Saturday, September 12, 2026 6:00 p.m. CT Yulman Stadium ESPN+ Last year’s meeting in Mobile ended 33-31 Tulane in a sloppy, high-scoring slugfest. This one is a rematch at home after both programs turned over pieces and Tulane just got punched in the mouth at Duke. Can the Green Wave Re-Group? Roll Dat Wave Pod w/ @greenwavecolin drops today! Tulane Green Wave: Enters Year 1 of the Will Hall era after an ugly 17-3 loss at Duke. First time since 2019 the Wave did not score a touchdown. Hall already flipped the quarterback. Kadin Semonza starts Saturday. Zeon Chriss-Gremillion, who won camp and started Week 1, is the backup. That standard does not reset just because Week 1 was sloppy. Roster reality after Durham: The offense gained 258 yards and 3 points. The run game produced 54 yards. Fumble in the red zone. Holding and mental penalties killed drives. Hall called it a “really dumb” performance and compared it to last year’s UTSA tape. What remains is still Tulane culture, a loaded backfield if Jamauri McClure (foot) is ready after sitting Duke, and a WR room that should be more explosive than it showed Saturday. Hill had 5-67. Anthony Brown-Stephens and Zycarl Lewis Jr. are the next layer. The line has to give Semonza a clean pocket and play disciplined. Reese Baker is the veteran. The rest of that front is still proving it. Semonza is the proven passer. Ball State MAC Freshman of the Year in 2024 (2,904 yards, 25 TDs). He is not Chriss as a designed-run threat. He is the timing thrower Hall wants if the Wave stay ahead of the chains. South Alabama Jaguars: Year 3 under Major Applewhite (11-14 in two seasons). He is calling the offense himself. New DC Todd Orlando (USF the last three years, previously with Applewhite at Houston). They are 1-0 after burying SE Louisiana 39-14 (FCS). Identity is volume run: 59 carries, 241 yards, three rushing TDs. Bishop Davenport is still the quarterback, same guy who nearly beat Tulane last September (17-of-24, 231 yards, 2 passing TDs, 63 rush, 1 rushing TD). The RB committee: PJ Martin (Nola product) 18-69-1 Keenan Phillips 13-66 Trae’von Dunbar 13-60-1 Kentrel Bullock is gone. Devin Voisin, who gashed Tulane for 8-152-2 last year, is gone. Brendan Jenkins (5-78-1 vs SELA) and Anthony Eager have to replace that juice. USA is healthier and already has a win. Tulane has the building, the standard, and a chip after Durham. Both teams have holes. Both have questions that need answers Saturday night. Tulane’s identity has to be (physical, complementary, and clean football) is more established. South Alabama has a script if the Wave front does not set the edge/penetrate/pressure. South Alabama offense vs Tulane defense: Applewhite’s offense is multiple-spread that wants to run first, stay on schedule, and live short-to-intermediate. They do not take many deep shots. Last year they ranked 121st in pass attempts per game. Week 1 they rushed 59 times. Davenport is efficient when he is completing 70%+. When he dips, USA went 0-7 last year. He is a throw-on-the-run, keep-it-alive quarterback, not a 60-yard bomber. Backup is Jared Hollins. The line lost most of its starters. Ethan Hubbard (RT) and Kenton Jerido (C) are the veterans. Against FCS they still ran for 241. Against Tulane last year they had 190 rush yards and 421 total and still lost because they went scoreless in the second and third quarters. Tulane’s attacking 4-2-5 under Tayler Polk and co-DC Nate Fuqua is built to take away the easy stuff, attack the QB, and force third-and-long. That unit just allowed Nate Sheppard 227 yards and 2 TDs on 35 carries. Edge setting and run fits were the problem in Durham. That is exactly what Applewhite will try to exploit: inside zone, duo, QB keepers, and a three-back rotation that does not let the Wave pin its ears back. Safety Jack Tchienchou is still the defensive leader. Linebackers Dickson Agu and Chris Rodgers and the front (Ed Smith IV who came from USA, Derrick Shepard Jr, young ends and the potential RETURN of Kam Hamilton) have to plug the middle, set the edge against Martin/Phillips/Dunbar, and keep Davenport from settling. Keep an eye on true freshman Jordyn Crites at the DT spot, I could see him having a huge game. Kevin Adams III had 11 tackles at Duke. The secondary can hunt if it is third-and-7+. Last year USA put up 421 yards and still lost because they stalled for two full quarters. Do not let them get the same first-quarter jump they got in Mobile (14-0). Not sure how this offense will function playing behind. The Wave defense does not have to be perfect. It has to be assignment-sound on first and second down and opportunistic on third. X Factor: D-Line create havoc. South Alabama defense vs Tulane Offense: Hall and Russ Callaway will run a West Coast-flavored attack that still wants to run the ball and use play-action. Semonza is not Retzlaff. He does not have