Tulane’s upset of USC, Heisman winner Caleb Williams proves it’s time for CFP expansion

ARLINGTON – There’s no longer a need for argumentative evidence. The deal is done. College Football Playoff expansion is coming in 2024.

If that decision needed any validation, however, then let the jury examine what happened at AT&T Stadium on Monday.

No. 16 Tulane, a two-win team a season ago, completed the best single-season turnaround in FBS history with an exhilarating 46-45 comeback win over tenth-ranked Southern California.

“All the confetti is coming back to Louisiana with us,” said one Tulane player who had filled his helmet with confetti, “and a trophy.”

Tulane senior Tyjae Spears ended his career with his eight-straight game with at least 120 rushing yards, finishing the day with 205 yards on 17 carries. He was named the game’s most outstanding offensive player. Tulane leading tackler Dorian Williams was named the defensive award winner.

Tulane true freshman Alex Bauman, a defensive end recruit from New Jersey turned tight end, had the go-ahead touchdown catch from quarterback Michael Pratt with nine seconds left. It was called incomplete on the field, but Bauman said he knew right away that it never hit the ground. Replay proved him right. It was only his 8th catch of the season.

Bauman was the only player without a name placard in the postgame press conference. His role was almost as improbable as the comeback itself.

The Green Wave trailed 45-30 with 4:30 left in the game. At that point, there was a 99.8 percent chance that USC would win the game, according to ESPN’s win probability index. After that, Tulane had two touchdown drives and a crucial forced safety after USC returner Mario Williams muffed a kickoff out of bounds at USC’s own one-yard line.

Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams was fantastic for USC, finishing with 462 passing yards and a Cotton Bowl record five touchdowns, but he and the Trojans offense only had four plays in the last 4:30: two running plays inside their own one-yard line, an incomplete pass and the final play of the game, which featured five laterals and a Tulane recovered fumble.

Tulane went from nearly no chance, to champs.

“They’ll be talking about this game and showing highlights for years,” American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco, wearing a green tie and holding a Tulane championship hat, said after the game. “It was beyond belief.”

It also goes along with something Aresco has been saying for years.

Aresco hates the term “Group of Five.” It visibly irks the commissioner whenever it’s muttered, which is why he’s pushed for a rebranding. First down markers at conference games have a “P6″ on them to remind viewers that his conference has some power, too. The same logo was on the Tulane helmets on Monday.

Soon, at least one non-Power-Five team will be in the playoff every season. And though he wasn’t on the sub-committee that decided on expansion, Aresco pointed to the AAC’s recent history as an influence: Central Florida’s self-proclaimed national championship in 2017, Cincinnati’s breakthrough CFP berth a season ago, and now Tulane’s improbable, comeback win over USC.

“If we hadn’t done what we did over the decade … I’m not sure 6+6 would necessarily be in people’s minds,” Aresco said of expansion that includes the best Group of Five team. “But what [expansion] does, is gives a team like this going into the season a hope that they could get into a game like this, and advance and continue to advance. You just never know?”

Even so, Tulane believed it could be in this position.

Back in January, Tulane had a players-only meeting, according to wide receiver Jha’Quan Jackson. The team captains led a PowerPoint Presentation on how the season would go. They predicted they would win a conference championship. Knowing a Group of Five representative would likely end up at the Cotton Bowl, the presentation even had the bowl game’s logo, Jackson said.

“It’s crazy,” Jackson said. “Everything they said, we did.

“What I learned from January to now is you just have to believe.”

Tulane linebacker Nick Anderson was one of the players that led that presentation. Before the Cotton Bowl, he also had another message for his teammates.

“If we go out here and we beat the Heisman Trophy winner, and beat a talented and historic USC football program, then the whole country will never forget it,” Anderson shared after the game. “And we did that.”

In doing so, they also validated college football’s decision to expand.

“We feel like we could compete against anybody,” said Williams, with wins over both USC and Kansas State on Tulane’s résumé.

In a couple years, a team like Tulane will have that chance.

On Twitter: @JoeJHoyt

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