In the past two seasons, Tulane has won 23 football games, earned the Group of Five conferences’ bid to a New Year’s Six bowl game and then rallied to beat its high-profile opponent in that game.
Those are impressive results — so good that when Tulane steps on the field Wednesday afternoon in Annapolis, Maryland, to take on Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl, the Hokies will see a team under transitional management.
The coach who led the 23rd-ranked Green Wave to where it is now — Willie Fritz — resigned following the American Athletic Conference championship game when he was hired to become the new head coach at Houston, which earned Power Five status at the beginning of this year when it joined the Big 12.
While it can happen anywhere, Group of Five programs are more susceptible to bidding farewell to their coach after a couple of successful seasons. Tulane already has hired a new coach — the Green Wave did some poaching of its own, hiring Jon Sumrall from Troy. Wednesday’s game will be coached by outgoing offensive coordinator Slade Nagle.
Tulane has announced it will be missing at least six key players from the 2023 season who have opted out for various reasons. This includes starting quarterback Michael Pratt. The Green Wave’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdown passes opted out of the bowl in order to prepare for next spring’s NFL draft.
Tulane will also be without two of its top three receivers this season — Chris Brazzell II and Jha’Quan Jackson accounted for 70 receptions, nine TD catches and more than 1,000 receiving yards.
Nagle said earlier this month that he expects two other quarterbacks, Kai Horton and Justin Ibieta, to take the majority of snaps in the bowl game. Horton went 1-1 in two starts early in the season while Pratt recovered from a knee injury. Horton entered the transfer portal a week before Christmas but said he would still play in the bowl game.
All this has led to the Hokies being a double-digit favorite on the betting lines. That means nothing to Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry, who is more concerned with what the Hokies don’t know about Tulane at this point.
“That’s a little bit of a scary piece of it — the unknown,” Pry said last weekend. “As coaches, innately you want to know everything you can and study, study, study.
“But in the end, it’s all about how we play and what we do.”
The Hokies’ coaching staff, still completely intact, prepared for the bowl game assuming Tulane would stick to a lot of what worked to win 11 games in 2023.
For Virginia Tech’s offense, the focus will be on avoiding turnovers — especially in passing situations — and handling the pressure of the Green Wave’s defensive line.
Tulane’s defense stopped its opponents for a loss 82 times this season, 34 of those coming on sacks. The defense was also credited with 23 quarterback hurries and intercepted opposing quarterbacks 17 times to go along with 10 fumble recoveries.
Protecting the football has been one of the Hokies’ strengths, with just eight lost fumbles and five interceptions. That trend needs to continue.
“That’s been a big focus for us all year,” quarterback Kyron Drones said. “We’ve been protecting the ball all year and working on ball security. … This is a program that does well with ball security. I’ve never been part of a program that (focuses on this) so much.”
Although Tulane lost to future ACC member Southern Methodist in the American Athletic Conference championship game, the Green Wave remained in the final regular-season AP Top 25. So the Hokies have one last chance to beat a ranked team in 2023. They lost to the previous two ranked foes — ACC championship-game participants Florida State and Louisville.
“In our games against the top-20-caliber teams (previously), we didn’t do it,” Pry said “So this is another opportunity for us, in my mind. These guys have 11 wins, they played in a New Year’s Six game last year. This is an opportunity to go make a statement.”
Military Bowl
Virginia Tech (6-6) vs. Tulane (11-2)
Wednesday, 2 p.m., ESPN, 790AM, 910AM, 107.5FM
The Hokies (6-6): Except for a few places, the Virginia Tech team that takes the field in Annapolis should be what it looks like when the 2024 season begins next August at Vanderbilt. Quarterback Kyron Drones, who has thrown for six touchdown passes in his last six quarters, will have three of his top four receivers going into 2024 in the lineup. Virginia Tech beat Virginia 55-17 two days after Thanksgiving. The Hokies hope to have similar success two days after Christmas.
The Green Wave (11-2): Tulane has enjoyed two of the most successful years in the program’s history. But unlike Virginia Tech, Tulane is in its first weeks of transitioning to a new coaching staff. The bowl game will mark the final day of work for several of the Green Wave’s coaches, including interim coach Slade Nagle. Willie Fritz, the head coach who was in charge during the team’s current run, has already moved on to his next job with the Houston Cougars.