to throw 40 times. He has to keep the chains moving, hit Destyn Hill, Anthony Brown-Stephens, and Zycarl Lewis Jr. when USA overcommits to the run, and protect the football. The offensive line is the swing unit again. Reese Baker is the only returning starter from last year’s CFP front. Transfers and young players have to hold up at home against an Orlando front that is multiple and more attacking than last year’s “keep it in front of you” 4-2-5. If McClure is limited or out, Lucas / Turner / Daniels have to carry the load. Johnnie Daniels led the Wave with 31 yards on 8 carries at Duke. That is not enough. Tight ends Dawson Johnson and Vance Bolyard, plus the F TE package (Ty Thompson), give Hall another way to protect and create mismatches. They have to be more involved. USA defense last year: 30.4 points allowed (110th), 176.6 rush yards at 4.8 a clip. They could not get to the quarterback. Vs Tulane they gave up 241 rushing yards and three rushing TDs. Retzlaff and Zuberi Mobley ran through them. This year Orlando is not running that same religion. Multiple four-man / three-man, nickel, dime. Co-DC Jason Washington still runs the corners. The front is the weakest group on paper after the portal. Week 1 they had 2 sacks vs SELA. They did intercept two and held SELA to 0-for-7 on third down, with the caveat that SELA is FCS and scored twice on four-play explosives. They also lost pieces that now wear green: Ed Smith IV and Dalton Hughes. If Orlando’s front stays gap-sound, Semonza is forced into obvious passing downs, which is when a blitz-happy DC wants to live. If they send extra and do not get there, Hill and the intermediate game can eat. Last year they were undisciplined enough in Mobile that Tulane still found 241 on the ground. If they play cleaner and win early downs, they can put Semonza in obvious passing situations. If they overpursue the run the way they did a year ago, the Wave backs and play-action will make them pay. X Factor: Clean Football and this game should work in Tulane’s favor. South Alabama Jaguars @ Tulane Green Wave: Overall and Three keys to victory for Tulane On paper this one shouldn’t be even close, in Tulane’s favor. South Alabama is 1-0, healthier, and already has the run-game tape they want. Tulane is the deserved favorite on paper (home field, talent, last year’s result) and the better bet to play a complete, complementary game in Week 2 . Home crowd Better roster Mardi Gras Jersey The Wave do not need to out-talent South Alabama. They need to out-execute them for 60 minutes and finish drives they left on the field in Durham. Three keys for Tulane: 1. Set the edge and make the committee earn everything. Martin, Phillips, and Dunbar are not Sheppard. If they gouge early, Davenport gets easy play-action and the Wave defense spends the night in the middle of the field. Set the edge, tackle in space, force USA into third-and-7+. That is when Tchienchou and the secondary hunt. 2. Let Semonza be efficient without turning it over. He does not have to be Retzlaff 2.0. He has to stay on schedule, take what Orlando gives him, and protect the football. One or two completed drives that end in the end zone change how USA has to play the rest of the night. Ball security is non-negotiable in a home opener after a 3-point road loss. 3. Win the line of scrimmage (clean) and stay out of obvious passing downs. The reloaded Wave offensive line does not have to dominate. It has to give Semonza a clean pocket on early downs and create enough push for Lucas / Turner / Daniels / McClure (if healthy) to keep Orlando honest. Third-and-long against a disguised, blitz-happy front is where this game can get away. Stay ahead of the chains, convert a couple of third-and-mediums, and the clock becomes Tulane’s friend in the fourth quarter. Yulman will be loud. South Alabama will have moments. They almost stole this game a year ago. Play complementary and clean football, finish in the red zone, tackle like a welder is on your sister, and take the home opener. #RollWave Make sure to follow Patrick Harkness on X

What to expect from USA Offense and Defense Roll Dat Wave Pod drops tmr w/ @greenwavecolin ! Full Preview breakdown and more! What South Alabama’s offense is: Head coach Major Applewhite is calling the plays himself after taking over mid-2025. It is a multiple-spread system that wants to run first, stay on schedule, and live in the short-to-intermediate passing game. They do not take many deep shots. Last year they ranked 121st nationally in pass attempts per game. Week 1 this year they rushed 59 times for 241 yards. That is the identity. QB Bishop Davenport started all 12 games in 2025: 200-of-294 (68%), 2,073 yards, 12 TD, 6 INT, plus 325 rushing yards and 9 rushing TDs. He is efficient when he is completing 70%+. When he dips below that, USA went 0-7 last year. He is a throw-on-the-run, keep-it-alive