Rice ends Tulane bowl dreams

Despite taking an early lead, the Tulane football team fell 28-20 to the Rice Owls Saturday at Rice Stadium.  The Green Wave failed to take advantage of an opportunity to win consecutive games for the first time in the 2009-2010 campaign, and in doing so they allowed Rice its first victory of the season.  The loss dropped Tulane’s record to 3-7 overall, and 1-5 in Conference USA.  For Rice, the win raised its record to 1-9 overall, and its C-USA record improved to 1-5.

The stat sheet was impressive for Toledo.  Senior running back Andre Anderson rushed for 135 yards and senior wide receiver Jeremy Williams hauled in 10 passes for 113 yards and scored two touchdowns.  Junior wide receiver Casey Robottom caught eight passes for 91 yards and a touchdown.  Redshirt-freshman quarterback Ryan Griffin completed 24 of 41 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns.  Down the stretch, though, the Green Wave couldn’t produce enough offensive firepower to secure the victory.

Led by junior linebacker Travis Burks and junior safety Alex Wacha, the Green Wave defense kept the game close. Burks had nine tackles while Wacha added eight.  Senior defensive end Logan Kelley recorded Tulane’s only sack, giving him 13 for his career and placing him sixth all-time in the Green Wave record books.

Tulane started things off with a touchdown on the game’s first drive.  The Green Wave went 80 yards on 13 plays and found the endzone on a six-yard pass from Griffin to Williams that put them on top, 7-0.  Later in the first quarter, Tulane drove 68 yards on seven plays and scored on another Griffin-Williams connection to extend the lead to 14-0.  The Green Wave racked up 157 yards of total offense in the opening quarter.  Tulane was only able to muster 245 yards of total offense in the final three quarters, however, and Rice took advantage of the Green Wave’s lackluster play down the stretch.

Rice cut Tulane’s lead in half when quarterback Nick Fanuzzi found wide receiver Warren Dixon for a 32-yard touchdown  2:49 into the second quarter.  Fanuzzi hit Dixon for a 70-yard score to start the second half, tying the game at 14.  The Owl defense then forced Tulane to punt, and Ross Thevenot’s attempt was blocked, giving Rice the ball at Tulane’s 25-yard line. The Owls scored quickly and took the lead 21-14.

The Green Wave drove 98 yards and scored on a pass from Williams to Robottom late in the third quarter, but a bobbled snap ruined the point-after-touchdown attempt and left Tulane trailing 21-20.  Rice scored again in the final minute, making the final score 28-20 in favor of the Owls.  It was a disappointing end to a disappointing game for the Green Wave.

“You have two very similar football teams playing, “ Tulane Head Coach Bob Toledo said. “Going into the game statistically we were so close in all categories and we’re both young football teams,” Tulane head football coach Bob Toledo said. “They performed better at times than we did. We blew some coverages in the secondary, and we didn’t run the ball as well as we like to. That’s a credit to them. We got another punt blocked and they scored, and we missed an extra point that our holder dropped. We put ourselves behind the eight ball quite a bit today.”

This Saturday, Tulane travels to Orlando to take on the University of Central Florida.  The Green Wave can only hope that mistake-ridden play won’t follow it there.