Football Starts Season With 52-0 Victory Over Southeastern Louisiana

Thursday, August 29

NEW ORLEANS

7:00 PM

Tulane University

1-0 , 0-0

Southeastern Louisiana

0-1 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Southeastern La.

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Football Starts Season With 52-0 Victory Over Southeastern Louisiana

Aug 29, 2024 | Football

Box Score

Final Stats | ESPN Highlights | Parker Waters Photo Gallery | Postgame Sumrall Interview | Postgame Grubbs Interview | Postgame Mensah and Williams Interview

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane football team (1-0) started the season and the Jon Sumrall era with a resounding 52-0 victory over Southeastern Louisiana (0-1) on Thursday night at Yulman Stadium.

Darian Mensah, in his collegiate debut, started at quarterback for the Green Wave and went 10-for-12 for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Fellow signal-caller Ty Thompson ran for a pair of touchdowns and 23 yards on four carries. He also threw for 17 yards. Wide receiver Mario Williams led the team with his four catches for 124 yards with a long of 68. He also had a 13-yard rush. Tight end Alex Bauman totaled two catches for 26 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Yulkeith Brown tallied two catches for 23 yards and a touchdown. Running back Makhi Hughes led a balanced rushing quartet with 59 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Shaadie Clayton-Johnson ran for 48 yards on four attempts. Trey Cornist ran for 33 yards on three carries. Jamauri McClure ran five times for 28 yards. Arnold Barnes III ran for 23 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

Safety Bailey Despanie led the defense with a game-high eight tackles. He also had a stop for loss. Defensive lineman Kameron Hamilton totaled four tackles, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Safety Joshua Moore had four tackles. Linebacker Sam Howard picked up four tackles, a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery. Defensive back Rayshawn Pleasant had a pair of tackles and a 100-yard interception touchdown return. Safety Chase Green totaled two tackles including a stop for loss. Defensive lineman Parker Petersen registered his first career sack. Defensive lineman Elijah Champaigne, Chris Rodgers and Geordan Guidry also each had a tackle for loss.

Placekicker Jacob Barnes put up 10 points on the day with seven made extra points and a 38-yard field goal.

Tulane racked up 472 yards of offense in the game. The team had 241 yards rushing and 231 yards passing. The program went 6-for-8 on third downs and were 7-for-7 in the red zone.

The Green Wave defense limited Southeastern Louisiana to 201 yards of offense in the game (102 rush and 99 passing). The Tulane defense were able to turn away a pair of red zone chances from the Lions. The defense had a pair of sacks, eight tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and a 100-yard interception return touchdown in the contest.

After a forced fumble from Hamilton and a recovery from Howard to turn a potential scoring drive from Southeastern, Tulane scored first as the team marched down the field on a 76-yard drive that was completed on an 11-yard pitch-and-catch from Mensah to Yulkeith Brown with 3:30 left in the opening stanza.

The Tulane offense doubled the advantage the ensuing drive as Hughes rushed it in from two-yard out to finish off a 10 play, 72-yard drive and give the Green Wave a 14-0 lead with 9:45 remaining in the second quarter.

The Tulane defense got on the board in a big way as Pleasant returned his interception in the end zone 100-yards to put Tulane up 21-0 with 42 seconds remaining in the opening half. The 100-yard interception return was only the second of that length in the history of the American Athletic Conference behind Josh Hawkins of ECU against Tulsa on October 17, 2015. The 100-yard interception return also tied David Hebert's school record set in 1971 against Rice.

The halftime break did little to slow down the Tulane offense as Thompson scampered in from eight yards out at the 11:20 mark of the third quarter to finish off a seven play, 75-yard drive and put the Green Wave up by four touchdowns, 28-0, early in the second half.

Barnes III got into the act next for Tulane as he rushed it in from a yard out to cap off a six play, 57-yard drive and extend the Green Wave lead to 35-0 with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter.

The Tulane offense kept rolling as Mensah connected with Bauman to finish off a three play, 85-yard drive to put the lead at 42-0 with 14:59 remaining in the game.

Thompson ran in his second touchdown of the game, this one from four yards out, to finish up a six play, 47-yard drive and increase the advantage to 49-0 with 10:02 left.

Jacob Barnes completed the Tulane scoring with a 38-yard field goal, the first of his Tulane career, to put the Green Wave up 52-0 with 2:06 remaining. The drive covered 11 plays, 67-yard drive and 5:37 of clock time.

