ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Surging Tulane scratched a 64-year old itch on Saturday and continued its three-year tear in the American Athletic Conference, once again dominating an overmatched opponent.

The Green Wave defeated Navy 35-0 in front of a record Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium crowd to clinch a spot against Army in the AAC championship game. Whether the Wave will host that game for the third year in a row remains to be determined, but it may not matter after posting its first shutout in a conference game since 1960 at Vanderbilt (SEC), a week after the streak against Temple nearly ended ended. .

The win was Tulane’s ninth in a row on the road against AAC opponents and 18th in a row against them overall in the regular season, tying a tie shared by Central Florida and Cincinnati.

No one has come close to ending the streak in coach Jon Sumrall’s first year. Tulane (9-2, 7-0 AAC) won five times with a lead of more than 30 and never trailed after halftime.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “What a testament to our government’s commitment to football, because if you had said 20 years ago that Tulane would play in three straight championship games, someone would have looked at you like you were funny. Everyone in the Tulane area did that. ” We decided that we want to be good at football, and that we can be as good as we want to be.”

Navy (7-3, 5-2), which came in with its own title hopes but lost for the third time in four games, wasn’t nearly good enough to challenge the Wave. Tulane scored touchdowns in the first and second quarters before crushing any hope of a Navy comeback with a 13-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that took 8:45 into the opening series of the second half. Darian Mensah hit Shazz Preston 27 yards on third-and-6 and snuck in for a first down on fourth-and-1, then watched Makhi Hughes weave his way across the goal line despite being hit behind the line of scrimmage on third place and a goal from inside the 1. for a 21-0 lead.

“I just had to use my full strength to get into the end zone,” Hughes said. “Navy has a good defense in the red zone, but they didn’t stop me.”

Starting quarterback Blake Horvath played only three full series and was hit on a 9-yard keeper from the Tulane 45 in the first quarter. He returned for a series in the second quarter but was sacked on first down by Matthew Fobbs-White, leading to a three-and-out. He sat out the second half after rushing for just 40 yards on 15 snaps.

Navy accomplished virtually nothing with backup Braxton Woodson, who had rushed for 24 yards on 21 carries and completed 3 of 7 passes in the first nine games. The Midshipmen finished with 113 yards and eight first downs, never getting inside Tulane’s 35.

“They have a three-back option with (Horvath), Wing T with him and some shotguns with him,” Sumrall said. “With him, the package is so extensive that you can’t sleep at night. It’s a lot of football to defend. When he goes out, I don’t want to say it’s easier, but the other guy didn’t do that much.” of the package.”

Dontae Fleming’s 44-yard catch-and-run over the middle set up Mensah’s 14-yard scramble for a touchdown with 1:07 left in the first quarter as the Wave moved ahead for good. Mensah was initially hesitant to join the third-down play, but when no one approached him, he headed into the end zone for his first career rushing score.

“There’s no better feeling than… leading your boys to victory,” he said. “I’ve wanted this since I was a little kid. I feel like the guys up front have dominated all year, so give them a lot of credit for why we’re playing so well offensively. I’m super proud of the way we played offensively and defensively today fought.”

A 21-yard completion to Mario Williams kicked off the next drive, which ended with Hughes’ 14-yard touchdown run on a third-and-11 tie. He avoided an arm tackle early, took advantage of a big block from Williams and turned the corner into the end zone.

“His poise is second to none,” Mensah said. “They stopped him in the backfield and he still goes and scores. It makes my job so much easier.”

Tulane came into its own in the fourth quarter thanks to 1-yard receptions from Alex Bauman – his team-leading sixth of the year – and Arnold Barnes. The latter was set up by linebacker Sam Howard’s FBS-leading fifth fumble of the year at the Navy 21.

“Everyone did a good job,” Howard said. “Everyone was executed and we were done.”