Tulane’s Retzlaff Accepts Invitation To 2026 Hula Bowl
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Tulane football’s Jake Retzlaff recently accepted an invitation to participate in the 2026 Hula Bowl, the organization announced today.
Retzlaff, in his first year at Tulane after transferring from BYU, ended his 2025 season leading the team in passing (3168 yards) and rushing (634 yards). His 16 rushing touchdowns were a new school record for Tulane for a quarterback. He became the first non-running back to lead Tulane in rushing since 2019. His 3,168 yards places him third all-time at Tulane in single season passing. On the season play and started all 14 games at quarterback going 242-for-391 passing with 15 passing touchdowns with a 61.9 completion percentage and a quarterback efficiency of 139.0. He was also honored by the American Conference seven times on the season with weekly awards.
About the Hula Bowl
The Hula Bowl is the nation’s premier College Football All-Star Game dedicated to Seniors-only. The Hula Bowl is an event where all NFL, UFL and CFL teams will be represented by their top scouts during Hula Bowl week practices. Players will have a unique opportunity for one-on -one interviews with teams.
Athletes chosen to participate in the Hula Bowl are selected by the Hula Bowl Selection Committee. This committee is made up of former College and Professional football players and coaches. The invitations are primarily based on an athletes potential to make a professional football team roster. Scouts representing from the NFL, UFL and CFL teams are invited to provide their input for athletes that they may want to see in the Hula Bowl game for additional evaluation.
The game will be played this season on Saturday, January 10, 2026 at 11 a.m. at Spec Martin Memorial Stadium in DeLand, Florida. The stadium is where the Stetson Hatters play their home games and was the filming location for the 1998 film The Waterboy starring Adam Sandler. In the film, the stadium depicted the home field of the fictional South Central Louisiana State Mud Dogs.
Courtesy Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.