NEW ORLEANS — Rayshawn Pleasant had a 100-yard pick-6, Darian Mensah threw a pair of touchdown passes and Tulane rolled to a 52-0 rout of Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.
Pleasant picked off Eli Stewart's pass in the corner of the end zone and ran along the left sideline for about 40 yards before cutting up the middle for a score that put the Green Wave up 21-0 just before halftime. It was just the second 100-yard interception return for a touchdown in American Conference history.
Mensah opened the scoring with an 11-yard TD pass to Yulkeith Brown. Mensah's 12-yard scoring throw to Alex Bauman made it 42-0 early in the fourth quarter. Mensah was 10-of-12 passing for 205 yards. Makhi Hughes ran for 59 of the Green Wave's 241 yards rushing that included a scoring run. Ty Thompson had a pair of short-yardage TD runs, and Arnold Barnes III added another one on the ground.
Sawyer was 14-of-19 passing for 99 yards. Antonio Martin Jr. added 68 yards rushing on 13 carries for the Lions.
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