Jake Retzlaff threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, Jamauri McClure had 94 yards rushing and a TD on 10 carries, and Tulane beat Florida Atlantic 35-24 on Saturday night.
Tulane (8-2, 5-1 American Athletic Conference) is tied for second in the conference, a half-game behind Navy.
After Tulane went three-and-out, Alec Clark’s 53-yard punt was muffed by Easton Messer and recovered by the Green Wave’s Shaun Nicholas, and on the next play Jimmy Calloway ran for a 14-yard touchdown to open the scoring with 6:38 left in the first quarter.
FAU (4-6, 3-4) answered with a seven-play, 68-yard drive, but — after an illegal formation penalty nullified a Caden Veltkamp’s 2-yard TD pass to Dominique Henry on fourth-and-goal — settled for a 25-yard field goal by Garrison Smith.
On the first play of the second quarter, Retzlaff threw a fourth-and-6 pass to Bryce Bohanon for a 29-yard touchdown that gave Tulane a 14-3 lead.
Anthony Miller Jr. caught a 14-yard TD pass, McClure scored on an 8-yard run late in the third and Retzlaff’s 1-yard touchdown run capped the scoring with 4:30 to play.
Veltkamp, who finished with 375 yards passing, threw a 4-yard TD pass to Jayshon Platt on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter and Kaden Shields-Dutton capped a 17-play, 75-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring run on fourth-and-goal in the fourth. Veltkamp connected with Messer for a 12-yard touchdown and hit Asaad Waseem for the 2-point conversion to cap the scoring with 1:49 to play.
Tulane’s Isaiah Wadsworth intercepted a pass in the end zone with 24 seconds left in the second quarter and the Green Wave took a 21-10 lead into halftime.
Tulane safety Bailey Despanie, a team captain who had a first-quarter interception, was ejected in the third for targeting.
READ MORE:VIDEO REPORT: Jake Retzlaff accounts for 3 TDs as Tulane beats Florida Atlantic 35-24
