Tulane Green Wave Workhorse has a new goal after Thursday's milestone

It was a fitting setting on Thursday with the Halloween backdrop surrounding the Tulane Green Wave in their confident victory over the Charlotte 49ers.

In what can best be compared to a typical 1990s slasher, it was a slow and methodical attack that helped the Green Wave post another record in the win column, and their workhorse running back Makhi Hughes was a big one Part of this attack.

Hughes rushed for 117 yards on 27 carries and scored two of Tulane's touchdowns, giving him 11 on the year.

It was the back's 13th 100-yard game of his career and also increased his season total to over 1,000 yards, a milestone he reached in two different seasons. He became only the third Green Wave running back to pass for 1,000 yards twice in his career.

It hasn't been easy for the star as he came into the game last night with 84 runs in the last 12 days, but he's not worried about that.

“I am in pain. I'm banged up but I know I'll be fine overall,” Hughes said in his post-match interview.

Even if you'd seen the workhorse after the game, you wouldn't have noticed how intensely he's been used over the last two weeks.

“He’s a heavyweight, man, and he plays like it. He's the type of guy who doesn't bat an eyelid. Down in the locker room he acted like he hadn’t done anything today,” coach Jon Sumrall said of Hughes. “He looked.” For me he's an impressive guy, he's super physical and tough. We also need to give him some rest this week, but he's definitely a really hard runner.

The college football season is a long and hard road, and taking so many hits each week can take a toll on a player's body.

Tulane also didn't have as much rest between games this week, as there were only five days between last week's game and Thursday. So making sure to stay fresh during the short week proved important.

“It was just mental. We knew we had to take care of our bodies because we had a game on Thursday,” Hughes added on the short week: “Coach Sumrall did a good job taking care of the players and our bodies.” Well yes, we wanted to be the fresher team on Thursday.

For a college running back to reach 1,000 yards in a single season is a difficult task, especially with three games left on the schedule.

Hughes is just the fifth player to reach the milestone this year, while only 45 of over 500 rushers in all of college football reached the mark in 2023.

Hughes, who was among 45 players to reach that mark last year, plans to continue being a workhorse for the team and now has a new goal in mind.

“I can’t do it without my teammates. So call them so I can get 1,000 yards. I'm going to try to do that 1,500 yards. That’s my goal.”