The Tulane football team’s opener against Northwestern this Saturday at Yulman Stadium is shaping up as historic on multiple fronts.

For starters, the Green Wave has not hosted any Big Ten team since 1955, when it shut out the same Wildcats 27 years before coach Jon Sumrall was born.

Tulane also is favored (by 5½ points) against a power-conference opponent for the first time this century—a stretch that encompasses 38 games as an underdog. It is tough to access records before then, but the underdog streak likely extends all the way back to 1988, when the Wave won at home in September against a Kansas State team that finished 0-11 and in November against a Mississippi State team that fell to 1-9.

If the oddsmakers are right, Sumrall will make history himself. He is 0-5 against Power Fou

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