Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt out vs. Ole Miss

Tulane’s quarterback, Michael Pratt, is officially OUT for the Green Wave’s home game vs. Ole Miss today.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Saturday afternoon just ahead of the Tulane-Ole Miss game that Pratt was in street clothes and would be out for the contest. Here was that news, which Thamel tweeted out:

“Michael Pratt is not with the Tulane quarterbacks warming up pregame, which means he’s not playing against Ole Miss today.”

Earlier in the day, Thamel reported that Pratt would be a game time decision. In the case that he would be out, which he is, Thamel gave the following name to look out for as the Tulane backup.

“If Pratt can’t play, Tulane is expected to start Kai Horton, a redshirt sophomore with some experience in big games,” said Thamel. “Last year, Horton came off the bench to rally Tulane to a 27-24 overtime victory against Houston with three touchdown passes.”

Now, it looks like he’ll start in the highest-profile Tulane home game in years, maybe decades.

The No. 20 Rebels appear to be mostly healthy as they get set to battle a No. 24 Tulane game that will now be missing its star players. For fans of the Green Wave and fans of exciting college football matchups, the news is a big bummer, as Pratt is one of the single most exciting players in college football — especially among teams outside of the power conferences.

Thanks to Pratt and his 3,000 passing yards and 27 touchdowns a year ago, Tulane completed a truly remarkable one-season turnaround from 2-10 in 2021 to 12-2 in 2022. As an AAC team, you might think the schedule was full of easier matchups compared to power conferences, but that was not the case at all.

Instead, Tulane beat eventual Big 12 champion Kansas State on the road in September, then finished the ’22 regular season by facing five straight ranked AAC opponents — No. 25 Memphis, No. 19 Tulsa, No. 16 UCF, No. 21 SMU and No. 19 Cincinnati. They went 4-1 with the loss to UCF, who they got revenge against in the AAC title.

Plus, after winning that game, Tulane was awarded the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six bowls and had a chance to face USC and Heisman winner Caleb Williams in the Cotton Bowl. The Green Wave triumphed over the Trojans 46-45 in that one to finish as a top-10 team in the final rankings.

Sure, Michael Pratt powered the offense, but there were players all over the field who contributed to Tulane’s tremendous campaign. They get eight starters back on defense as well, but have lost their five leading tacklers off last year’s team.