Zach Line and J.J. McDermott combined for six touchdowns as SMU successfully snapped a two game losing streak with a 44-24 win over Tulane. The victory moves the Mustangs to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Conference USA.
The Mustangs jumped out to an early 14-0 lead after one on a touchdown run by Zach Line and a J.J. McDermott touchdown pass to Der'rikk Thompson. The lead would grow to 31-0 by halftime as Line and McDermott again added touchdowns and Chase Hover nailed a 32 yard field goal.
Tulane came out in the second half and made things interesting right away scoring 17 unanswered points. The Green Wave finally got on the board as Dominique Robertson ran in a Zach Line fumble to make the score 31-7. Tulane would further cut into the lead on a Cairo Santos 42 yard field goal and a Ryan Griffin to Wilson Van Hooser touchdown reception to make the score 31-17. The teams exchanged touchdowns at the end of the quarter to enter the fourth with TCU leading 38-24.
McDermott put the nail in the coffin in the fourth when he capped off a 12 play, 75 yard drive with a touchdown pass to Terrance Wilkerson to make the score 45-24.
McDermott finished 29 of 40 for 322 yards and three touchdowns. Zach Line ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns of his own. Darius Johnson hauled in seven catches for 135 yards and a score. Ryan Griffin threw for 214 yards and two scores for the Green Wave.