Even through a cascading downpour, the Yulman Stadium stadium lights never shined quite this bright. Transpiring under those lights was truly an unforeseen American Conference Championship stage, with lofty stakes attached to both teams, unlike anything the conference ever saw in its previous 10 title matchups.
Prior to Friday night in New Orleans, the 2021 Cincinnati Bearcats were the only American champion to crash the exclusive College Football Playoff field, qualifying in the twilight of the 4-team era. But the playoff’s 2024 expansion to 12 qualifiers skyrocketed the American’s access to the event, thus creating the first-ever title game that doubled as a CFP play-in game.
Given Tulane’s status as No. 20 and North Texas’ as No. 24 in the CFP rankings, whichever team prevailed in the Big Easy punched a ticket to the playoff as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions. And that procedure was firmly understood by the sea of olive green and sky blue that encompassed the field the instant Tulane ousted North Texas 34-21, triumphantly claiming its second conference championship in four years.
“It’s a great night for Tulane football,” Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall said. “Good teams can be coach-led. Great teams have to be player-led. At the start of the year, I thought we had some good leaders. I think the depth of our leadership is much improved. I’m excited for these guys and selfishly, I’m grateful I get to work two jobs for a little bit longer. These guys deserve so much credit for their responses to everything that’s come up throughout the year.”
Sumrall, who accepted the lead position at Florida five days prior to kickoff, was embraced by his players as he coached his final game at Yulman Stadium. Despite a schedule trip to Gainesville the instant the season concludes, Sumrall committed to coaching the Green Wave through the conference championship and upcoming College Football Playoff run — enthusiastic about accompanying the program’s historic season.
“It’s just as important, if not more important, not how you start in a place, but how you finish,” Sumrall said. “I’m forever indebted to Tulane. I was an assistant coach here over a decade ago. It’s been complete privilege and honor to me to be the head football coach here. In my introductory press conference two years ago, I said we were gonna win the conference championship and go to the College Football Playoff. And I also said we’re gonna win it. So we’ve got work and the job isn’t done. I’m very grateful for the Tulane administration — Mike Fitts, Patrick Norton, and David Harris for allowing me to finish this job the right way and be here for these guys. It’s all about the players, man.”
North Texas entered the contest with the No. 1 ranked scoring offense and total offense in the nation, generating 46.8 points per game and never scoring under 31 all season. Plenty of that success was fueled by arguably the program’s best offensive line in history, which surrendered just 13 sacks in 12 games — the 13th-lowest total in the FBS. But in a championship setting, the Mean Green were suddenly slowed by the conditions and Tulane’s dominance in the trenches.
“Football is still a physical game, and you’ve got to play at the line of scrimmage with physicality to win this game,” Sumrall said. “I don’t care what system you run. I think their o-line was one of the more improved units in our league… But I think our defensive line’s better too. That showed its advantage for us most of the night. When you win up front on either side of the ball, everyone else’s job gets easy. Hats off to both sides of the line of scrimmage to being the more physical team.”
The Green Wave registered five sacks during North Texas’ greatest offensive struggle of the year, limiting the 11-win team to a season-low 21 points.
“You’ve got to come show us you’re the No. 2 or No. 3 or No. 1 offense,” Tchienchou said. “Starting off early, we didn’t see anything special. As the game went on, we knew this was just another ballgame. We can play with these boys. We got the answers, and these turnovers were crucial.”
The Mean Green looked like their usual selves on the opening series, methodically maneuvering 75 yards down the field in 15 plays, as the FBS leading passer Drew Mestemaker found tight end Tre Williams III for a short touchdown. Tulane responded with a near-identical 16-play, 81-yard series, essentially exhausting the remainder of the first quarter to shorten the game.
“That first drive, they really did have to tip their hand a little bit and show us what they were gonna come with,” Tulane free safety Jack Tchienchou said. “But we knew they couldn’t do that the whole game. We knew that those third downs were critical. We had to get off the field, and we started to put everything together then.”
The turning point transpired in the early second quarter, right after a sack backed up North Texas to 3rd and 21. Mestemaker attempted to make up yardage on a screen to star running back Caleb Hawkins. Once the true freshman racked up 11 yards, Tchienchou punched the ball out and cornerback LJ Green recovered, positioning the Green Wave at the North Texas 37. Hawkins, the nation’s leader in rushing touchdowns, laid on the field during Green’s recovery, subsequently exiting due to injury without a return.
