Mensah, Hughes power Tulane in 52-6 rout of Temple to reach 6-0 in American Athletic Conference

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Darian Mensah threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns and Makhi Hughes ran for 153 yards and two scores as Tulane routed Temple 52-6 Saturday night to remain unbeaten in American Athletic Conference play.

The Green Wave (8-2) is 6-0 in conference play, one win behind unbeaten league-leading Army (9-0, 7-0). Tulane, which owns the nation's longest conference win streak with 16 straight, travels to Annapolis to take on Navy next week and closes out the regular season at home against Memphis.

Tulane built a 52-0 lead after Ty Thompson raced 50-yards for a touchdown with 7:23 left in the game, but Terrez Worthy broke free for a 75-yard touchdown run on the Owls' next possession to get Temple on the board.

Hughes capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a four-yard run to the end zone on Tulane's opening possession and his three-yard run with 1:45 left in the first half made it 28-0 at intermission, Mensah connected with Shazz Preston on a 53-yard touchdown early in the second quarter and tossed six-yards to Alex Bauman in the third quarter to push the Tulane lead to 42-0.

Mensah completed 14 of 21 passes with an interception. Hughes, who surpassed 1,000 yards for the second straight season coming into the contest, paced a ground game that amassed 327 yards on 52 carries by 10 runners. Mario Williams caught four passes for 94 yards.

Evan Simon completed 11 of 22 for 56 yards passing for Temple (2-7, 1-4). The Owls' run game amassed 102 yards, most of it on Worthy's late touchdown run.

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This story has been updated to correct the AAC description to conference, not association.