quarterback, not a 60-yard bomber. Vs Tulane last September he was good: 17-of-24, 231 yards, 2 passing TDs, 63 rush yards, 1 rushing TD. Week 1 vs SELA: 18-of-27, 154 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, plus a rushing score. Backup is Jared Hollins. Running backs by committee, by design. Kentrel Bullock (1,085 yards last year) is gone. In his place: • PJ Martin 18-69-1 vs SELA; 5.4 ypc last year • Keenan Phillips 13-66 vs SELA; 605 yards in 2025 • Trae’von Dunbar 13-60-1 vs SELA All three finished between 60 and 69 yards in Week 1. Nobody is the featured back. They will lean on volume and Davenport keepers. Wide Receivers: The problem is they lost Devin Voisin, who had 8 catches for 152 yards and 2 TDs against Tulane last year (including a 65-yard score). Returning pieces: Anthony Eager (top returning target, 40 catches in 2025, more of a possession guy), Brendan Jenkins (5-78-1 vs SELA), Micah Woods, Jeremiah Jones-Thomas. Tight end Rod Gibbs is in the mix. This group can move chains. It has not shown a true vertical threat yet this season. Offensive line is the question mark. Last year’s unit ran well; this year’s line lost most of its starters. Ethan Hubbard (RT) and Kenton Jerido (C) are the veterans. Week 1 vs an FCS team they still ran for 241, so the committee can function. How it matches Tulane this week Tulane just allowed 227 rushing yards and 2 TDs to Nate Sheppard on 35 carries. Edge setting and run fits were a problem in Durham. That is exactly what Applewhite will try to exploit: inside zone, duo, QB keepers, and a three-back rotation that does not let the Wave pin its ears back. Last year USA had 190 rush yards and 421 total on Tulane and still lost because they went scoreless in the second and third quarters. The script they want Saturday: 1. Establish Martin/Phillips/Dunbar early so Davenport can keep and throw play-action. 2. Get Jenkins and Eager involved on timing throws, Davenport’s comfort zone. 3. Avoid the mid-game stall that killed them in Mobile. What South Alabama’s defense was last year The 2025 Jaguars allowed 30.4 points (110th nationally) and 176.6 rushing yards per game at 4.8 yards per carry. They could not get to the quarterback. Vs Tulane they gave up 241 rushing yards and three rushing TDs on 45 carries. Jake Retzlaff and Zuberi Mobley ran through them. Pass defense was more respectable (205 ypg), but the front never consistently collapsed the pocket. They also lost pieces that now wear green: Ed Smith IV and Dalton Hughes transferred to Tulane. Starters Blayne Myrick, Darius McKenzie, and Wesley Miller are gone too. What it is this year: New DC Todd Orlando (USF the last three years; coached with Applewhite at Houston). He is not running last year’s “keep it in front of you” 4-2-5 as a religion. He said the package will be multiple four-man/three-man, nickel, dime fitted to personnel, and more attacking. Co-DC Jason Washington still runs the corners. Front and edge: This was the weakest group on paper after the portal purge. Returning: Stephen Johnson (NT), Emmanuel Waller, Tyler Carter, E’Mauri Smiley. Portal help: Mase Lewis (McNeese), Christian Ross (Holy Cross), Dylan Chiedo (Furman). Tirrell Johnson is the hybrid/edge they lean on (54 tackles, 5 TFL last year). Week 1 they had only one sack vs SE Louisiana. Linebackers: Tirrell Johnson, Tre’Mon Henry, Parker Shattuck, Seidrion Langston (ULM transfer), Kaydon Degraffenreid, Caleb Dozier. This room is supposed to be the stabilizer while the line develops. Secondary: More continuity here. Jayvon Henderson (CB), Cole Blaylock (S), Dallas Young (FS), Damyrion Darby. Portal: Jaylen Moson (Utah) and DJ Moore (Georgia Tech). Week 1 both Darby and Moson got interceptions on SELA’s first couple of series. Week 1 tape (vs SE Louisiana) Held SELA to 231 yards, 45 rushing yards, and 0-for-7 on third down. Two interceptions, one sack. Possession was 40:09–19:51 because the offense sat on the ball, but the defense also never let SELA convert. The caveat: SELA’s two scores were both four-play explosives. When they could not hit a chunk play, they went nowhere. That is the binary Orlando’s group imposed, score fast or punt. It will not be that easy against an FBS offense that can motion TEs and superbacks. The game within the game for USA’s D: 1. Run fits vs a broken ground game. Last year they could not stop Tulane’s run. If Orlando’s front stays gap-sound, Semonza is forced into obvious passing downs, which is when a blitz-happy DC wants to live. 2. Blitz vs Semonza’s timing. Semonza gets the ball out faster than Chriss. Hall will use motion, TEs (Dawson Johnson, Vance Bolyard), and the superback (Jaylin Lucas) to muddy hot reads. If USA sends extra and does not get there, Hill and the intermediate game can eat. 3. Explosives. SELA beat them twice with quick-strike TDs. Hill and CJ Lewis already showed they can take one. USA cannot give up that same shot and survive if Tulane’s offense finally finishes a drive. #RollWave Make sure to follow Patrick Harkness on X

