On SI Tulane's Week One Predictions

Tulane Football Schedule 2026

Week 1 - at Duke, September 5
Week 2 - South Alabama, September 12
Week 3 - at Kansas State, September 19
Week 4 - Southern Miss, September 26
Week 5 - OPEN DATE, October 3
Week 6 - at Army, October 10
Week 7 - Memphis, October 16
Week 8 - UTSA, October 24
Week 9 - at Charlotte, October 30
Week 10 - Tulsa, November 7
Week 11 - at Rice, November 14
Week 12 - North Texas, November 21
Week 13 - at South Florida, November 27

Sign up for the weekly On Si Tulane Newsletter here.

We've consorted with the enemy and we've made our scouting reports. Now it's time for us at On SI Tulane to make our picks for week one.

Colin Cummings

When I (Cummings) look at this game, I see a low-scoring, old school, smash mouth football affair.

Duke has lost talent at all skill positions with the departure of QB Darian Mensah (Miami) and all three of their starting wide receivers from last year. This talent exit is going to raise a lot of questions for this Blue Devil offense, but where they don't have questions lies in their second year running back, Nate Sheppard.

The Mandeville, LA native hit another gear during the last few weeks of the year, totaling 90+ yards in three of his last four games. Two of those performances were during their conference championship and the Sun Bowl against Virginia and Arizona State respectively.

His most impressive of the bunch came against ASU in the Sun Bowl when he rushed for 170-yards on 22 carries, making him average an astonishing 7.7-yards per carry while also scoring a touchdown in a 42-39 win.

'The Seawall,' as we like to call linebacking corps, and the young defensive line will have their hands full trying to tackle this young man. "Make (Sheppard) go sideways" is what linebacker Dickson Agu said during Tuesday's presser.

Flipping to the defense, well, there really isn't much to say. Duke had one of the highest scoring offenses in the country last year (15th with 33.8 ppg), but there was a reason they had five losses last year.

Duke's defense was extremely poor last year, ranking in the lower percentile of almost every defensive stat (ranked 90th or lower) that you could record.

They were one of the worst scoring defenses (96th) while also giving up some of the most yards in the country (119th), while also ranking 118th in third down conversions (45.18%).

The defense will need a lot of work if they wish to succeed, but their run defense wasn't as bad last year (58th in rush yards allowed), which could spell bad news for TU's run heavy offense.

However, I believe the Wave run game will get going. There's too many dynamic options at all positions to not get something going, and we haven't even talked about Zeon Chriss-Gremillion's ability to run.

When he's on the field, it wouldn't be a crazy thing to say that Zeon is the best athlete on said field.

Like I said, this is a grind-it-out game, so I have the Green Wave coming out of Durham with a W, 20-17.

Colin's Prediction: Tulane - 20 Duke - 17

Doug Joubert

Talking to people in Durham, I find they have a little bit of a "our poop doesn't stink because we're in the ACC."

I beg to differ. I would be willing to bet their poop actually does have an offensive aroma, and I don't mean "offensive" as in throwing and running the football.

Duke had a slew of new players sign-on through the portal, over twice as many as the Green Wave did. Their coach, Manny Diaz, is considered by people in the ACC as a defensive genius. Let these numbers from 2025 sit with you:
- ranked 96th nationally in points allowed (30.4 points per game)
- ranked 119th in total yards allowed (435.4 yards per game)

Within the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Blue Devils struggled, finishing 14th in scoring defense (29.4 conference points per game) and last in total passing yards allowed. That's out of 17-teams in the "all-powerful" ACC.

There are those who have been piling on the Tulane administration since the hiring of Will Hall, saying "David Harris settled for second best," or "was there no one else out there," not ever being willing to admit that this is the same administration that brought them Jon Sumrall.

This game will come down to two things:

First, controlling Duke's outstanding running back Sheppard. Hold him under 100-yards, force their new quarterback to throw (which Duke would rather not have him do until he's more acquainted with the offense) and you will see an opportunistic Tulane defense do its thing.

Second, play your wide card early and often: Jaylin Lucas. Yes, Zeon can and will run, but Duke has never seen someone like the scatback Lucas. I believe there will be numerous instances of cleats being left behind by Duke defenders who are grasping for air while Lucas makes move after move.

During the Summer when Colin and I picked our Waaaaay Too Early Pics for the Football season, I picked Tulane to win this game at Duke. I say 9.5-points underdogs at the beginning of the week, now 7.5-point underdogs to the home-standing Blue Devils are a crock of crap.

Doug's Prediction: Tulane - 24 Duke - 14

Add us as a preferred source on Google