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Final Score: Tulane 24 - S-M-U 45

Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - J.J. McDermott was stellar completing 29-of-40 attempts for 322 yards and three touchdowns for the Mustangs as they snapped their two-game losing streak with a 45-24 win over Tulane in Conference USA action at Ford Stadium.

SMU (6-3, 4-2 C-USA) received a huge boost from the conference's leading rusher Zach Line as he ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. Darius Johnson was uncontainable as he racked up 135 receiving yards and a touchdown on seven catches. The Mustangs became bowl eligible with the victory.

Tulane (2-8, 1-5) has now lost seven in a row. The Green Wave was led by Ryan Griffin as he completed 20-of-36 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns. Wilson Van Hooser contributed 66 receiving yards and a touchdown on five catches.

SMU's dominant first half began with a four yard touchdown run by Line at the 7:14 mark of the opening quarter. McDermott completed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Der'rikk Thompson with just under three minutes left in the first frame to give the Mustangs a 14-0 lead.

Kicker Chase Hover added three with a 32-yard field goal with 11:19 left in the first half. SMU added two more touchdowns as McDermott connected with Johnson on a 58-yard touchdown play at the 4:14 mark and Line punched it in from a yard out with just over a minute left in the first half to give SMU a 31-0 half time advantage.

Tulane's defense gave the visitors some life in the opening seconds of the third quarter as Dominique Robertson returned a fumble 18 yards for the Green Wave's first score. Cairo Santos added three more for Tulane with a 42-yard field goal at the 11:11 mark of the third quarter. The Green Wave then scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass to Van Hooser from Griffin with 7:43 left in the third quarter that made the SMU advantage 31-17.

Line scored his second touchdown of the day on a seven yard run to end Tulane's 17-point rally with 2:18 left in the third quarter. The Green Wave scored with seconds remaining in the third period as Justyn Shackleford found the end zone on a 49-yard pass from Griffin that made SMU's lead 38-24.

McDermott completed a two-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Wilkerson with 1:39 left to play. The senior quarterback's third touchdown toss of the game ended scoring with the Mustangs up 45-24.

SMU outperformed their conference foe offensively by gaining 453 yards of total offense to Tulane's 271.

Tulane's interim head coach Mark Hutson is now 0-3 since taking over on October 18th after the resignation of Bob Toledo.