Kam Hamilton is an immediate veteran upgrade for a Tulane D-line that lost its entire 2025 CFP starting front. The 6-4, 292-pound Zachary product just returned as a fifth-year player after going undrafted and is already in the rotation. Eligibility was confirmed about an hour before kickoff. The eligibility path Hamilton never redshirted. He graduated in May 2026 after four seasons and was auto-enrolled in the 2026 NFL Draft. He worked out with the Saints and Cardinals but did not sign. A new NCAA five-year eligibility rule did not grandfather the 2022 class, so he needed the injunction. The American Conference also stated that NFL tryouts would not trigger a penalty. Tulane will not be punished if the ruling is later overturned. Tulane was the only FBS school that offered him out of Zachary High, where he started on the offensive line for the 15-0 2021 LHSAA 5A state champions before switching to defense. Production and traits Career totals through 2025 (54 games, 22-23 starts): • 90 tackles • 12 sacks • 16.5 tackles for loss • 3 forced fumbles • 3 passes defended Year-by-year: • 2022 (FR): 15 tackles, 0.5 sacks • 2023 (SO): 25 tackles, 4 sacks, 6 TFL, 1 FF • 2024 (JR): 21 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 6 TFL, 2 FF, 9 starts, third-team All-AAC • 2025 (SR): 29 tackles, 3 sacks, 4 TFL, 3 PD, 13 starts He is listed as a DE but he can play inside or outside. Strength and awareness are his calling cards; he occupies blockers and still produces sacks and TFLs from the interior. What the 2026 D-line needed: The 2025 starting four from the Ole Miss CFP game are gone: Hamilton was expected to be with the Saints, Harvey Dyson transferred to NC State, Santana Hopper to Colorado, and Tre’Von McAlpine to Kansas. Preseason pieces were transfers Derrick Shepard Jr. (NT, experienced after a 2025 UAB-to-Tulane move) and Ed Smith IV (DT from South Alabama) plus a young rotation (Josh Lewis, Reshad Sterling, Geordan Guidry, Armondous Cooley, Jordyn Crites, PaLanding Drammeh). The room was described as talented and deep but inexperienced. They rotate heavily. Duke exposed the run defense (250 rushing yards, Nate Sheppard 227). What he specifically adds • Experience and leadership in a young room under new DL coach Eric McDaniel. Shepard and Smith IV were the main veterans; Hamilton is the guy with the most Tulane snaps and starts. • Interior run-stopping presence. Size and strength to occupy double teams so linebackers (Dickson Agu, Chris Rodgers, Makai Williams) and the bandit (Jah’rie Garner) can flow. This was the biggest Week 1 need. • Pass-rush from inside. Consistent 3-4.5 sack seasons give the front another interior threat instead of relying only on edges. • Scheme versatility in Tulane’s 4-2-5 / multiple looks under DC Tayler Polk and co-DC Nate Fuqua. He can two-gap or one-gap depending on alignment. • Culture and motivation. Local product who overcame a hearing impairment, just missed the NFL, and is playing for a fifth year on an injunction. Will Hall’s comment after the Duke game: “I think he can help us a lot.” He is not a flashy edge rusher who will post 10-sack seasons. He is a high-floor, high-motor 292-pound interior piece who knows the program, already knows the calls, and immediately improves the rotation quality on a front that needed exactly that after the 2025 attrition. Expect him to stay in the two-deep mix at DT for the rest of the season. #RollWave Make sure to follow Patrick Harkness on X

How failure at Southern Miss forced Will Hall to confront himself, travel the country in search of answers, and return stronger to try and lead Tulane. Failure does not always arrive with a single, dramatic collapse. Sometimes it arrives as a slow, grinding erosion, one loss after another, one season after another, until the weight becomes impossible to carry. For Will Hall, that weight settled fully on a Sunday evening in October 2024. Southern Miss fired him after a 1-6 start to his fourth season. The final record stood at 14-30. The 2022 season, a 7-6 campaign capped by a LendingTree Bowl victory, felt like a distant memory. What remained was the hard truth that the program had not moved forward under his watch in the way anyone, least of all Hall himself, had envisioned. Most coaches in that moment retreat into bitterness, silence, or the next available job. Hall did something rarer. He treated the failure as a teacher rather than a verdict. Shortly after being let go, Hall was already on the Tulane practice field. Not as a visitor seeking employment, but as a coach who needed to be around the game again. In the weeks that followed, he deliberately stepped off the treadmill of the coaching carousel. He traveled. He