Tulane's Hall is "Concentrating on Us" Leading Up to Duke

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

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"[The season's] been a long time coming, and I know we're really ready to play," head coach Will Hall opened with during Tuesday's press conference.

Tulane's first game against Duke is this Saturday at 2:30pm CT, and we'll have much more coverage to come. So stay tuned to On SI Tulane for all of your Green Wave news.

The Looming Season

What we've seen on social media at On SI is that there is a lot of valid questions regarding this new Tulane team. Travelling into the ACC champion's house and coming out with a victory is no easy feat for any team in college football, so TU will have to be prepared for a gritty, grind-em-out game against the Blue Devils.

"(We've) got a tremendous challenge coming this weekend, everybody knows that. Duke (is) a really good team..." is what coach Hall closed his opening statement with.

When asked about how he felt about the upcoming season, in general, he replied: "I'm just blessed man... Just trying to take advantage of everyday, and get better every day. That's how I live my life."

He continued: "Our guys are going to play hard (on) Saturday. I know that everyone's going to play their tail off for each other. That's what we do at Tulane."

Not Just a Rematch

Although the Green Wave faced the Blue Devils last season, the rematch really isn't the story here.

The story is about two conference champions facing off in week one. We believe it is amplified even more when you take into account that Duke is a P4 champion (ACC), and Tulane is a G6 champion (American).

When asked about the perspective of this title heavy bout, Hall had to say, "Maybe so. Honestly, I really don't look at what everybody is talking about. I know we've got a good football team (and) I know we've got to prove that... I know Duke has a good football team... We've got an exciting schedule in front of us, but it's one we're excited about."

Speaking to last year's game, Hall acknowledged the story and weight behind last year's match up, specifically regarding Mensah's return to New Orleans after transferring to Duke.

More importantly, however, coach Hall was more focused on the here and now, "Obviously (these are) two different teams... The thing we're doing is, we're concentrating on us... We're looking forward to showing what we've got."

The Keys

If TU wishes to start their season with a statement win in Durham, they'll first have to stop second year running back, Nathan Sheppard. We talked about Sheppard extensively during our opponent previews, but if Tulane wants success, they'll have to hold him in check.

"[He's] really hard to tackle." Hall said. "We know that we'll have to rally to tackle him, he rarely ever gets tackled by just one person, so he presents a lot of challenges," he finished.

Another key will be the quarterback play, which has been of concern for quite some time. Until last Monday, there had been no announcement as to who would start week one for the Green Wave. Ultimately, the job would fall into Zeon Chriss-Gremillion's hands to take the reigns of this Wave offense.

Coach Hall said more of the same when it came to Zeon and what he wants out of his starting quarterback. Zeon will need the "right eyes" because if his eyes aren't right, then he's failed the first step at being a good quarterback.

Coach Hall repeated what he had said at an earlier press conference this Fall, "There's going to be about five opportunities in every game for a quarterback to win the game." Hall wants his quarterback dialed and locked in with little mistakes.

Talkin' Duke

"Their head coach (Manny Diaz) runs the defense," Hall responded after being asked what stuck out about the Blue Devil defense. "I've got a lot of respect for him... we know they're going to play hard," he finished.

When asked about San Jose State transfer and starting Duke quarterback, Walker Eget, Hall said, "He really can (throw the ball)... He made some great throws while he was at SJS, (and) he's coming off an injury."

Coach Hall had a lot of respect for the transfer quarterback and his experience, and if the Wave wish to throw him off his game, this young defensive line will have to get active and physical.

"(Eget has) seen it before." Hall spoke more to Eget's experience with yet another analogy: "People can tell you what it's like to ride a bike, but until you ride one you just don't understand it, and (Eget has) ridden the bike a lot."

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