South Alabama vs. Tulane Prediction, Odds, Trends and Key Players for College Football Week 1
By Josh Yourish
Last year was a dream season for Tulane, and it is trying not to wake up in 2023 either. The Green Wave went 12-2 under head coach Willie Fritz, and led by quarterback Michael Pratt they beat USC in the Cotton Bowl, 46-45.
Pratt is back for his junior season and Tulane is No. 24 in the preseason AP Poll.
South Alabama will start the year where it ended last season, New Orleans.
It finished off a 10-3 season with loss to Western Kentucky in the New Orleans Bowl. The team narrowly missed out on a trip to the Sun Belt Championship Game and has its sights set on a conference title with Kane Wommack in his third season at the helm and Carter Bradley back at quarterback.
The South Alabama Jaguars are road underdogs in Week 1 against the Tulane Green Wave, but whichever team wins this one could be poised to make some noise as a Group of Five team to watch.
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South Alabama vs. Tulane odds, spread and total
Tulane and South Alabama Betting Trends
- Tulane went 12-2 ATS last season
- The over was 8-6 in Tulane’s games in 2022
- South Alabama went 7-6 ATS last season
- The over was 8-4-1 in South Alabama’s games in 2022
South Alabama vs. Tulane How to Watch
- Date: Saturday, Sept. 2
- Game Time: 8:00 PM EST
- Venue: Yulman Stadium
- How to Watch (TV): ESPNU
- South Alabama Record: 0-0
- Tulane Record: 0-0
South Alabama vs. Tulane Key Players to Watch
South Alabama
La’Damian Webb, RB: The Jaguars finished last season 62nd in rushing offense and 34th in passing offense, and are returning their leading passer and leading rusher. Webb ran for 1,062 yards on 209 carries last season and finished the year with 13 touchdowns. He’ll be important to bring a pass-heavy offense some balance.
Tulane
Michael Pratt: Pratt was fantastic last season, but Tyjae Spears was the best player on the Tulane offense. With Spears now on the Tennessee Titans, even more responsibility will fall on Pratt’s shoulders. Last season he threw for 3,010 yards and 27 touchdowns with just five interceptions, and ran for 478 yards and 10 more scores.
South Alabama vs. Tulane prediction and pick
Tulane isn’t just riding the high of last season, it has a very real chip on its shoulder heading into this season.
The team just won the American Athletic Conference with a 45-28 win over UCF and then watched as the Big 12 grabbed UCF, Cincinnati and Houston from its conference, but left the Green Wave behind.
They’ll want to make a statement all year long and Willie Fritz has the roster to do it.
Tyjae Spears was excellent last season, but with four starters returning on the offensive line should be creating plenty of holes for Shaadie Clayton-Johnson and Shedro Louis to run through. Long term I feel good about this Tulane team and Fritz’s program, but I think it might getting overvalued in Week 1.
South Alabama is one of the few teams in the country able to return its leading passer, rusher and receiver from last season.
Jalen Wayne will be a big loss from a strong wide receiver group, but Devin Voisin led the team in receiving yards with 867 on 64 catches with five touchdowns and Caullin Lacy was third on the team in yards, but actually first in receptions with 65 for 813 yards and six touchdowns.
La’Damian Webb led the team in rushing and is the lead back again this year after averaging 5.1 yards a carry.
This passing offense led by Carter Bradley is going to be great. Bradley threw for 3,336 yards and 28 TDs with just 12 picks last season and completed 64.8% of his passes. Bradley will be able to hit the ground running with two of his favorite targets on the field with him.
Last year, Tulane was 20th in yards per play at 6.3, but South Alabama wasn’t all that far behind with 5.6 yards per play which ranked 51st. Tulane allowed 5.1 yards per play (31st) and South Alabama allowed 5.2 (39th). These teams are a lot more similar than it would seem with Tulane ranked in the Top 25, so I’ll take the points with South Alabama.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change