Tulane Football Schedule 2026

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Each week, On SI Tulane traverses the void between the good guys and the bad guys to see what we can learn ahead of the weekend's opponent. This time, we lean towards the dark side of the force to speak with On SI Kansas State lead reporter Mark Kern.

Wildcats are on a roll. Beginning the year 2-0, 68-point victory over Nichols. You were supposed to beat Nichols, but 68 points. Dang. And then in week two, a 27-point win over Washington State. People in Manhattan have got to be feeling good right now, wouldn't you say?

I mean, two weeks into the season, you know, college football, week two...I think in Manhattan, there can't be much complaints.

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I think you got to be about as happy as you possibly could. Obviously, the team, they played two teams. Washington State's got a little something. I thought their defensive line would get some issues compared to Nicholls, but I think if you're K-State, 2-0, you looked very, very good. You did what you're supposed to, as you said, but it's a good start in Manhattan for Collin Klein.

Let's talk first about the guy who's very familiar to K-State fans, but Tulane fans probably don't know much about him. The new head coach, Collin Klein, a former Wildcat quarterback. He's worked his way through the system, through the ranks, so to speak, and he's now the Kansas State head man. Tell us a little bit about Coach Klein.

Oh, cool thing was I was a student reporter at K-State during Colin Klein's heyday, actually, when he went to the Big 12, was the sports editor at the K-State Collegian. So, Colin Klein gave me one of the most fun years of my journalism career, leading K-State. They got up to number one his senior year, won the Big 12, played in the Fiesta Bowl against Oregon.

So, Colin Klein's been a part of two of the three K-State Big 12 championships as a quarterback and then as the offense coordinator in 22. Colin Klein is as beloved with K-State football players there's ever been, and you know, it's two weeks, and like you said, you take it with a grain of salt, but he, as soon as he got the job in December, K-State's recruiting class is on paper to be one of the best recruiting classes in K-State history.

The transfer portal guys were about to talk about, he has done everything and more you could do in the first nine months of the job, and that's all you can do, right?

His offense has been described as aggressive. So, what does that mean? What does an aggressive offense mean for Kansas State?

Well, they want to run the ball. I mean, Colin Klein, when he was a quarterback, he ran the ball every play, and defenses knew what was coming, and you still got to stop it, and so, his offense, I mean, it is a very diverse offense. What he's done the last two years at Texas A&M, quarterback Marcel Reed, there has a lot of similarities to Avery Johnson, the way they play, and he was a big part of getting Avery Johnson to Manhattan as the offensive coordinator. So, they're going to mix the rush. There's about seven guys that are a big part of this offense, and I think it just makes them really tough to stop.

Let's flip to the other side, the Wildcat D. Now, this is not to take anything away from Collin himself, but he's a more of an offensive guy, you know. So, what happens with the Wildcat D, which, by the way, has been impressive in its first two weeks, and it's been described as a physical kind of football. Am I right to describe it that way?

Oh, yeah. Jordan Peterson's defense coordinator, he was with Kline and Texas A&M, so they kind of built that relationship. And, I mean, as good as Colin Kline has done in his first two games, the defense has given up 288 yards of offense in eight quarters, three points.

The touchdown Washington State scored was a horrific pick six at the end of the half. That could have been really bad for K-State, but they were able to overcome it. But the defense is swarming.

I think you described it a great way. Defensive end, Wendell Gregory, I think, transferred from Oklahoma State last year as the Big 12 freshman defensive player of the year. Wendell Gregory, I think K-State fans need to enjoy in the next 10 weeks, because he is going to be playing on a different day next year.

He is that level of defensive end. He had two sacks against Washington State, can absolutely take over a game. But the secondary's been much better than I think a lot of people could have hoped for.

I've never been to Manhattan, Kansas. So describe for me a game day. What is a game day experience like?

I think for K-State, what makes it so cool, obviously I'm biased, I went there. But one of the cool things about it is it is your true “college town,” right? Like Manhattan lives and dies with K-State sports in general. Obviously, especially football, students make up nearly half of the population in Manhattan. So in the summer, Manhattan is not as lively as during the school year, but it's one of those things. It doesn't matter if it's 11 or 3 o’clock or 8 o'clock. It's one of the true electric atmospheres to me. The stadium's not as big as a lot. It's probably 52 to 55 (thousand). But the way it was built, it gets loud.

You can take the fifth if you desire, but do you have a prediction for the game? K-State is a 20.5-point favorite. That's a bundle. That's a, that's a lot of points. And so if you'd like to make a prediction, you may, you don't have to.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I think, you know, the last two matchups between K-State and Tulane has been split. The road team has won both games, pretty exciting, pretty exciting games, especially the one at Tulane a couple of years ago, Avery Johnson. I think that was his first year starting an extremely exciting game. So, you know, I, Tulane, obviously with the coaching change going through, you know, a little different time or whatever, but there's still a lot of players there that have enjoyed success.

I think for K-State got to keep building off of it. I think one thing I noticed for Tulane, I think they might struggle stopping the K-State passing game. I think this might be a little bit more of a passing week for K-State.

I like K-State to win this one. I don't think they'll cover, but I like this one. It's one of those games where they get up comfortable, kind of take their foot off the pedal.