Kansas State fought back from a 10-point halftime deficit to hold off upset-minded Tulane 34-27 before a crowd of 25,034 fans at Yulman Stadium on Saturday.
Here's three things we learned from the game:
Huge turnaround
The game turned on one huge play midway through the fourth quarter.
Darian Mensah played brilliantly for four quarters, but the redshirt freshman made one major mistake that proved to be decisive.
With the score tied at 27 and Tulane driving in Kansas State territory, Mensah tried to make something out of nothing on an ill-fated drop-back and paid the price when Austin Romaine strip-sacked him at the K-State 40 and safety Jack Fabris picked up the loose ball and returned it 60 yards for the go-ahead score.
The score, which came with 8:13 left to play, gave the Wildcats their first lead since the game's opening minutes and ended up being the difference in the game.
The turnover tarnished what was an otherwise splended performance by Mensah, Tulane's talented?redshirt freshman quarterback. He completed 19 of 28 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns, outdueling heralded K-State quarterback Avery Johnson for four quarters.
Mensah energized the home crowd with a beautiful 53-yard bomb to Dontae Fleming to set up Tulane’s first touchdown in the first quarter. Mensah plays with great poise, which belies his age and inexperience. In the first half, he completed 11 of 14 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown and averaged a whopping 19.8 yards per completion.
Controversial finish
A controversial offensive pass interference penalty against Dontae Fleming wiped out a last-minute touchdown that could have tied the game. The infraction came with 17 seconds left and negated a 2-yard TD catch by Yulkeith Brown and cost the Green Wave 15 yards.?
Officials ruled that Fleming interfered with a Kansas State defensive back while running his route, freeing up Brown for the catch.?
The call drew widespread criticism on social media and was even questioned by ESPN analyst Louis Riddick during the broadcast.
Breakout effort
Welcome back, Makhi Hughes.
When Mensah wasn't working his magic though the air, Hughes was gobbling up yards on the ground. He rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries and added 37 yards on five catches for a total of 165 yards from scrimmage.
It was an impressive breakout effort against a stingy K-State defense.
By his standards, Hughes had a rather pedestrian game in the opener against Southeastern Louisiana, rushing for 59 yards on 14 carries.?
Tulane coach Jon Sumrall clearly wanted to get Hughes more involved in the game plan in Week 2. He had eight touches — six carries and two receptions —in Tulane’s first 10 plays.