watched. He listened. He went to Houston to sit with Willie Fritz, the man who had once given him the offensive coordinator job at Tulane. He spent time at Army. He visited Oregon. He stopped at Jacksonville State. These were not networking trips. They were intentional acts of study, visits to programs that had figured out how to sustain success at a high level. What Hall discovered on those trips was not a single schematic secret. It was something more fundamental about himself. At Southern Miss he had drifted into the role of CEO and fundraiser. The job of modern head coach had pulled him away from the field, away from the daily teaching that had defined his earlier success at West Alabama and West Georgia, where he went 56-20 and made four playoff appearances. “I’m not a CEO,” Hall would later say with quiet clarity. “I have to coach on the field. The CEO route, I tried it and it doesn’t work for me.” That realization did not come easily. It required the humility to admit that the version of himself that succeeded as a lower-level head coach and as an offensive coordinator had been diluted by the demands of an FBS head job. The trail of those visits forced him to confront the gap between who he had become and who he needed to be. When the opportunity came to return to Tulane in January 2025 as pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach under Jon Sumrall, Hall took it without hesitation. He returned not as a former head coach demanding the title, but as a teacher hungry to work. The role put him back on the grass, back in the meeting rooms, back in the daily work of developing players. One year later, when Sumrall left for Florida, Tulane turned to the man who already knew the program, the city, and most importantly the hard lessons of the previous chapter. In December 2025, Will Hall was named head coach of the Green Wave. The story is not one of simple redemption. It is one of deliberate progression. Hall did not pretend the Southern Miss years never happened. He examined them. He traveled to understand how successful programs sustain themselves. He returned to a place that already knew his strengths and asked to be judged on the version of himself that had been refined by failure. There is a quiet power in that sequence. Many coaches experience setbacks. Fewer use them as a mirror. Fewer still leave the comfort of their own system long enough to study someone else’s. Hall did both. The trails at Southern Miss became the trail that led him back to New Orleans with clearer eyes and a renewed conviction about how he wants to lead. In the end, the measure of a coach is not only the wins recorded on a résumé. It is the capacity to learn when the record turns against him. Will Hall’s path from the firing in Hattiesburg to the head coaching chair at Tulane is a living example of that capacity. The failure was real. The learning that followed was more real still. And the Green Wave program now stands as the place where that hard-earned growth will be tested and, if history is any guide, put to use. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill #RollWave Make sure to follow Patrick Harkness on X

Jaxson Dixon- @JaxsonDixon10 5-10/165 Foley, AL He has camped and impressed at places like Florida State (7-on-7 and camps in June 2026) and has drawn additional regional interest. He is currently uncommitted. Prep Redzone previously ranked him as high as the #3 ATH/DB in Alabama and around #4 ATH / top-65 overall in the state. Production and athletic traits continue to generate offers and attention in FCS/G5. • Elite short-area quickness and change of direction: True “joystick” mover. Exceptional lateral agility and ability to make defenders miss in tight spaces or after the catch. Prep Redzone scouting describes elite YAC ability and an uncanny knack for escaping congestion. • Separation and route bounce: Creates separation quickly. Shows burst out of breaks and the ability to stack moves while maintaining speed. Effective in the slot against linebackers and versatile enough to work outside. • Vision and elusiveness after the catch: High-end run-after-catch traits. Turns short throws, screens, and jet sweeps into explosives. Forces missed tackles and punishes poor angles. • Deep threat / field-stretching speed: Can take the top off a defense and is dangerous on vertical routes and returns. Game-changing speed in the open field. • Versatility / multi-phase value: Legitimate gadget/playmaker profile. Returns kicks and punts, contributes on defense (coverage and finishing ability), and can be used in creative packages (motion, sweeps, etc.). High football IQ and competitiveness noted. • Big-play production: Consistently produces highlight-reel plays. Junior film and the senior opener both show the ability to take over stretches of games. #RollWave Make sure to follow Patrick Harkness on X