Well here we are, folks. It's time. The Tulane Green Wave, who were last seen in an inspiring comeback in the second half of the New Orleans Bowl --- stymied only by a failed field goal attempt to end the game --- are back in action for the 2014 season.

The American Conference may be a new league, but the Green Wave faces an old foe in the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. That's right. Tulsa. Another Conference USA gone Power Six export.

But to say it's an old rivalry would be inaccurate. From 1968 until 2012, the Green Wave had won a grand total of zero games in this series.

Last year, however, Tulane notched a historic victory for the first time in over 40 years that made the team bowl eligible. It was a big deal. It symbolized new hope for a program that had been devastated by real hurricanes, administrative issues, and yes, some serious football issues.

The stakes are just as high this year. You would have to look back to the 1990s to think of another time when the passion and optimism of the Green Wave fan base has reached this level.

In the offseason, Head Coach Curtis Johnson made waves after signing every target on National Signing Day, and as a bonus, locking down a ton of local talent from the Louisiana recruiting base.

But today is the day that the team gets a chance to realize the huge expectations for this season. Here are the storylines.

Game Time: 7 PM CST
TV: CBS Sports Network. Check your local listing. 
Betting Line: Tulsa -6.5 

1. Freshman QB 

Coming out of camp, one of the bigger stories has been the success of redshirt freshman Tanner Lee. The New Orleans Jesuit product has impressed pretty much anyone watching with impressive arm strength and his ability to make the offense more dynamic.

As a result, he became the clear starter over Nick Montana and Devin Powell, who both started in games in the 2013 campaign.

While it was widely reported that Lee would be the first freshman QB to start opening day in history, one of my Twitter followers pointed out he's actually the second.

@FearTheWaveBlog that is not correct! Tommy Hightower started as a true freshman against Cincinnati, Tulane first in 76 his first game.
— Tony Landry (@palandry3) August 28, 2014

Still, crazy, right? Lee's ability to manage this offense will be a critical part of keeping pace with the Golden Hurricane tonight.

2. Defense, Defense, Defense 

Yes, the defense is really good. Obviously in the off-season, the Green Wave lost some key contributors to graduation (especially Davenport), but they return a very strong core highlighted by Lorenzo Doss who made pretty much every pre-season watch list in existence, Royce LaFrance (who led the team in sacks), Nico Marley (who won Conference USA freshman of the year), and Sam Scofield, who led the team in tackles. Pretty solid, right?

The term "mid-major Michigan State" has been thrown around, and it's fitting. The Green Wave defense will look to build on the success of last season.

How much pressure can they bring tonight to hold the Golden Hurricane back like they did last year?

3. #18 

Devon Walker is returning to the site of his tragic injury, which occurred against Tulsa two years ago. He will make an appearance at halftime in front of the Tulsa crowd. Go Devon go!

Devon graduated from Tulane in the spring and is pursuing a graduate degree right now.

Conference USA is beginning to see the contenders and pretenders divide as we move into the late part of the season.

For reference, here is our last set of Power Rankings. Short Story: Rice and Tulane are currently surging, while Marshall and Tulsa saw their stock fall. ECU and Marshall are now tied in the East division heading into the conference race.
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14. Southern Mississippi (0-7 Record // 0-3 in Conference // L to UNT) [14th] 
Notes: USM's 2013 campaign continues to sink deeper and deeper. Last week, they were blown out by an angry East Carolina program, and they followed this week with a stomping at the hands of UNT. The team's only hope to avoid a winless year may be Nov. 16th's home matchup with Florida Atlantic.

13. UTEP (1-6 Record // 0-4 in Conference // L to Rice) [12th]

12. Florida International (1-6 Record // 1-2 in Conference // L to LT) [13th]

11. UAB (2-5 Record // 1-2 in Conference // L to UT-SA) [10th] 
Notes: UAB has been one of those teams that I've been curious about. However, after trailing at halftime 38-10 to UT San Antonio, it became overwhelmingly clear that UAB is headed for a hopeless 2013 season.

10. Florida Atlantic (2-6 Record // 1-4 in Conference // L to Auburn) [12th] 
Notes: Florida Atlantic had the "honor" of playing one of those late season cupcake non-conference games beloved by the SEC. Auburn handed FAU a 45-10 beatdown, not unexpectedly. FAU will look to refocus for an in-conference home game against Tulane.

9. Tulsa (2-5 Record // 1-2 in Conference // L to Tulane) [6th]
Notes: Tulsa had never lost to Tulane in the history of Conference USA. In fact, the last Green Wave victory over the Golden Hurricanes was in 1968. Richard Nixon defeated Humphrey in the Presidential election that fall. It's been a while. Tulsa is now unable to defend its conference championship with a 1-2 record.

8. Louisiana Tech (3-5 Record // 2-2 in Conference // W @ FIU) [7th]

7. UT San Antonio (3-5 Record // 2-2 in Conference // W against UAB) [9th]
Notes: Nothing special to say about San Antonio's Roadrunners. They picked up a big win over a bad UAB team, but they have dropped games to both Marshall and Rice pretty heavily. UTSA doesn't have the strength or the record to contend this year.

6. Middle Tennessee State (4-4 Record // 2-2 in Conference // W against Marshall) [8th] 

5. Marshall (4-3 Record // 2-1 in Conference // L @ MTSU) [1st] 
Notes: Marshall took a damning road loss against Middle Tennessee State, a team that has struggled with consistency throughout 2013. The damage is substantial, as they forfeited their one game lead in the Conference USA East division. East Carolina will have an equal change to duke it out for a trip to the conference championship.

4. North Texas (5-3 Record // 3-1 in Conference // W @ Southern Miss) [5th] 
Notes: UNT took care of business by smoking a terrible Southern Miss team. That said, their 3-1 record in conference leaves the Mean Green on the outside looking in. In the West division, both Tulane and Rice hold 4-0 records at this point without many opportunities to falter ahead.

3. East Carolina (5-2 Record // 3-1 in Conference // Bye) [4th] 

2. Tulane (6-2 Record // 4-0 in Conference // W against Tulsa) [2nd] 
Notes: Objectively the strongest the program has been since 2002. Getting the Tulsa monkey off of the Green Wave's back (wave?) is a huge step in the right direction. That said, the offense is still shaky until the Nick Montana injury is fully resolved. Luckily, Devin Powell continues to put in his best effort, and the team is 2-0 without Montana under center.

1. Rice (6-2 Record // 4-0 in Conference // W against UTEP [3rd] 
Notes: Rice's season has equaled Tulane's thus far. The deciding factor in this week's ranking? Rice throttled UTEP 45-7, playing lockdown defense and firing on all cylinders on offense. At this stage of the season, the West division is a two horse race, and all signs point to the regular season finale between Rice and Tulane as a can't miss game.

Thoughts on the Week 10 Power Rankings? Sound off on Twitter @fearthewaveblog.