Football Rolls Over Northwestern, 23-3

Saturday, August 30

New Orleans. LA

11 a.m.

Tulane University

1-0 , 0-0

Northwestern University

0-1 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Northwestern

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Aug 30, 2025 | Football

Box Score

FINAL STATS
ESPN HIGHLIGHTS
POSTGAME SUMRALL PRESS CONFERENCE
POSTGAME RETZLAFF PRESS CONFERENCE
POSTGAME WHITE PRESS CONFERENCE
POSTGAME JOHNSON PRESS CONFERENCE
PHOTO GALLERY (BY PARKER WATERS)

NEW ORLEANS, LA - The Tulane football team (1-0), led by transfer quarterback Jake Retzlaff, started the season with a dominant 23-3 victory over visiting Northwestern (0-1) on Saturday afternoon at Yulman Stadium. The victory over the Wildcats was the program's first over a B1G team since 1956, which also came against the Wildcats.

The Tulane offense totaled 420 yards, including 268 yards on the ground and 152 on the air. The defense limited the Wildcats to 237 total yards, forced five turnovers (four interceptions) and had three sacks.

Retzlaff went 18-for-31 for 152 yards and a touchdown. He also had 10 carries for 113 yards including a 69-yard sprint for a score. Maurice Turner ran for 85 yards on his 13 attempts. Arnold Barnes III picked up 28 rushing yards and Javin Gordon ran for 24. Zuberi Mobley rounded out the backfield with 18 yards on the ground. Wide receiver Omari Hayes led the team with nine catches for 74 yards. Tight end Justyn Reid had three catches for 47 yards and the team's receiving touchdown.

Jack Tchienchou paced the defense with his eight tackles. He also had a sack. Dickson Agu and E'zaiah Shine each had five tackles. Jahiem Johnson had four pass breakups and an interception. Javion White had a pair of picks. Kevin Adams III also had an interception. Santana Hopper and Harvey Dyson III each had a sack.

Patrick Durkin made all three of his field goal attempts while Alec Clark had five punts for 244 yards with an average of 48.8 yards per kick.

After an interception by Johnson ended the Northwestern opening drive, Tulane marched down the field and scored as Retzlaff connected with Reid on a one-yard score to put the Green Wave up 7-0 at the 10:27 mark of the opening quarter.

Northwestern made it a 7-3 game just before the end of the first quarter (00:40) on a 21-yard field by Luke Akers. It proved to be the team's only score of the game.

The Green Wave again went up by a touchdown on the ensuing drive as Durkin knocked in a 22-yard field goal to put the program up 10-3 with 11:07 remaining in the second quarter.

Durkin extended the lead to 13-3 with a his 41-yard bootl with 5:18 remaining in the second quarter.

Retzlaff showed off the speed on the next Tulane drive as he took it 69 yards for a touchdown to put the Green Wave up 20-3 with 1:28 left until the break.

Durkin knocked in his third field goal of the game, this one from 31 yards out, to increase the Tulane lead to 23-3 with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter in what would end up being the final margin of victory.

Next, the football team gets on the road for the first time with a trip to Mobile, Alabama to take on South Alabama on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 6 p.m. at Hancock Whitney Stadium.

NOTES:

- The last time Tulane beat a Power 4 opponent at the time of the matchup at home was against Mississippi State in 2003.

- The team's last overall victory over a Power 4 school was the 46-45 victory over USC in the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl.

- The victory for head coach Jon Sumrall was his first over a Power 4 school in his career and makes him 1-5 all-time against schools in the B1G, Big 12 and the SEC.

- Tulane's four interceptions was the most for the program since also getting that many against Nicholls (9/26/23).

- Javion White's two interceptions were the most for a Tulane player since Macon Clark also had two picks against Houston (10/8/20).

- Jake Retzlaff is the sixth different quarterback to start for Tulane since the start of the 2020 season {Michael Pratt (44 games), Darian Mensah (13 games), Kai Horton (4 games), Keon Howard (3 games), Justin Ibieta (1 game) and Jake Retzlaff (1 game)}.

- Retzlaff is the first Tulane quarterback to run for 100+ yards and a touchdown at home since 1995 (Shaun King turned the feat three times on the road).

- His 69 yard rush was the third-longest in school history for a quarterback (the others were 86 yards by Gene Newton and 72 yards by Steve Foley).

- His 113 yards rushing is an FBS career-high and bettered his 81 on the ground against Oklahoma State last season while he was at BYU.

- Retzlaff's 69 yard rush was also a career high and more than doubled his previous longest rush of 29 against UCF and Oklahoma State last season also while at BYU.