Next the football team welcomes in No.18 (AP)/No. 17 (Coaches) Kansas State for an 11 a.m. game on Sept. 7 at Yulman Stadium

NOTES:

Tulane's opening day shutout was the first since 1972 in the lid-lifter and the 32nd time in school history that it happened in the opener…The shutout overall was the first for the program since 2022 when Tulane defeated Alcorn State also by s 52-0 margin (9/10/22)…Tulane's 52 points scored was the first time the program has topped 40 points since the 46-45 Goodyear Cotton Bowl victory over USC (1/2/23)…The 52 points scored were the most for the program since scoring 59 in a 59-24 victory over SMU in 2022 (11/17/22)…Darian Mensah is the fifth different quarterback to start for Tulane since the start of the 2020 season {Michael Pratt (44 games), Kai Horton (4 games), Keon Howard (3 games), Justin Ibieta (1 game) and Darian Mensah (1 game)}…The 100-yard interception touchdown return by Rayshawn Pleasant tied David Herbert's school record set in 1971 against Rice (9/25/71)…Pleasant's return also was the second of 100 yards in American Athletic Conference (AAC) history along with Josh Hawkins of ECU against Tulsa in 2015 (10.17/15)…Tulane has won 20 of its last 23 games when forcing a turnover…Tulane has made 200 consecutive extra-point attempts…Since 2016, Tulane is 43-6 (.877) when leading at the half and 45-9 (.833) when leading through three quarters…Since the beginning of the 2022 season, the Green Wave are 20-3 (.869) when scoring first…Tulane outrushed Southeastern Louisiana 241-102 and have now outgained the opponent on the ground in 21 of the last 27 games (including 15 of the last 17)…In such contests, Tulane is holds a 19-2 record (losses: 2022 vs. Southern Miss and 2023 vs. Ole Miss)…Tulane is 8-0 all-time against Southeastern Louisiana… The game was the third straight year that Tulane has started the season at home…The team started at home for four consecutive seasons from 2015-19... This was Tulane first game against an FCS opponent since taking on Nicholls last season (9/23/23)…The Green Wave are 20-0 against Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opposition dating back to 2000…Tulane is 17-0 all-time against current schools in the Southland Conference with the last meeting before today coming in 2023 against Nicholls…Tulane has outscored the five opponents it has taken on from the Southland (Nicholls, McNeese State, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana) by a 649-215 margin…The win was the first for Head Coach Jon Sumrall at Tulane and the 24th overall of his college coach career (24-5 overall mark between Tulane and Troy)…He is the 23rd Tulane coach to ever win his debut following Willie Fritz (66-21 over Southern in 2016), Chris Scelfo (41-27 over Memphis in the 1998 Liberty Bowl), Tommy Bowden (31-17 over Cincinnati in 1997), Buddy Tevens (13-12 over SMU in 1992), Greg Davis (33-19 over Chattanooga in 1988), Bennie Elder (15-9 over Texas Tech in 1971), Jim Pittman (13-0 over Virginia Tech in 1966), Clyde Simons Jr. (27-13 over USC in 1942), Red Dawson (7-6 over Ole Miss in 1936), Ted Cox (26-14 over Texas A&M) Bernie Bierman (19-7 over Old Miss in 1927), Clark Shaughnessy (24-0 over St. Paul in 1915), E.R. Sweetland (33-0 over Louisiana Lafayette in 1914), A.C. Hoffman (13-0 over Jefferson in 1913), Buster Brown (12-0 over YMGC in 1909), Joe Curtis (17-0 over Samford in 1907), Thomas Berry (11-0 over Louisiana Tech in 1904), Charles Eshleman (46-0 over Meridian AA in 1903),Virginius Dabney (26-0 over Alumni in 1902), H.T. Summersgil (23-0 over South Atlantic Club in 1900), John Lombard (14-9 over Ole Miss in 1898) and Harry Brown (12-0 over Alumni in 1896)...The victory makes Tulane 1-0 for the seventh time since 2016 but only the 10th time since 2000…The season opening victory was the third straight season that Tulane has started the season unblemished…Overall the program is 69-60-2 in the season opener since 1893 (The school didn't field a team in 1897)…The team's current three-game winning streak in the season opener is the longest since 1996-98 when the program also won the season opener in three consecutive seasons…The team's 52 points is the 18th time that the program has scored 40 or more points in the season opener…The most points ever scored in a season opener for Tulane is 1. 84 (1930), 2. 79 (1920), 3.77-0 (1925), 4. 66 (2016), 5. 65 (1928), 6. 54 (1953), t-7. 52 (2024), t-7. 52 (1998), 9. 47 (2011), 10. 46 (1903), 11. 44 (1935), 12. 43 (2017), t-13. 42 (2019), t-13. 42 (2022), 15. 41 (1934), t-16. 40 (1926), t-16. (1929) and t-16. 40 (1987)…Tulane is 24-5 in its last 29 games (.827).

TICKETS
Tickets for the upcoming football, volleyball, men's and women's basketball seasons can be purchased by calling 504-861-WAVE (9283), logging on to TulaneTix.com or visiting the ticket office at the James W. Wilson Jr. Center.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow Tulane football on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. Follow Tulane Athletics on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

WE ARE NOLA BUILT
Tulane University is located in the city of New Orleans. It is a city built on tradition and resiliency. The lessons Green Wave student-athletes have learned through their connection with this university and city have BUILT doctors, lawyers, business leaders, conference champions, all-conference players, All-Americans, professional athletes and NCAA tournament teams. The city of New Orleans has shaped us into who we are today. We are One City. We are Tulane. We are NOLA BUILT. Check out our story at NolaBuilt.com.