It’s a whole new game at Tulane.

The Green Wave have moved to a new conference and will have a new on-campus home stadium this fall.

Tulane left Conference USA for the American Athletic, a league made up mostly of former Big East football schools that is in its second year.

“This is a classy conference,” said Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson. “I think this new conference that we are in, we talk about power, this is a powerful conference.”

He pointed to the fact that last year’s league champ, Central Florida, beat heavily favored Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl.

“I couldn’t get to sleep that night watching what they did to a great Baylor team,” Johnson said.

It seems like the rest of the college football world is sleeping on the AAC. This season it won’t have an automatic bid to a major bowl game, meaning the Green Wave joined a conference with as much national pull as the one it left.

Still there is an upgrade in the opponents playing the Wave. Georgia Tech will be the first foe in the new Yulman Stadium and Tulane will face seven teams that went to bowl games last year.

“Our team has opportunity after opportunity after opportunity this season,” Johnson said. “I love our schedule.”

He might not after the record.

Last year Tulane rebounded from a two-win season in 2012 to go 7-6, losing to Louisiana-Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl. It was their first winning season and bowl appearance since 2002.

But for Johnson, who is entering his third season with the Wave, it is all about the excitement surrounding the new digs.

“Finally, an on-campus facility,” he said. “We have our own place. It’s going to be utterly amazing for us.”

It is the first time in 30 years Tulane will play on campus, moving from the spacious 72,000-seat Superdome to the more intimate 30,000-seat Yulman Stadium. Incidentally, the old Tulane Stadium hosted three Super Bowls before the Superdome was built.

Yulman Stadium has pumped new life into the fan base in New Orleans.

“Our community has embraced us,” Johnson said. “It’s unbelievable. Wherever we go, our kids are out front.”

But this season will ultimately be determined by how well the Wave do on the field, not off.

In order for Tulane to be competitive a quarterback must be found. Both Nick Montana, son of Hall of Famer Joe, returns after starting 11 games last year. So does Devin Powell, who played in eight and started a pair.

But it is redshirt freshman Tanner Lee who has emerged from fall camp to win the starting job.

“He is starting for us this year and I think he’s going to have a great season, a great career,” Johnson said last week when he made the announcement.

Montana threw for 1,722 yards and 14 scores while Power finished with five touchdown passes. However, the duo threw 15 interceptions, 10 coming off the arm of Montana.

Lorenzo Doss leads the defense. The second-team All-American cornerback had 11 interceptions last fall. Safety Sam Scoffing is back as well after leading the club with 104 tackles.

Also back in linebacker Nico Marly, the co-Conference USA Freshman of the Year in 2013.

It will be up to them to make sure the Green Wave have a good first season in their new conference and new home.(Special to the American Press)