Early look: Duke and Tulane enter new eras ahead of Week 1 matchup
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The reigning ACC champion Duke Blue Devils will meet a familiar foe in a return trip of a home-and-home series that began last season in New Orleans.
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Duke will play host to the Tulane Green Wave out of the American Athletic Conference to kick off a season in which both programs enter looking to overcome offseason losses. Here is my way-too-early look at Duke vs Tulane.
To better understand this season’s matchup, it's important to look back on what transpired last season when the Blue Devils made the trip down to the Bayou.
The storyline entering the game was Duke quarterback Darian Mensah making his return to New Orleans after dazzling as the Green Wave’s starting quarterback in 2024, before transferring to Duke in December of that year.
He was met with a rather rude reception by the home fans and his former teammates.
Mensah, who had completed less than 60 percent of his passes only twice in 15 prior collegiate starts, went 30 for 51 with 313 yards.
Tulane, led by a four-touchdown rushing effort from quarterback Jake Retzlaff, spoiled Menah’s homecoming with a 34-27 upset victory.
Both teams went on to find huge success as the season progressed. Duke was crowned champions of the ACC, while the Green Wave qualified for the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Now, things on both sides look drastically different.
Duke lost Mensah and his No. 1 pass-catcher Cooper Barkate to Miami, while Tulane’s head coach Jon Sumrall will serve as the head man at Florida.
Retzlaff is also absent from the roster as he declared for the 2026 NFL Draft, going undrafted and attending rookie minicamps with the Jets and Seahawks.
Tulane proceeded to hire passing game coordinator Will Hall as its next head coach. In that position, the Green Wave offense ranked 48th in passing offense in 2025.
“I know I wasn’t the first choice for some people here,” he said in his introductory press conference. “But I can tell you I am the best choice and the right choice for this place at this time.”
While Duke is likely turning to San Jose State transfer Walker Eget to run the offense, the Tulane quarterback situation is very much up in the air.
Hall is holding a true QB competition this offseason and entered spring practices with two frontrunners, Kaden Semonza and Zeon Chriss-Gremillion.
After spring practices concluded, it doesn’t appear to be a two-horse race anymore as the rest of the quarterback room has begun to close the gap.
True freshman Trace Johnson revealed some promise throughout spring ball, but it was Dagan Bruno who appeared to develop at warp speed.
The redshirt sophomore has shown a great deal of growth as a processor and decision-maker. He improved so much that Hall announced that he would be a very real part of the quarterback battle come the Fall.
Bruno’s impressive offseason culminated with a lights-out performance during the team’s spring game. During the 30-minute scrimmage, Bruno managed to go 4-for-4 through the air, capping off the performance with a 35-yard touchdown for the first offensive score of the day.
The quarterback situation in New Orleans is very fluid, but it appears that Hall has a stable of signal-callers who have a real shot of starting in Wallace Wade Stadium for Week 1.
As for the rest of the offense, the Green Wave had to revamp pretty much its entire offensive line.
Tulane added five total prospects to the o-line, enough to string together a full unit. The new additions are made up of three transfers and a pair of true freshmen. One of those true freshmen is the Green Wave’s only four-star prospect in the class, Tylan George, the 11th-ranked interior lineman in the country.
In the portal, Tulane snagged Boston College’s Ryan Mickow and Mercer’s Gavin Marks, who was ranked the 95th best interior lineman transfer on 24/7 Sports.
Elsewhere, TU added some new weaponry from the Power 4 for whoever the starting quarterback ends up being.
Destyn Hill (LSU), Jaylin Lucas (Florida State), and Johnnie Daniels (Mississippi State) make up an impressive transfer class at running back.
The defensive outfit also beefed up in the offseason as Tulane added six players in an attempt to bolster its front seven. South Alabama transfer linebacker Dalton Hughes headlines the additions. The Tupelo, Mississippi State product is a fifth-year senior and racked up 40 tackles a year ago.
With rebuilt rosters and readjusted expectations brought on by coaching changes, Duke and Tulane’s Sept. 5 rematch stands as a defining early test for two programs in a state of transition.
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: early preview of duke vs tulane in week 1