Opponent Preview: Week 3 – Tulane Green Wave

Week: 3

Date: Saturday, September, 19, 2026

Location: Bill Snyder Family Stadium – Manhattan, Kansas

Time: 11 A.M. CST

TV: ESPN 2

Seasons at School (as head coach): 0

Overall Coaching Record (FBS) – 14-30

Southern Miss: 14-30

Tulane: 0-0

Overall Record: 11-3

Conference Record: 7-1

Northwester: W – 23-3

South Alabama: W – 33-31

Duke: W – 34-27

(13) Ole Miss: L – 10-45

Tulsa: W – 31-14

East Carolina: W – 26-19

Army: W – 24-17

UTSA: L – 26-48

Memphis: W – 38-32

Florida Atlantic: W – 35-24

Temple: W – 37-13

Charlotte: W – 27-0

North Texas: W – 34-24

CFP First Round – Ole Miss: L – 10-41

*Bold Indicates player returning for the 2026 season

Passing Yards: Jake Retzlaff – 3168

Touchdown Passes: Jake Retzlaff – 15

Rushing Yards: Jake Retzlaff – 634

Rushing Touchdowns: Jake Retzlaff – 16

Receiving Yards: Shazz Preston – 723

Receiving Touchdowns: Shazz Preston – 4

Total Touchdowns: Jake Retzlaff – 16

Tackles: (S) Jack Tchienchou – 83

Sacks: (DE) Harvey Dyson III – 8

Tackles for Loss: (DE) Harvey Dyson III – 11.5

Interceptions: (CB) Jaheim Johnson – 4

Quarterback: Kadin Semonza

Offensive line: (C) John Bock II

Running back: Jamauri McClure

Wide Receiver / Tight End: Anthony Brown-Stevens

Defensive Line: Ed Smith

Linebacker: Chris Rodgers

Secondary: Jack Tchienchou

7th in the 14-team American Conference

In 2022, Kansas State won the Big 12 while at the same time losing to Tulane at home in the second game of the season. In 2024, the Wildcats traveled to New Orleans and came home with a 34-27 win over new Florida head coach Jon Sumrall and new Miami quarterback Darian Mensah (by way of Duke). Thankfully, the Wildcats didn’t play Tulane in 2025, because the Green Wave, led by former BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff, had the offense humming on their way to a CFP appearance (a first-round loss to Ole Miss).

Tulane has knocked its last two coaching hires out of the park, which is why 2025 passing game coordinator Will Hall is in charge for the 2026 season while former coaches Willie Fritz and Jon Sumrall have moved on to P4 programs. A good season for Tulane usually results in a coaching search the following offseason. The good news for Kansas State is that this looks like a total rebuild for the Green Wave on both sides of the ball. Retzlaff graduated, and Sumrall has begun the process of getting fired by Florida by accepting the Florida job. Hall provides the program with much-needed continuity, but at some point, all of the coach and player defections have to catch up with them…right?

Coach Hall’s first order of business for 2026 is selecting a quarterback. Ball State transfer Kadin Semonza was favored to win the starting job last year after throwing for 25 touchdowns for the Cardinals in 2024 but lost the job when Retzlaff became available late after violating BYU’s honor code. He’s small, listed at 5’11”, 195, and those measurements look like they were taken on a tall day, but he makes up for that with his ability to maneuver in the pocket and make off-platform throws. The former MAC Freshman of the Year can conjure something from nothing, which was his task for a moribund Ball State program. The Cardinals won only two conference games in 2024, but Semonza led the MAC in passing attempts, completions, and touchdowns despite having little-to-no talent around him.

He’s battling for the starting job with a well-known Kansas State villain. Zeon Chriss-Gremillion played one of the best games of his career in the pouring Houston rain against the Wildcats in 2024. He completed 11/11 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown and led the Cougars in rushing with 75 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, including a back-breaking 41-yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter. Chriss-Gremillion’s problem is, up until now, he’s been an athlete playing quarterback. In two seasons at Houston, he threw 5 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. In 2024, he led Houston in rushing attempts, and I kind of wonder why he doesn’t just get rid of the throwing altogether and play running back.

