Call this what it is. Tulane’s Cotton Bowl win was the biggest in school history.

BY ROD WALKER

ARLINGTON, Texas — Willie Fritz kept his word.

Seven years ago, he stood in the Glazer Family Club on the campus of Tulane University at his introductory news conference. He called the downtrodden program he was taking over a “sleeping giant,” one he knew he could wake up.

He spoke about how the school was “hungry for a winner.”

Heck, he even mentioned the time he taught a first-aid class.

“I can perform CPR on a mannequin like nobody’s business,” he joked that day.

Seven years later and 500 miles away in Texas, Fritz delivered on his word.

That sleeping giant woke up on one of the grandest stages in college football when Tulane knocked off one of the most storied programs in the land in the 87th Cotton Bowl Classic.

Those hungry fans who yelled “a-one, a-two, a helluva hullabaloo” for all those years had been starving for a moment like this.

A football program whose history had a lot of “lifeless mannequin” moments came to life like never before as Tulane rallied to stun USC 46-45 at AT&T Stadium, which sounded more like Yulman Stadium West when the clock struck zero.

It’ll go down as the biggest victory in school history, one that every single person wearing olive green and blue in the crowd of 55,329 will talk about for years to come. They’ll tell their kids and they’ll tell their grandkids and anyone else willing to listen. They’ll talk not only about the thrill-a-minute game, but also the most electric atmosphere in the history of Tulane sports. It was a game that took Tulane fans all across the emotional spectrum.

It’s just the second time the Green Wave has ever won a major bowl and the first time since beating Temple in the 1935 Sugar Bowl.

This one came against an elite program that would have been in the College Football Playoff had it won its Pac-12 championship game last month. It showed that Tulane can indeed compete with the big boys.

“We started this year hoping that this is what we can be,” athletic director Troy Dannen said.

“We ended the year knowing who we can be.

Going forward now, we can expect this is who we should be. It’s a monumental win for the program. It was going to be a monumental thing for us whether we won or lost today.”

But Fritz and his players weren’t going to lose this game. They were as resilient as the city they represent, and nothing was going to deny them.

Nothing.

Not a 15-point deficit with just 4:30 left.

And not even a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback like Caleb Williams, who torched Tulane’s defense for 462 yards and five touchdowns.

This Tulane team has been through much tougher times than that — particularly a season ago when Hurricane Ida forced them to evacuate to Birmingham, Alabama, for weeks.

“The close brotherhood of this team started there, because we were around each other every day,” said receiver Jha’Quan Jackson, who caught an 87-yard touchdown.

That disruption last fall turned into a dismal 2-10 record, but they turned things around this season, much like they did in the final four minutes of this game.

“You have two choices when you go through adversity: Fall back and feel sorry for yourself or jump up and get better,” quarterback Michael Pratt said. “That’s what we did, and that’s what we are going to continue to do.”

Running back Tyjae Spears, perhaps the greatest ball carrier in Tulane history and one who will get to run in NFL stadiums like this one, has a personal motto that the Wave lived by down the stretch.

“Whatever it takes.”

And it took a lot.

It took all 205 of those yards and the four touchdowns Spears rushed for.

It took USC trying to field a kickoff that left the Trojans at their own 1-yard line, and Tulane’s Patrick Jenkins recording a safety with 3:20 left. Still, Tulane needed to march 66 yards to win it.

They practice these situations every Wednesday in Yulman stadium. Fritz calls the practice drill “fastball.” The music is blaring and he tries to make it as chaotic as possible. It paid off as Pratt and the Green Wave marched right down the field and scored on a 6-yard pass to freshman Alex Bauman, which will go down in the history books as one of the most meaningful plays in Tulane history.

Officials reviewed the catch, but it was quite evident on the replay shown on the giant big screen in the stadium they call Jerry World.

“I knew right away that I scored,” Bauman said.

The referee made it official minutes later, setting off a roar on the Tulane side of the stadium that was as loud as it had been all afternoon.

Tulane had done it.

Players lay on the turf and made angels in the confetti that rained down.

Others hugged.

Some fans cried, but these were tears of joy, unlike all the ones of sorrow that Tulane fans had grown so accustomed to over the years.

“It’s a huge win for the program, a huge win for the city,” Fritz said. “We represent New Orleans, Tulane and our football program. I think we’ve seen this year what a great football season and competing at a high level can do for an institution.”

Several Green Wave fans held signs reading: “Tulane is a football school.”

You won’t get any arguments from the players.

“Yes, we are a football school,” Jenkins said. “Well, we’re a smart school AND a football school.”

They sure looked the part this season. Their 12-2 record ties the undefeated 1998 team for most wins in school history.

It’s been long time coming, a day the Green Wave faithful have long awaited. If things go according to plan, they won’t have to wait so long for moments like these.

“We are fighting for more,” defensive back Jarius Monroe said. “I promise, we’re coming for more.”