Tulane 2026 Football Schedule

It's been a rough week for Green Wave fans as they've had to bring themselves down from the high that was the Memphis win, and slowly settle back into reality with the beating that UTSA put on them last Saturday.

The loss and sting is still fresh, not just for the fans, but for the players and staff as well.

Here is the transcript of Head Coach Will Hall's opening statement and the questions that followed after. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Ready to Bounce Back

Excited to get back on the field this week. After a performance like that, you're always itching to play as soon as possible. Glad it's a short week. Got an opponent, man, that's playing their best football. You know, their record's not good, but they are a really good football team right now. To go on a road, to Temple, and win that game, where they lost the turnover battle, and still one on the road. They've got a new quarterback, Conner Harrell, who I'm familiar with, great high school player in Birmingham. Signed, you know, P4, has been there (Charlotte) now for a little while and been hurt and banged up. He comes from a great family. His dad, Marvin, a dear friend of mine, and Conner came back two weeks ago versus Temple, and played really well, gave them a big time boost, scored 38 points, and they're playing their best football. Going to be a huge, huge game for both teams. We're itching to play. No, we've got to play better. We got to leverage the football better on defense, and we got to protect the football on offense. That was disappointing, and we've got to find a way to perform better on offense is something we've been attacking. Just an all around bad effort last week, looking forward to playing this week.

Coach, aside from the Temple win, what is it about Charlotte that gives that they're playing their best football?

That's it. The last game is the best game they've, you know, played. And look, Coach (Tim) Albin's a winner and a great human being. He won so many games at Ohio (University). I have so much respect for him, and he got there and inherited a mess, and he is building it back the right way. He's a program builder. That takes time sometimes. Even though people don't want to give you time, it takes time, and you can see how much better of a football team they are than last year, you can see them growing throughout this year. And when you get great quarterback play, it just really improves everything. And they got great quarterback play at Temple. I mean, you're talking about a Temple team that went on the road, beat South Florida, that took Army to the wire, and, you know, to go into their place, lose the turnover battle, and win that game, that's a big time win now. And so, uh, they're explosive on offense and a scary team.

What did it take to remind (your) guys to not play down to their competition?

 I mean, like, we've got to play better. The standard here is about us. You know, we're still trying to play our best and play our best game. So that's what I've been talking about consistently. You know, we've had some games where we play dynamic defensively. We've had some games where we play good, but not our best. You know, the other night, we lost leverage a few times. We did force some takeaways again. We forced nine takeaways in two weeks. We gotta keep that going.

We did not play up to our standard in special teams. We had a turnover in kicking game and a penalty. That's something we break it down on every week, every day in special teams, is on the ball. Don't let it go, and then no penalties. We did not own the ball and we had a huge penalty that was devastating in that game. That's not us. That's not who we are. We got to prove that again this week.

And then offensively, we got to find consistency. We've got to establish a better run game and, you know, I was pleased with the development of our passing game. That's been something that's been a growing thing all year with a lot of new skill guys, a lot of quarterback transition, a young quarterback, and I thought, you know, versus a really good football team that dares to throw it. I thought we made some plays in the pass game. We've got to continue that.

I know this is still early in the week of prep, but comparing the short week between playing Memphis (and playing Charlotte), of course, you pick up the win there and then this short week here, what really jumps out about maybe that sense of urgency from your team?

We'll follow the same routine that we did versus Memphis. You know, I've been doing this a long time, so I've got my routines. And we obviously that routine worked for us last time. We feel confident in that routine. Uh, it's something that's worked for us a lot in the past. And we're following it.

Do you feel like the motivation for your team is still there?

I think it's even more there. You know, I think anytime you don't represent yourself in a way that you would like to, you know, I think that creates the most motivation ever. you know I know in my life, anytime I ever feel like I've let somebody down or fallen short, I'm always motivated to make that right. And so I think we're probably more motivated than ever. Right now, after performance like that.

You're pretty banged up on the offensive line. What's it gonna take to to to be able to be more effective with the run again?

We're really banged up there and nobody cares. You know what I mean? I mean, that just is what it is. That's college football. We've had a year where a lot of our O-linemen had been hurt and banged up. We got a lot of transition. You know, that's forced us to, uh, to find answers. forced us to search for new things. We've got some young guys that've got to step up and play because of that and they're talented and they're good players. They just don't have a lot of experience. We've got to do things that they can do offensively. And, uh, we gotta build it around that. You know, it has been a challenge, though, because, oh, this will be our 5th different starting lineup, you know, and, it's been a moving part. A lot of times it's been moving in game, which is also hard. But hey man, nobody cares. You know, we gotta find a way to get it done.

You mentioned the passing game in the receivers, Bredell Richardson made an incredible catch, Oliver Mitchell had his best game now, how do you feel about the development of that group?

It's been huge to see because, you know, we had C.J. (Zycarl) Lewis coming back. We had Anthony Brown-Stevens coming back, who played a lot for us last year. Ollie (Oliver Mitchell) played sparingly, and (Garrett) Mmahat had played sparingly due to the injury. So, you know, building that rapport, then you lose CJ right off the bat, you bring in Fat (Hill) as a newcomer, but (Seth) Gale is a newcomer, and Gabe Daniels is a newcomer. You just continue to grow and grow and grow, and then you have quarterback transition. Okay? With a lot of new quarterbacks, and then now we're with Trace Johnson. And so just getting on the same page has been a little bit of a process. It has taken longer than we would have liked.

But I think you've seen those young men battle. I think you can see them playing with joy now, with confidence and joy, because they know where they're supposed to be, and they made some big time plays last week. It was really great to see Ollie have that opportunity, because he's a guy that really embodies what we're about here. He's Edna Karr, he has leadership capabilities, even though he's young. He really cares about his teammates. I know Fat can tell you that, but he's been hurt. He had a hamstring issue, and he's finally overcome and gotten in a groove. It was great to see him, and he's a weapon, that really helps our offense.