Tulane got their revenge on Northwestern on Saturday to open the 2025 college football season, wiping them out out of New Orleans, 23-3.
However, that wasn’t enough for head coach Jon Sumrall not to bring up the uniform drama in the postgame press conference.
“When you show disrespect to the city of New Orleans, that’s what’s going to happen to you,” he said. “You’re going to run into a team like this. They had a chip on their shoulder.”
For the home opener, the Green Wave sported green jerseys and a plain green helmet, which was intended to pay homage to the 2005 team on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina — the category 3 storm that ripped through Mississippi and New Orleans.
Yet, it wasn’t Tulane’s initial plan.
They wanted to wear white jerseys and white plants to match the 2005 team’s home uniform back in the day to honor the 20th anniversary squad.
However, Northwestern denied the request to wear white jerseys ahead of the matchup.
“I wanted them to wear the same exact uniform that that team wore 20 years ago,” Sumrall continued. “Request got denied. We might have used that for some extra motivation to represent the city. So, don’t disrespect New Orleans, ever.”
To kick off their season, Tulane started BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff under center. He completed 18-of-31 passing for 152 yards and a touchdown. Retzlaff also had 113 yards on the ground on 10 carries and another touchdown.
The quarterback left BYU two months after after he was accused of rape and strangulation in a bombshell lawsuit. The alleged incident is claimed to have occured at Retzlaff’s Provo home in 2023.
The lawsuit was later dismissed.
Sumrall has a long history with Tulane, having been on and off with the team since 2012.
He first joined the university as a co-defensive coordinator and then left after the 2014 season before returning in 2024 as head coach to lead the team to a 15-10 season.
This year, Tulane will be eyeing the Group of 4 berth into the College Football Playoff.
