coach afterwards. A 2-1 start and 49-10 win over UAB seemed promising, but the wheels quickly fell off, and losses included 6-45 to 3-9 Army, 7-44 to 5-7 UTEP, and 17-73 to #11 Houston. But again, the team was not without talent. Future NFL veterans QB Ryan Griffin, RB Orleans Darkwa, and RB Robert Kelley all got significant playing time, and LB Dezman Moses had 9.5 sacks on defense.
5. 2019 (7-6 overall, 3-5 American)
Before 2022, this was Tulane’s “high” under coach Willie Fritz. Expectedly starting 2-1, they entered an important week 3 matchup against one of the conference favorites, Houston, led by QB D’Eriq King. In one of the games of the year, Tulane came back from down 28-7 to lead 31-28, before Houston tied it with a FG with 21 seconds left. Seemingly headed to OT with Tulane lined up in a kneel formation, they ran a trick play to get the ball to midfield. Needing about 25 yards to get in game-winning FG position, QB Justin McMillan fired a 35 yard bullet to WR Jalen McCleskey, who bounced off 2 defenders and outran a 3rd to score and shock the Cougars 38-31. The loss was so devastating for Houston that King would announce shortly afterward that he was redshirting the rest of the year. 3 weeks later, Tulane was 5-1 and receiving votes in the AP Poll. They’d finish the year with the opposite record in their last 6 games, and enter the bowl game at 6-6, where they took care of Southern Miss 30-13. 4 starters from this team were drafted to the NFL including WR Darnell Mooney.
4. 2002 (8-5 overall, 4-4 Conference USA)
J.P. Losman started at QB after sitting behind 1st round pick Patrick Ramsey for 2 years. Losman had great physical talents including height, arm strength, and scrambling ability, to go with a quick release. His first season was solid but not spectacular—throwing for 2468 yards 19 TD 10 INT, and running for 6 TD. Future NFL veteran, RB Mewelde Moore, carried most of the load, leading the team in rushing yards (1138), rushing TD (6), catches (52), and receiving yards (545). CB Lynaris Elpheage dominated on the other side of the ball, leading the nation in passes defended (28) with 8 INTs and 20 PBUs. He also averaged 25.2 yards per kick return and 16.5 per punt return, and had a defensive TD, kick return TD, and punt return TD. With 3 weeks to go, Tulane was 6-3 and 3-2 in C-USA, 1 game behind conference leaders Cincinnati, TCU, and Southern Miss. Tulane held the tiebreaker over Cincinnati, and had TCU/Southern Miss coming up on their schedule, so they controlled their destiny as long as Cincinnati dropped another game. Cincinnati did lose, but Tulane was eliminated after losing to TCU and Army. They did beat Southern Miss 31-10 to end the regular season, though. After the 5th placed C-USA finish, Tulane would beat 10-3 Hawaii 36-28 in the Hawaii bowl.
3. 1997 (7-4 overall, 5-1 Conference USA)
Led by first year head coach Tommy Bowden and QB Shaun King, Tulane achieved their first winning season since 1981. Despite going “just” 7-4 and playing in Conference USA, a sneaky tough schedule had them finish #44 in my algorithm, ahead of Power 6 teams with similar records like 7-5 Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Missouri. Their losses were all quality, coming to 7-4 Rice, #21 Syracuse, #19 Southern Miss, and #22 Ole Miss. Wins included 31-17 over an 8-4 Cincinnati team with a Rex Ryan-coached defense, 41-0 over Army, 56-0 over Southwestern Louisiana (now UL Lafayette), and 44-10 over Houston. A week 8 rivalry matchup between Tulane (4-2 overall, 3-0 CUSA) and Southern Miss (4-2, 2-0) ended up deciding the conference champion, Southern Miss winning 34-13. They’d go on to finish 6-0 while Tulane did all they could, finishing 5-1 with a 7-4 record overall. They weren’t selected for a bowl, but the momentum was there heading into next season.
