Tulane walks into Manhattan with the best resume in program history. Kansas State is starting over with a legend at the wheel.
Bush’s Picks
TULNKSU
TULNKSU
OverUnder
Best BetKansas State
Kansas State at home with a 4th-year starter is a safer bet than a team that still hasn't locked down its own quarterback, even one with Tulane's resume. Avery Johnson gives the Wildcats a proven floor in a spot where the road team is breaking in new pieces at the most important position on the field. Back Kansas State to get Klein his signature early win.
Tulane
+11-2 in 2025, first CFP berth in school history
+won American Conference title, beat North Texas for it
−quarterback job still unsettled entering fall camp
−first-time HC Will Hall was 14-30 at Southern Miss
Kansas State
+Avery Johnson returns for 4th year as starter
+alum coach Collin Klein hire seen as galvanizing
−finished just 6-6 in 2025 under Klieman
−Johnson threw 6 interceptions, called 'volatile' by scouts
Kansas State hands the offense back to Avery Johnson for a 4th straight year, and after a shaky 2025 — 2,385 yards, 18 touchdowns, but 6 interceptions — first-year coach Collin Klein needs his dual-threat quarterback to rediscover his ceiling. Tulane's answer at quarterback is still being written. With Jake Retzlaff gone, the job came down to Ball State transfer Kadin Semonza, Houston transfer Zeon Chriss-Gremillion, and a pair of underclassmen, and nobody outside the building knows for sure who trots out under center in Manhattan.
Both programs are technically starting over. Klein is a K-State alum running the show for the first time, stepping in after Chris Klieman's abrupt retirement following a 6-6 finish. Will Hall inherits a Tulane program with sky-high expectations after Jon Sumrall bolted for Florida the moment the Green Wave clinched their first-ever College Football Playoff berth. That's a lot of new voices calling plays for a game this early in the year.
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TULN Tulane
KSU Kansas State
That uncertainty is exactly what makes this one interesting. Tulane arrives with the resume — an 11-2 regular season, an American Conference title, a trip to Oxford to face Ole Miss in the playoff — but resumes don't snap the ball. Kansas State gets Johnson back for a jump-up-in-competition test, and the Wildcats will find out fast whether last year's disappointing finish was a talent problem or a scheme problem.
Tulane Green Wave
Sep 12?vs South Alabama—
Sep 5?@ Duke—
Kansas State Wildcats
Sep 12?vs Washington State—
Sep 5?vs Nicholls—
Recent form.
Semonza profiles as the favorite in Tulane's quarterback race — he led the MAC in touchdown passes back in 2024 before sitting out last season — but a true freshman and two transfers pushing him deep into fall camp suggests the staff isn't fully sold. Whoever wins the job needs to be functional immediately, because Kansas State's front seven won't care that it's someone's first road start.
Tulane Green Wave
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Kansas State Wildcats
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Neither team is walking into Manhattan with a finished product, and that's the fun of an early-season game between two staffs still figuring out who they are. Johnson's legs give Kansas State a floor no matter who lines up at quarterback for Tulane, but the Green Wave proved something no other team in school history had before: they know how to win games that matter.
