Four games into the new season, the Green Wave has a lot to be excited about. The team took a disappointing loss to Ole Miss, but its ability to stay in the game through three quarters without star quarterback Michael Pratt is certainly nothing to sulk about. Kai Horton did an honorable job of holding down the fort in Pratt’s two-game absence and paved the way for Tulane to gain a stronghold on the American Athletic Conference once again.

With conference play up next, the team will have their hands full, as the University of Alabama at Birmingham is undoubtedly licking its chops at the opportunity to take down the reigning conference champs in its inaugural game in the AAC. 

It does not get any easier from there. Following the bye week, the team will welcome a familiar foe to town, as the University of Memphis started the season red-hot, winning the first three games before falling to No. 23 University of Missouri by a touchdown.

There is a lot to like about what we have seen from the Green Wave so far and even more to look forward to for the rest of the season, but let’s revert our attention for a moment to some other interesting stories surrounding the team. 

Little League to the Big Easy: Offensive linemen Cameron Wire and Prince Pines have been two major reasons for the Green Wave’s hot start to the season. The offensive line has been clicking and giving quarterbacks Pratt and Horton plenty of time in the pocket. The offensive line has gelled surprisingly fast, and there may be an underlying reason for that. Guard Pines and tackle Wire lead the left side of Tulane’s offensive line, which protects the quarterback’s blind side. Pines is not a new face anymore. He helped lead the team to a Cotton Bowl Classic victory last season in his first year in New Orleans, but he made a couple of stops before arriving on campus. Pines redshirted his first season in 2018 at Baylor University before playing in all 14 games for the Bears in 2019, helping them go 11-3 and reach the Big 12 Conference championship game as well as the Sugar Bowl. He then transferred to Sam Houston State University, where he started for two seasons in 2020 and 2021, before finally landing with the Green Wave.

Wire also had a unique road to New Orleans, which started in Baton Rouge, playing for the LSU Tigers. Wire played at LSU for five years, seeing the field in 28 games, including 11 starts. Wire transferred in-state to Tulane this past offseason to use his extra year of college eligibility. 

Although Pines and Wire had very different college paths before arriving at Tulane, their bond stretches back to when they were kids. They even allegedly played together in a youth basketball league before they could have ever imagined teaming up on the football field at the Division I level. Although they were teammates playing an entirely different sport, it is no surprise that their athleticism and chemistry on the basketball court transferred seamlessly over to the football field.

The Green Wave’s Ex-Colonel: After trouncing the Nicholls State University Colonels 36-7, it is easy to see the overall talent difference between the Green Wave, reigning AAC champions, and the Colonels, a winless team in the Southland Conference. However, it might be a surprise to many that Tulane’s arguably best player on defense, Jarius Monroe, was a Colonel just a couple of seasons ago. Monroe was an under-the-radar player coming out of high school, with only a handful of offers before he committed to Nicholls State in February 2019. Monroe quickly proved his talent and played in all 21 games in his first two seasons at Nicholls before entering the transfer portal in January 2022. 

It’s clear why Monroe would choose the Green Wave now, following its illustrious Cotton Bowl victory and conference championship; however, when Monroe committed, Tulane was coming off a disappointing 2-10 season with little to boast about. Monroe’s emergence in his first season with the team proved to be a vital part of its success. He won 2022 All-AAC First Team selection and made the 2023 Reese’s Senior Bowl Watchlist before this season began.

All the success he has had on the field for Tulane has led many to forget about his time at Nicholls State altogether. However, Monroe hasn’t forgotten, and when the Colonels came to town this past weekend to face off with the Green Wave in Yulman Stadium, he was ready. With the first quarter winding down, Nicholls State quarterback Pat McQuaide fired a pass down the right sideline, but Monroe read the route perfectly and stepped in front of the wide receiver to intercept the pass. Monroe then sped down the sideline with the ball for 28 yards, before finally being tripped up and tackled. Monroe erased a well-orchestrated drive from the Colonels that could have cut into Tulane’s 10-0 lead at the time and instead put the Green Wave in a prime position to score themselves. Monroe did what he has been doing his entire college career: make game-changing plays; however, this time, it was to the detriment of the Nicholls State Colonels.

Changing of the Guard: In terms of the entire campaign for the Green Wave, Saturday’s game against the Nicholls State Colonels was fairly forgettable. The team dominated from beginning to end, and Nicholls seemed outmatched in every facet of the game. However, Pratt did something that he and the record books will not forget. In the first quarter, Pratt fired a 40-yard pass to wide receiver Lawrence Keys III for a touchdown. The touchdown pass would go down as Pratt’s 73rd over the course of his entire Tulane career, which broke a tie with Patrick Ramsey, 1998 to 2001, who had held the school’s passing touchdowns record for 22 years until this weekend. A pretty cool milestone for Tulane’s greatest passer in school history.

Did you know? Patrick Ramsey, Tulane’s previous touchdown pass record holder, played in his final game for the Green Wave on Nov. 17, 2001. Pratt, the Green Wave’s new record holder, was born on Sept. 30, 2001. This means Ramsey threw his final touchdown pass for the Green Wave less than two months after Pratt was born. Ramsey threw the football while Pratt was the still size of one.

The last word: “Coming back after winning the conference, a lot of people kind of put a target on our head, which happens any time you’ve had past success…You’ve got to embrace it. How we were last year, a lot of teams didn’t think much of us going into a lot of games. You’ve got to embrace every situation you have.”

• Pratt, in his press conference following the win vs. Nicholls State