Tulane-Charlotte: Ball control brings Wave to easy victory | Tulane

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – Using a ball-control offense while upsetting an overwhelmed true freshman quarterback, Tulane turned Halloween into Fright Night.

Makhi Hughes became the third running back in school history to surpass 1,000 yards twice in his career, and the Green Wave played keep-away in a resounding 34-3 win over Charlotte in front of an ESPN audience at the Jerry Richardson Stage.

In a short week for both, Tulane (7-2, 5-0 American Athletic Conference) had no problem overcoming a schedule that left it the only FBS team this season with games at opponents' home fields on a Saturday and the following Thursday.

“It was a tremendous challenge,” coach Jon Sumrall said. “I’m really grateful to our guys today for finding a way.”

The win was the Wave's 15th straight during the regular season in the AAC in its first meeting with Charlotte (3-6, 2-3). The 49ers suffered their fifth loss by 18 points or more.

Hughes finished his third straight 100-yard game with 117 yards on 27 carries, giving him 84 attempts and 462 yards in three games over 12 days.

“I'm sore and battered, but I know overall I'll be fine,” he said. “We knew the run game was working, so we kept pounding on them.”

Redshirt freshman Darian Mensah finished 21 of 29 for 214 yards, another confident, efficient performance for Tulane. His favorite target was Mario Williams, who caught six passes for 96 yards.

49ers' Deshawn Purdie looked like he'd seen ghosts and goblins in an ugly Halloween performance. He also saw a slew of Tulane linebacker Dickson Agu and defensive ends Adin Huntington and Kam Hamilton all sacking the nervous quarterback.

Purdie was 5 of 12 for 66 yards and made several errors through three quarters in his third career start before being benched. Facing a fourth-and-2 from a 3-0 deficit at the Tulane 24 in the second quarter, he panicked under pressure on a low snap and threw the ball out of bounds, forgetting what he was.

At the end of a 10-yard scramble in the third quarter – his longest run since a 15-yard run against North Carolina in the season opener – he grabbed cornerback Rayshawn Pleasant's facemask on the way out of bounds, costing the 49ers 15 yards. On the next snap, cornerback Micah Robinson skipped a hitch route and rolled into the end zone for a 21-yard interception return as Tulane took a 20-3 lead.

“They had played the same game a couple of times in the first half,” he said. “I just expected it again in this game. We wanted to put pressure on the quarterback today because he's young. We messed up his reads a little bit.”

The Wave's nation-leading fifth defensive touchdown was enough to secure the win, but it added another score to take a 27-3 lead when Hughes scored his second 1-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Jump of the evening achieved.

Hughes had numerous opportunities to improve his season stats as the Tulane offense rarely left the field. He gained 21:04 to 8:56 of possession time in the first half while converting EIGHT of 11 third downs and holding Charlotte to 0 of 4.

The only factor slowing the score early was the Wave's poor field position, whose first two possessions started at the 4.

Still, the Wave pushed ball control to the limit with a 20-play drive that ate up their first possession at 10:58. Hughes ran on the first six downs and took the ball 24 yards. Mensah moved the chains with two completions on third down, waited patiently for Mario Williams to release a cross route for 23 yards and hit Yulkeith Brown down the sideline for 6 yards.

Three plays later, Mensah faced a fourth-and-4 and connected with Williams for 20 yards to the Charlotte 13.

The drive stalled in double coverage after a false start by center Vincent Murphy and a near-interception in the end zone, but Jacob Barnes' 34-yard field goal gave the Wave a 3-0 lead.

“We just showed on this drive that we have the ability to play again and again,” Sumrall said. “We found ways to convert on third down and keep the drive longer. Of course, in situations like that you have to score touchdowns and not shoot field goals, but it was definitely a really impressive drive.”

At this point, both teams had the ball once and there were only two minutes left in the first quarter.

These were missed opportunities for the 49ers in their next two series. After a 24-yard completion and an 8-yard run on second-and-2 at the Tulane 31, Charlotte fell behind with a false start and a sack by Agu on a blitz, forcing a punt.

Hahsaun Wilson's 27-yard run put the 49ers back in scoring position on the next possession. This time, an interference penalty against Robinson was overturned by an unsportsmanlike conduct call on receiver O'Mega Blake, who charged Robinson while running back to the huddle.

After Purdie's fourth down throw, Tulane capitalized with a 14-play, 76-yard touchdown drive. The decisive play was Mensah's great 13-yard shot to Brown down the sideline on third down early in the possession. Hughes surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on the only other third down, gathering 9 yards and capping it with a 1-yard plunge with 1:45 before halftime.

Even Charlotte's only goal – a short field goal to end the first half – came after errors. The 49ers started near midfield after the only one of Ethan Head's three kickoffs in the first half wasn't a touchback and the Wave received a facemask penalty at the end of the return. A couple of big runs from Wilson and a late penalty shot out of bounds to safety Jack Tchienchou gave the 49ers a first-and-goal on the 9th

Artevious Norton then almost reached the end zone in one of those rugby scrums, where his linemen kept pushing him forward, but from then on, nothing went right for the 49ers.

A false start penalty on third-and-2 from the 1 brought the ball back, resulting in Huntington's sack.

Barnes' second 34-yard field goal capped Tulane's first drive of the second half, making the score 13-3. Robinson's interception return ended the hitless, fumbling 49ers with more than 23 minutes remaining.

With the outcome no longer in doubt, the biggest highlight of the fourth quarter was Sumrall's two-handed catch of a bad pass from backup quarterback Max Brown with 12:50 left. The Wave players on the sidelines celebrated wildly.

Shaadie Clayton-Johnson tied it with an easy 5-yard run with 2:22 left.

Tulane held Charlotte to 189 total yards and 44 plays, the second fewest for an opponent this century. A year ago, East Carolina had 41 snaps.