Tulane Football Schedule Breakdown: South Alabama

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After we covered Duke yesterday, we felt as though Tulane would have the tools to handle the Blue Devils, but we won't know that until the night of September 5th.

What awaits the Green Wave after Duke, is what we think is a much easier task than a tough week one road game. Tulane will play its home opener against South Alabama on a Saturday, September 12th at 6:00pm.

Adding Fuel to the Mardi Gras Fire

New Orleans is the KING of Mardi Gras! 🎭#UptownFootball pic.twitter.com/V3WNqzOYeG
— Tulane Football (@GreenWaveFB) August 12, 2026

Stolen Loot

If you've been keeping up with our transfer portal updates, you'll know that Tulane managed to grab a couple of guys from two states over.

Ed Smith IV and Dalton Hughes both transferred this past offseason from USA. Smith particularly bolsters that defensive line to a tee. His physicality and strength adds depth and experience to the line that will definitely come in handy.

Hughes is another promising fifth year senior who adds a ton of experience to a talented linebacking group. Whether he'll start over Makai Williams, Chris Rogers, and Dickson Agu is yet to be seen, but regardless, some insight into USA doesn't hurt anyone.

With these new tools, along with a nice returning roster of Greenies, Tulane will look to improve to 2-0, and gift their fans with a win in 2026's first home game.

Flipping the Page

Looking at our friends in Mobile, Alabama, USA's head coach, Major Applewhite, has been at South Alabama since 2021, and he's been their head coach since 2024.

In his two seasons, USA has gone 11-14 with an even 8-8 conference record. He attained a bowl win during his first year after going 7-6, beating West Michigan 30-23 in the Salute to Veterans Bowl.

Applewhite serves as his own offensive coordinator, with first year defensive coordinator, Todd Orlando, backing him up. Alongside Orlando is former QB and new passing game coordinator, Tim Rattay

Some coaching staff changes is something to look out for when facing USA, this won't be the same team as last year.

Looking at the player aspect of things, we see twelve total transfers, with some names coming from big P4 schools like LSU (Khayree Lee Jr.), South Carolina (Peyton Argent), and Georgia Tech (D.J. Moore).

Last Year's Metrics

USA lost 15 starters to graduation or the portal this offseason, and with some new coaching staff, they'll be hoping to have a bounce back season after going 4-8 in 2025.

During that 4-8 season, USA held both one of the worst offenses and worst defenses in the country. The Jags ran the ball a whopping 60.87% of the time (14th in the country). This is a team who is going to want to run the ball, so the front seven for Tulane will need to be putting in work.

If there was anything the Jaguars did right, though, it was running the football. They ranked 43rd in yards per rush (4.5), sixth in rushes per game (44.5), and 17th in rush yards per game (17th).

TU won't want South Alabama controlling the game, so the defense will need to get off the field quickly and not allow offensive drives to stall.

Where Tulane will likely see a ton of success is their own run game. South Alabama contains one of the worst rushing defenses in the country, ranking 98th in yards per rush (4.8) and 95th in rush yards per game (175.0).

Getting the Backs Going

Although we mentioned Jamauri McClure's injury the other day, we're hopeful that he'll make a return during week two, but let's prepare for the worst regardless.

Let's say the Wave don't have McClure. Ideally, the Greenies will be coming off of a strong week one that allowed the o-line and new players alike to build their confidence in a real game setting. This will be their chance to apply that new found confidence and truly dominate the opponents.

"Mo" Turner, Jaylin Lucas, and Johnnie Daniels out of the backfield will be a joy to watch against this weak Jaguar defense.

Speaking of that offensive line, this should be a fantastic chance to build experience in pass protection. South Alabama had one of the worst sack rates in the country at 2.78% (ranked 134th).

The Jaguar pass defense is a little better off than the run defense, but that might be because teams find themselves running more often when facing the Jags.

Regardless of the reason, a weak Jaguar defense and one-dimensional offense shouldn't pose much of a threat for the Wave's home opener.

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