Riding a tidal wave of momentum, the Green Wave’s new feature tailback Jamauri McClure took matters into his own ends in a 2-play series, driving an entire pile of white jerseys for a 30-yard pickup and then waltzing freely into the end zone on a 7-yard touchdown. McClure logged 121 yards in the victory, marking a season-high for any Tulane running back.
“To be able to see his progression — he’s a different guy than he was (Week 1 vs.) Northwestern,” Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff said of McClure. “His maturity throughout the season has been so incredible to watch. As a guy that’s been around football too long — five years — to watch a guy young like that progress in that way, to where if he made a mistake earlier in the year, he was straight-up down in the dumps. I had a couple great conversations with him on what it takes to be a great player, and he took that to heart. He improved on it day after day. It shows up in the game.”
The mismatch at the line of scrimmage and a massive special teams debacle further extended the Green Wave advantage. Right before halftime, a Tulane punt collided with an unsuspecting Baron Tipton, quite distant from the return man. The Green Wave pounced on the line ball from the 13-yard line and accrued all 13 yards through hard-nosed running. On the final play of the second quarter, Retzlaff was assisted past the goal line on a tush push, provided Tulane a commanding 24-7 halftime lead on its homefield.
“Our returner was trying to go get the ball,” North Texas head coach Eric Morris said. “He got hit at some point and wasn’t able to advance the ball. Our guys gotta get out of the way. Our gunner was way too far down there. Those are mistakes that you can’t afford to happen and give them the ball in that position at that time in the game, after the defense had just gotten them off the field. I thought that was a catastrophic play for our football program.”
The barrage only continued in the second half when Mestemaker’s pass to his leading receiver Wyatt Young deflected off Young’s gloves and into those of Tulane outside linebacker Chris Rodgers — marking just the third game in 13 starts the quarterback misfired to the defense. Rodgers raced 35 yards behind an entourage of blockers, but he coughed the ball right around the goal line, thanks to Mestemaker throwing his body on the line as an obstacle. After a lengthy and controversial review, the touchdown was upheld, providing Tulane a commanding 31-7 lead.
North Texas experienced déjà vu the following possession, which marked the offense’s fifth-straight scoreless drive. On the doorstep of the end zone, another Mestemaker pass deflected off Young’s hands, and Tchienchou was waiting right Young behind in the blue paint. The free safety dove for a juggling grab to secure the Green Wave’s fourth takeaway of the contest. With a team-high nine tackles to go along with an interception and forced fumble, Tchienchou claimed Most Outstanding Player honors, joining SMU strong safety Isaiah Nwokobia (2023) as the second defender to warrant the award.
“It’s surreal,” Tchienchou said on his award. “It’s a blessing. We worked so hard to get to this position, and the opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of opportunity. That’s what we did tonight.”
In 11 wins this seasons, North Texas committed a combined seven turnovers. Yet, the Mean Green committed five turnovers in their only regular season defeat vs. South Florida and then coughed up the ball five times in Friday’s championship loss at Tulane — the prevailing theme of both shortcomings.
“That was the formula for losing,” Morris said. “We’ve done that twice this year, and those were games where we weren’t able to capture the win. The turnover margin was huge today, and I thought they did a nice job up front on their defensive line getting some pressure on us early in the game and not being able to have clean pockets at times.”
North Texas overcame its turnover struggles in the late third quarter and trimmed the deficit to 31-21 with over nine minutes to go, but it was too late. The Green Wave collected 199 rushing yards as a unit, essentially pounding the rock and controlling the clock until the trophy was hoisted.
North Texas (11-2, 7-1 American) suffered its second defeat of 2025. The Mean Green won’t qualify for the playoff, but this still remains the best season in program history. They set a new program record for wins behind a domineering offense and crashed the American Championship stage — while also earning a ranking for the first time since 1959.
“I’m proud of the season we had and proud of the guys coming together the way they did,” Morris said. “We created a lot of history for North Texas football this year, then ultimately fell up short today coming in and playing a great team on the road. There’s no way in hell you can turn the ball over five times like this and expect to win.”
Tulane (12-1, 7-1 American) will see its logo during Sunday’s unveiling of the College Football Playoff bracket, certain to land a spot as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions. The Green Wave’s seeding and opponent are yet to be determined, as Saturday’s results determine the fate of where Sumrall and Co. land for the most significant game in program history.
“We expect to see our logo pop up, but I’m more excited to see what comes Monday in practice,” Retzlaff said. “There’s gonna be a lot of smiles around this building because we have a great opportunity in front of us.”
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