Mensah, Hughes carry the offense and Tulane outlasts North Texas 45-37

DENTON, Texas (AP) — Darian Mensah threw three touchdown passes, Makhi Hughes ran for a career-best 195 yards and Tulane held off a late rally to defeat North Texas 45-37 on Saturday.

Hughes’ previous career high was 166 yards against Louisiana-Lafayette in September. With 939 yards, the sophomore is closing in on his second 1,000-yard season. He had 30 carries on Saturday.

Yulkeith Brown’s 11-yard run plus a two-point conversion gave the Green Wave (6-2, 4-0 American Athletic Conference) their biggest lead, 45-24 late in the third quarter. The touchdown came on the first play after Sam Howard recovered a fumble by North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris.

After an exchange of punts, the Mean Green got within 45-30 on a 2-yard run by Makenzie McGill II but their 19-play, 80-yard drive took nearly 7 1/2 minutes off the clock. North Texas got the ball back with 2 1/2 minutes remaining and drove 90 yards to Morris’ 10-yard touchdown pass to Damon Ward Jr. with 41 seconds left.

Tulane recovered the onside kick.

Morris was 38-of-57 passing for 449 yards. He had two TD passes to Ward, who had 111 yards on six receptions. DT Sheffield caught Morris’ third TD pass of the game and had 125 yards on nine receptions on homecoming day for North Texas (5-3, 2-2).

Mensah completed 10 of 13 passes for 175 yards.

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