My guess is that Semonza wins the starting job, but Zeon also plays a good bit as a rushing option, similar to how Kansas State used Avery and Blake Barnett last season…which is weird to type because Avery Johnson shouldn’t need a designated running quarterback…but I digress. I wouldn’t be surprised to see both Tulane quarterbacks on the field at the same time in certain situations. I expect Will Hall to throw the kitchen sink at the Wildcats’ defense to try and overcome their talent disadvantage. I don’t think Tulane is talented enough to keep an athlete like Chriss-Gremillion on the bench because he’s listed as a quarterback.

Running back should be the team’s strength, which makes me lean toward Semonza starting to balance the offense. Leading 2025 rusher Jamuri McClure averaged 6.5 yards per carry in 2025 but took a back seat to Retzlaff in the offense. I assume he’ll be the focal point of the Green Wave attack in 2026. He’s joined by Florida State by way of Indiana transfer Jaylin Lucas. Lucas was a First Team All-Big 10 as a kick returner for the Hoosiers as a freshman in 2022, and was a First Team All-American kick returner for the loser from Bloomington in 2023. He played so well, in fact, that he entered the portal and Florida State picked him up, coming off a 13-1 season and looking to rebuild their ACC dynasty. The consensus around the country at the time was that the mighty Noles were back. Folks, the Noles were, in fact, not back. Lucas suffered a season-ending injury in the second game of the 2024 season and was used sparingly in 2025 as both a running back and kick returner. Meanwhile, the team he left pulled off the most stunning turnaround in the history of college football. If you go to the casino with Jaylin and he puts a stack of chips on red, my advice is to scrape together every cent you can get your hands on and bet on black because it’s possible, maybe even probable, that Lucas is cursed. I expect Tulane to try to use him as a running back, a receiver, and a kick returner. It’ll be interesting to see how the 5’9″, 175-pound back holds up to the workload, because like Chriss-Gremillion, he’s too talented to sit on the bench.

The best news for the Wildcats is that Tulane’s offensive line shouldn’t be nearly as good as it was in 2025. They’ve got a few backups returning, which helps with continuity, but the line that carried them in several games last season is no more. Retzlaff received all of the accolades, but the offensive line was the best part of Tulane’s offense last season, and it wasn’t particularly close. They have to replace 4 out of the 5 starters from last season, and unless the new offensive line coach is a miracle worker, they should have a precipitous drop-off in line play, especially early in the season before the new pieces gel as a unit.

In addition to the offensive line attrition, the defensive front was also gutted. They lost three defensive tackles to P4 programs and two defensive ends. They brought in plenty of options from the portal, including South Alabama veteran defensive tackle Ed Smith IV (class of 2020), but once again, you’ve got to think there’s going to be a drop-off with all the new faces. I expect Kansas State to make Tulane’s defensive front prove they can stop the run, because the Green Wave’s secondary may be the best returning unit on the team, despite losing star cornerback Jahiem Johnson to Arkansas. Safety Jack Tchienchou led them in tackles last season and somehow avoided getting sucked up by the portal. He’s probably Tulane’s best overall football player coming into the season and might be one of the better safeties in the country. Avery will need to account for him in both the passing and running game.

This preview could change substantially based on how Tulane looks in the opener against Duke, but as for right now, this is a game Kansas State shouldn’t just win but should dominate. The Wildcats’ defense should feast on the rebuilt offensive line, and the rushing attack should be able to grind the newly constituted Tulane defensive line into dust by the 3rd quarter. I just don’t see how Coach Hall has this team running on all cylinders in the 3rd week of the season.

If this K-State team is who I think they are, they should take the rubber match in this 3-game series and then lose Tulane’s phone number moving forward.