page_title: History of Tulane Green Wave football
section_title: Tommy Bowden era (1997–1998)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Tulane Green Wave football / Overview / Tommy Bowden era (1997–1998)
caption_attribution_description: English: Tommy Bowden, former coach of the Clemson Tigers football team. (The image was cropped from a selfie taken with Garkeith (talk&#160;· contribs).)
context_page_description: The Tulane Green Wave football team represents Tulane University in the sport of American football.
context_section_description: The 1997 football season at Tulane started fresh with a new head coach, Auburn offensive coordinator Tommy Bowden. Using players recruited during the Teevens era, Bowden's first season produced a 7–4 season, the Wave's first winning regular season since 1987; however, the Green Wave did not participate in a bowl game that year. The dramatic turnaround was only a preview of what was to come in Bowden's second year as coach. In 1998, Tulane went undefeated for the first time since 1931. Quarterback Shaun King led the Green Wave to a 12–0 record, a Conference USA championship, and a final No. 7 national ranking. He played most of the season with a cast on his left wrist, which he broke in the third game. King also set the all-time NCAA passing efficiency record for quarterbacks, a record which, at 183.3, was not surpassed until 2006. Despite a perfect regular season, the Green Wave was not even considered for a BCS bowl game because it was felt they had not played a legitimate schedule.  They only played one team from an automatic qualifying conference all season, and never played a ranked team.  Nonetheless, this snub fueled questions about championships and revenue management in college football and caused Tulane's President Scott Cowen to demand reform of the system. Cowen's efforts eventually led to changes to the BCS, including allowing more post-season access for schools in non-automatic qualifying conferences.
  Tommy Bowden departed Tulane with an 18–4 record to become head coach at Clemson after two seasons. The Green Wave completed a perfect 12–0 season with a 41–27 victory over BYU in the Liberty Bowl.
caption: Coach Bowden
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