Cotton Bowl

What a way to start the new year! Tulane University’s football team just won the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, defeating the University of Southern California Trojans and their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in a close and competitive game. A year ago, coming off a 2-10 season, Tulane fans wouldn’t dare dream of a New Year’s Six bowl game. Today, the Field Scovell Trophy belongs to Tulane University – and we owe our fans one big 'Helluva Hullabaloo Thank You' for their support throughout the years and especially during this historic season. The Green Wave faithful – students, alumni, faculty, staff, the New Orleans and Louisiana community, and the entire Tulane nation – are simply the best. You are our champions.

Following a 2021 season in which Hurricane Ida displaced our students and upended the team’s practice and game schedule, Tulane thrilled the sports world with one of the greatest turnarounds in FBS history. We climbed the AP rankings, currently sitting in the top 16 with one more poll release to come. We won our first conference title since 1998. We earned a spot in our best postseason bowl game appearance in 83 years, and on Monday, we delivered one of the most thrilling comeback victories ever seen.

Now, why does any of this matter? The answer: Sports matter. College athletics bring us together like few other experiences in life. When we cheer for the Green Wave, we do not cheer as members of a race, class, or generation; we cheer as fans of Tulane. When we cheer for the Green Wave, we find a common interest and share a common experience. When we cheer for the Green Wave, we share emotions and build empathy. We are excited by a big play, disappointed by a close loss, anxious for a long kick, angry about a bad call. We find ourselves high-fiving strangers. The thrill of victory is multiplied by thousands; the agony of defeat becomes a burden we shoulder together.

You don’t have to be a sports fan to get caught up in the excitement of a winning season. A recent Tulane graduate, who never attended a home game in her four years in New Orleans, recently bought a ticket to fly from New York to New Orleans to watch the American Conference Championship. On campus, the energy during this magical run was electric—students and staff walked with pride, their Tulane hats and other gear marking them as part of a team of champions.

But that team spirit isn’t confined to the gridiron; it’s part of everything we are and everything we do. We come together as a community and for the community, prioritizing service. We learn from each other in residence halls and research labs. We push each other to excel in the classroom and beyond. It’s not just our football team that’s ascending—it’s all of Tulane.

We are indeed all part of the team: The athletes who worked tirelessly for months, training in the August heat, completing homework on the way home from games, running drills and watching game film in their quest for victory; Ben Weiner Director of Athletics Troy Dannen, Head Coach Willie Fritz and his staff, who transformed the fortunes of the Tulane Green Wave and made this season possible; the students who packed the stands with exuberant pride; the alumni who traveled from all across the country to support the school and the city they called home. We share this moment. We share the meaning.

No city in the world knows how to come together quite like New Orleans – whether facing challenges or celebrating victories. With the Cotton Bowl and the 2022 season behind us, we take our first steps into the new year. We take them with the knowledge that things can get better, that people can improve, that circumstances can change. We take them with the rush of excitement that is only possible when it’s shared with others, and with the strength that comes from being part of a team. But most of all, we take them as Tulanians and New Orleanians. Wherever the year ahead may take us, it will take us there together.