Jon Sumrall rips into Northwestern after Tulane's Hurricane Katrina jersey tribute request was denied

Aug 30, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall looks on against Northwestern Wildcats during the first half at Yulman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Former Kentucky assistant Jon Sumrall, now the head coach at Tulane, had extra motivation going into his team’s season-opener on Saturday.

Tulane, which is located in New Orleans, recognized the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina during this weekend’s showdown with Northwestern. The Green Wave players trotted onto Yulman Stadium field without any decals on their helmets, a nod to the 2005 squad that also played without helmet markings in the school’s first post-Katrina game vs. Mississippi State in Shreveport, LA.

Tulane had also planned to wear white jerseys, just like the same 2005 team did, but Northwestern apparently denied that tribute request, forcing Tulane to wear its usual home green jersey.

Sumrall was not a fan of that decision at all.

“We wore the green helmets today for the 20th anniversary of Katrina. And I’m gonna say one thing, I’m not trying to take a shot but we requested to wear white jerseys because that’s what that team wore. It got denied by the other team,” Sumrall said postgame. “That’s their prerogative, but when you show disrespect to the city of New Orleans, that’s what’s going to happen to you. You’re going to run into a team like this. They had a chip on their shoulder because I wanted to wear the same exact uniform that that team wore 20 years ago. Request got denied. We might have used that for a little bit of motivation to represent the city. So, don’t disrespect New Orleans ever.“

Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

Tulane went on to smack Northwestern 23-3.

"When you disrespect the city of New Orleans, that's what's going to happen to you."

Tulane coach Jon Sumrall says Northwestern denied their request to wear white jerseys. The 2005 Tulane team wore white jerseys in its first game after Katrina 20 years ago. pic.twitter.com/eP61Q3tg3C
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) August 30, 2025

A report from college football insider Matt Fortuna claims a Northwestern source told him that Tulane put in the white jersey request on Aug. 17, a little under two weeks out from kickoff. Fortuna added that jerseys are typically agreed upon months in advance. And to that, I call nonsense. 13 days is plenty of time to fulfill a request as simple and well-meaning as this one. I’m sure Northwestern has a well-written PR excuse cooked up to make it seem like Tulane was in the wrong here.

But hey, Sumrall and Tulane got the last laugh.

Green Wave quarterback Jake Retzlaff threw for 152 yards and a touchdown while also running 10 times for another 113 yards and a touchdown. Running back Maurice Turner carried the ball 14 times for 86 yards of his own. The Tulane defense forced Northwestern quarterback Preston Stone into four interceptions as the Wildcats finished with just 237 yards of total offense. That’s how you send a message.

Northwestern came into this season expected to finish among the bottom of the Big Ten, but this was still a full-on beatdown from a Tulane team that could see itself break into the Top 25 rankings this week.