20 years after Hurricane Katrina, the resilience and toughness of a city torn to shreds was honored today by a dominating performance on the field. It was a 23-3 victory that was much more impressive than the score indicated.
All of the buzz around a team that now looks to be among the favorites to represent the group of 5 in the playoff was not the subject of conversation to Head Coach Jon Sumrall – instead, he was worried about respecting the legacy of that tragic event, and how emotionally charged this performance was made by the circumstances around this game.
We wore the green helmets today for the 20th anniversary of Katrina. We requested to wear white jerseys because that’s what that team wore. That got denied by the other team. That’s their prerogative, but when you show disrespect to the city of New Orleans, that’s what’s going to happen to you. You’re going to run into a team like this, who has a chip on that shoulder. We might have used that for a little bit of motivation, to represent the city. Don’t disrespect New Orleans ever.
Tulane Head Coach Jon Sumrall
Tulane played like a disrespected team in the game, with a physicality and edge to them that was unmistakable throughout. They held the Wildcats to 2.8 yards per carry on the ground, but the real highlight was what the Green Wave was able to do in pass defense. They came like a wave, sacking Northwestern QB Preston Stone 3 times and coming up with an unbelievable 4 INTs in the game. Adding a fumble onto that and Tulane forced 5 turnovers in the game (all by Stone), a never ending nightmare for the quarterback.
The secondary played with their hair on fire, bullying the Northwestern wide receivers at the catch point and acting as if they were the intended receiver on the play. They were more the more physical unit, and the skill shown to actually catch some of those passes was nothing short of outstanding.
“If you’re not tough, you can’t play at Tulane. If the ball is in the air, it’s our ball just as much as it’s the receiver’s ball.”
Tulane CB Jaheim “Joker” Johnson
On offense, the story of the day was extremely new QB Jake Retslaff. Unique circumstances surrounding the former BYU star QB led to the extremely rare July transfer, where he joined the Tulane team just 38 days before the game today. He didn’t look like it throughout the game though, posting an impressive dual threat performance. He was 18 for 31 passing for 152 yards and a TD, and added 113 yards and a TD on the ground. The only real flaw on either side of the ball was drops, as Green Wave receivers dropped six passes on the day (including two in the endzone), and other miscommunications reared their ugly head at times during the game.
On the other hand, The nightmare game for Preston Stone started from the very beginning. The first play from scrimmage was a huge sack by Harvey Dyson, and the third was an interception by Jaheim Johnson. This set up Retslaff and the offense with good field position, and they drew first blood with a systematic touchdown drive.
Despite having little time in the offseason to gel with his new teammates, Retslaff looked comfortable operating the offense from the very first drive. He found WR Omari Hayes for multiple chunk passes, and starting RB Maurice Turner rattled off solid runs to get the Green Wave all the way down to the 1 yard line. From there, Retslaff through his first touchdown in a Tulane uniform, finding TE Justyn Reid in the back of the endzone to put Tulane up 7-0 early.
Northwestern QB Preston Stone found a couple of big passes over the middle to build a response from the Wildcats, but the Tulane redzone defense bowed up and stopped them to force a field goal by Luke Akers, making the score 7-3.
Tulane continued to control things in the second quarter, most notably with a second pick (this time by Jack Tchienchou) but struggled in the redzone. Tulane added two field goals, but Northwestern had a promising drive late in the 2nd quarter with a chance to close the gap before the half.
In that moment, we had the critical 3 play sequence that defined this game. Northwestern is in Tulane territory with a little over a minute left down by only 10, and any points here would likely make it a 1 score game going into the half. Stone sees a chance and takes a shot deep, but the Wildcat wide receiver gets bullied at the catch point by Tulane DB Javion White, who somehow gets a foot down to get Tulane’s 3rd INT of the game.
Normally, up by 2 scores with so little time in the half (just over a minute) and pinned so deep, you would see a conservative end to the half. That was likely Tulane’s plan too, until the first play (a standard run) got bounced outside by Maurice Turner for a 16 yard gain. Now with the playbook more open, Jake Retslaff broke the game open with an incredible 69 yard touchdown run, extending the Green Wave lead to 20-3 going into the half.
Incredible really was the word to use. Retslaff took a QB draw right up the middle, and it was as if the red sea parted in front of him. There wasn’t a Wildcat defender anywhere near him for the entire run as he glided to glory, a beautiful sight to behold.
Tulane didn’t let up in the second half, starting with the ball and sucking the life out of Northwestern with a 16 play, 8 minute long field goal drive. Northwestern didn’t give up, continuing to make progress, but running into a brick wall at midfield each time. The game stayed 23-3 going into the 4th, where Stone kicked it off by throwing his 4th pick of the game, the second one to Javion White.
The rest of the 4th quarter went uneventfully as Tulane just killed the game, getting their 5th turnover when Stone let the ball slip out of his hands on an attempted throw and Tre’Von McAlphine fell on it. Mercifully, the game ended after that, with the final score of 23-3.
Tulane kicks off the 2025 season with a statement victory, showing they are one of the first teams in the conversation for that group of 5 playoff spot. They continue their season next week at South Alabama where conference play starts. As for Northwestern, it could be a long year for them in the Big 10. They get a chance to lick their wounds next Friday when they host FCS opponent Western Illinois. Stay tuned for more Tulane coverage here at Gridiron Football!
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