2. 1998 (12-0 overall, 6-0 Conference USA)
1998 or 2022 for best season, take your pick. Tulane entered their second year with the prodigious trio of HC Tommy Bowden, OC Rich Rodriguez, and QB Shaun King. But no one could’ve predicted the season they’d have. Tulane went 12-0, beating opponents by an average score of 45-25, the 2nd most offensive PPG in the nation. They’d have scored more and given up less had they left their starters in longer, usually taking them out in 4th quarter blowouts. It was the first year of the BCS, and despite Tulane finishing 11-0 in the regular season, they’d be snubbed for one of the 4 BCS bowl slots because of their weak schedule. They played BYU in the Liberty Bowl instead, and showed the BCS what they were missing, going up 31-6 before winning 41-27. Tulane finished #7 in the AP/BCS, and #9 in my rankings.
King was the C-USA POTY and finished 10th in Heisman voting, completing 67.2% for 3508 yards 38 TD 6 INT, while rushing for 641 yards and 11 TD. WRs PJ Franklin and JaJuan Dawson both went for 1000+ receiving yards and 10+ receiving TDs. King and Dawson would be drafted in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, respectively, in the 1999 and 2000 NFL Drafts. This team’s legacy is that they highlighted the need for more representation for the little schools, building the foundation for teams like 2004 Utah and 2006 Boise State to become BCS busters.
Overall, 1998 Tulane is my 394th best team since 1983.
1. 2022 (12-2 overall, 7-1 American)
And the magical 2022 season just edges out 1998! Coming off just a 2-10(!!!) year, Tulane was pegged to finish just 7th in the AAC for 2022. The season started off innocuously with wins over perennial bottomfeeder UMass and FCS Alcorn State, but in week 3 they’d pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season thus far by beating eventual Big 12 champions Kansas State 17-10. A loss next week to Southern Miss further cemented that no one knew what the heck was going to happen with Tulane, but they were 3-1 and ready to enter conference play. Down to their 3rd string QB against defending AAC runner-up Houston, Tulane held on for a surprising 27-24 OT victory to improve to 4-1. With wins over AAC contender East Carolina and then USF, Tulane was 6-1 and had a #25 spot in the national polls. Still unsure of how far this team could go, they lived up to their ranking and took down perennial contenders Memphis, going up 35-0 before winning by 10.
In the final week of the regular season, #19 Tulane (9-2 overall, 6-1 AAC) beat #24 Cincinnati (9-2, 6-1) 27-24 to clinch a spot in their first ever American Conference championship game. They entered the championship game 1.5 point favorites over #22 UCF, the only American team to have beaten Tulane in 2022, but got revenge in a 45-28 win to clinch just their 2nd conference title since 1949. As a USC fan, do I really need to talk about the bowl game? We can skip it right? Yes, Tulane completed one of the more improbable comebacks in recent memory, coming back from down 45-30 with just 4:30 left.Tulane scored a TD, safety, and another TD to win it 46-45 over #10 USC and Heisman winner Caleb Williams. They finished the season #9 (#10 in my rankings). RB Tyjae Spears was the AAC OPOTY, QB Michael Pratt threw 27 TD to 5 INT and ran for 10 TD, and overall 6 players were 1st Team All-AAC and 7 players made the 2nd Team.
Overall, 2022 Tulane is my 389th best team since 1983. They get the edge over 1998 due to their tough schedule and impressive wins. They arguably had a better resume than some of the teams ranked above them to end the season, with wins over Big 12 champion Kansas State, #10 USC, #22 UCF, #24 Cincinnati, and 8-5 teams East Carolina and Houston.
5th Quarter
Should Tulane be this low with 2 of the best seasons by a Group of 5 team we’ve ever seen? Recency bias says they should be higher, but I think with all the years of mediocrity in between 1998-2022 this is a fair ranking. What do you think? And who’s better, 1998 or 2022 Tulane?
Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years - Main Hub
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