- The game was the fourth straight year that Tulane has started the season at home which was last done at Tulane from 2015-19 ... The team had five straight home season openers from 2009-13. The longest streak of home season openers was 13 straight years from 1902-1914. The program also had two different 12-game home openers from 1916-1927 and from 1929-1941.

- The victory makes Tulane 1-0 for the eighth time since 2016, but only the 11th time since 2000. The season opening victory was the fourth straight season that Tulane has started the season unblemished. Overall the program is 70-60-2 in the season opener since 1893 (The school didn't field a team in 1897). The team's current four-game winning streak in the season opener is the longest since 1971-75 when the program won five straight season openers.

- Tulane is now 11-19 all-time against current schools in the B1G Conference since the first matchup with Michigan in 1920. The last time the program faced off with a current B1G team was against USC (then a member of Pac-12) at the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl. The last time the Green Wave faced off with a B1G-affiliated school was against Ohio State in 2018. The game against Northwestern, who hails from Evanston, Illinois, was the first time that Tulane has faced off with an Illinois-based school since 1970 when the Green Wave and the Fighting Illini matched up.

- The last time that Tulane started the season at home against a Power 4 conference opponent was against Wake Forest in 2018. The program was scheduled to open the 2021 season at home against Oklahoma but that contest was forced to be rescheduled to Norman, Oklahoma due to Hurricane Ida.

- Tulane is 4-1 all-time against Northwestern including 2-0 in New Orleans. This game against the Wildcats was the first for Tulane since 1956 when the programs squared off in Evanston with Tulane winning 20-13.

- This was the first meeting between the schools in New Orleans since 1955 when Tulane won 21-0. That was also the last time that Tulane has faced off with a B1G team at home.

- Since the start of the 2022 season, Tulane is now 33-10 (.767)

- The win stopped a three-game losing streak the program had to end the 2024 season which was the longest for Tulane since dropping eight in row from Sept. 18 – Nov. 13, 2021.

- Coach Sumrall saw his all-time record rise to 33-9 (.785) with the victory over the Wildcats. His .785 career winning percentage ranks him fourth among current FBS coaches only behind Ohio State's Ryan Day (71-10, .876), Oregon's Dan Lanning (35-6, .854) and Georgia's Kirby Smart (105-19, .847). Sumrall is 18-3 at home during his head coaching career. This was the first time he has faced a B1G team in his head coaching career.

- With five turnovers forced against Northwestern, Tulane has now won 28 of its last 33 games when forcing a turnover.

- The Green Wave has outrushed the opposition in 30 of its last 41 games (including 24 of its last 31). In those games, Tulane holds a 28-2 record (losses in 2022 to Southern Miss and in 2023 to Ole Miss).

- Coach Jon Sumrall is 26-0 in his coaching career when his team (Troy and now Tulane) outrushes the opposition. His teams are also 17-0 when holding the opponent to under 100 yards rushing as a team.

- Since the beginning of the 2016 season, Tulane is 52-7 (.881) when leading at the half and 53-9 (.854) when leading at the end of the third quarter.

- Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Green Wave is 28-3 (.903) when scoring first.

- The program also has won 28 consecutive games when leading at the end of the third quarter, with the last defeat coming to Memphis in 2021.

- Of the team's last 10 losses since the start of the 2022 season, seven have come to teams that are currently in the Power 4 (UCF in 2022 – Big 12, Ole Miss in 2023 – SEC), SMU in 2023 – ACC, Virginia Tech in 2023 – ACC, Kansas State in 2024 – Big 12, Oklahoma in 2024 – SEC and Florida in 2024 – SEC).

Major Conference Opponent (at time of game) Victories in last 35 years

- 2025: Northwestern (Big 10), 23-3
- 2022: USC (Pac 12), 46-46 * Goodyear Cotton Bowl
- 2022: at Kansas State (Big 12), 17-10
- 2010: at Rutgers (Big East), 17-14
- 2006: at Miss St (SEC), 32-29
- 2003: vs. Miss St (SEC), 31-28
- 1998: at Rutgers (Big East), 52-24
- 1995: vs. Wake Forest (ACC), 35-9
- 1989: at Vanderbilt (SEC), 37-13
- 1988: vs. Kansas State (Big Eight), 20-16
- 1988: at Ole Miss (SEC), 14-9
- 1988: vs. Miss State (SEC), 27-22
- 1987: vs. Iowa St (Big Eight), 25-12
- 1987: at Ole Miss (SEC), 31-24
- 1987: vs. Vanderbilt (SEC), 27-17
- 1987: at Miss St (SEC), 30-19

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