While everyone else was enjoying their turkey and mashed potatoes this past Thursday night, Tulane sports fans were in agony as our football team fell to the University of Memphis Tigers, 34-24.  

The loss was certainly devastating. It ended what would have been an undefeated season in conference play, closed the door on any hope to get into the 12-team College Football Playoff and even kicked the Green Wave out of the AP Top 25.  

As a result, Tulane fans were in a state of panic. Panic over how Tulane now has to travel to Westpoint for the conference championship game against United States Military Academy and panic over rumors of quarterback Darian Mensah possibly entering the transfer portal. Fans even panicked over recently hired head coach Jon Sumrall leaving for a more desirable job at a Power 4 program.  

What Thursday and the following few days perusing “X” through our Hullabaloo Sports account taught me more than anything is that we all need to take a breath and relax.   

Let’s start with head coach Jon Sumrall, who nola.com’s Jeff Duncan expects to be in the running for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s head coaching job. Sumrall is a desirable candidate for a head coach — a young, sheer winner whose programs always tend to succeed and succeed immediately. While Sumrall says that he is just focused on winning the next week and not his job opportunities, of course the idea of a better job is somewhat on his mind.  

But fans would be remiss if the rumor mill between Sumrall and even QB Darian Mensah was the reason why the Green Wave lost Thursday, despite many fans pointing fingers. With the transfer portal and name, image and likeness rumors, we live in a restless college football world. Everyone’s looking for their next move and, in some cases, paycheck, while simultaneously gearing up for their next football game.  

While watching the game against Memphis, at no point did I think Sumrall lost the locker room like former head coach Willie Fritz may have during the Southern Methodist University loss. Sure, we were underprepared, but we also had a full week off and then had to get together for a primetime game on a Thursday night, different from the normal football schedule. It doesn’t help when star running back Makhi Hughes only rushes for 15 yards off nine carries. And let’s not forget we had two red zone appearances taken away from us by fumbles, one of which could have tied the game to start the second half.  

We are officially in a new era of Tulane football. An era where we don’t just want to win, but expect to win, and are disappointed with each loss. And that’s a great thing. You should feel crushed every time Memphis marched right down the field and every time one of our receivers caught a deep ball for over 40 yards and then proceeded to cough it up before hitting the ground.  

But let’s not forget the great state they are in despite the elimination from playoff contention. Tulane plays in their third straight conference championship game this weekend against Army Black Nights; the last time this happened was before World War II.   

Between Mensah and Hughes, Tulane proved they can bring in and develop talent across multiple head coaches that compete on a national stage. That is culture, and with a fanbase that is only growing, I don’t think that will change anytime soon. Let’s beat Army and bring the championship trophy where it belongs: Uptown New Orleans.