Tulane's path has looked nothing like that. Will Hall's debut opened with a loss to Duke, and the Green Wave needed Jaylin Lucas to run for a career-high 214 yards and a late Kadin Semonza-to-Destyn Hill touchdown just to hold off South Alabama, 28-24, at home. Now they travel into Bill Snyder Family Stadium as a massive underdog.
Manhattan's forecast is mostly sunny and warm for Saturday's kickoff, ordinary conditions that won't be much of a storyline on their own. The bigger question is whether Tulane's offensive line and front seven can survive a step up in competition after needing overtime-style theatrics just to beat an FBS opponent that finished the day at 1-1.
Kansas State's blowouts have come against Nicholls, an FCS program, and a Washington State team still finding its footing under a new staff — competition that hasn't forced Klein's group to show much beyond the base game plan. Tulane's stress test against South Alabama at least offers proof the Green Wave can operate in a one-score game, something the Wildcats haven't had to do yet.
The Green Wave's calling card early has been Lucas out of the backfield, and how much of that workload he can carry against a defense that's been getting nearly everything it wants will say a lot about whether Tulane can hang around. For Kansas State, Saturday is less about surviving and more about whether the margins stay this lopsided once the schedule stiffens.