Tulane football team tops preseason American Athletic Conference poll

ARLINGTON, Texas _ Coming off a record-setting turnaround, the Tulane football team made more history on Tuesday morning.
The Green Wave, whose leap from two wins in 2021 to 12 in 2022 is unprecedented in the FBS, was picked to repeat as American Athletic Conference champion in a poll released during the league’s Media Days. Tulane garnered 20 of 34 first-place media votes, earning the top spot in an official preseason tabulation for the first time ever in any league.
The Wave, with 457 overall points, beat out second-place Texas-San Antonio (440) in the new-look, 14-team AAC, which lost Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston to the Big 12 while adding UTSA, Rice, North Texas, UAB, Florida Atlantic and Charlotte.
“It’s always an honor to have people believe in you,” said center Sincere Haynesworth, who participated in the Senior Day ceremony last November before deciding to return for a fifth season. “It’s a new feeling for us, but it gives us something to work harder for. You’re always looking for reasons to go harder and that’s just another one. It’s truly an honor. We have a lot of work to do.”
Michael Pratt’s decision to come back for his fourth year as a starting quarterback assured the preseason honor for Tulane, which capped off its first AAC championship by scoring 16 points in the final 4:05 for a 46-45 comeback victory against USC in the Cotton Bowl. Pratt accounted for 37 touchdowns (27 passing, 10 rushing) with only five interceptions, but the Wave has to replace running back Tyjae Spears—the AAC offensive player of the year—and its top five tacklers.
“We just have to stay true to our roots and work with the same intensity that we have the past three years every single day,” Pratt said. “I talk all the time about the culture that coach Fritz has implemented and the kind of guys he brings into the program. Nobody lets that get to their head or thinks they are too big for the team.”
Texas-San Antonio, the Conference USA champion in 2021 and 2022, received nine first-place votes. The Roadrunners return 18 starters, including seventh-year (that is no misprint) quarterback Frank Harris, the 2022 CUSA most valuable player. Tulane hosts Texas-San Antonio on Nov. 25 in the final game of the regular season.
“We’re just focused on going 1-0 each week,” said cornerback Jarius Monroe, using the catchphrase the Wave adopted last year. “That was really big for me as a player and as a person. That mentality will help us a lot this year.”
SMU, Memphis, Florida Atlantic, East Carolina, North Texas, UAB, Navy, Temple, Tulsa, Rice, South Florida and Charlotte rounded out the poll. SMU, which returns eight starters on both sides of the ball and avoids Tulane and Texas-San Antonio, picked up three first-place votes. Memphis and UAB got one apiece.
How new is this feeling for Tulane? The Wave received zero preseason first-place-votes in its nine previous years in the AAC and never finished higher than fifth in the overall points total (2019).
It was a similar story during Tulane’s tenure in Conference USA from 1996-2013. Even following a 12-0 season in 1998, the Wave was picked fourth in the 1999 preseason poll.
The media pick has gone on to win the AAC three times in 10 years—Cincinnati in 2014 and 2021 and Central Florida in 2018. Houston, the preseason favorite last season, wound up tied for fourth at 5-3 in league play.
That is one of many reasons coach Willie Fritz played down the lofty projection.
“We were preseason No. 7 last year,” he said. “My preparation’s always been the same. I’m very consistent. If you look back at past successes or failures, you’re not going to be the very best you can. I never brought up where we were ranked last year to our guys, and I’m not going to bring it up this year.”