Tulane Green Wave Overcome Slow Offensive Start To Take Down Rice Owls
The Tulane Green Wave were met with their first real challenge of the past few weeks, but were able to come up with an answer as they escape the Rice Owls by a score of 24-10.
Carried by their star on offense and playmakers on the defensive side of the ball, the Green Wave stayed undefeated in conference play.
The Tulane offense got off to an uncharacteristically slow start in this one. For a team that averaged 42.5 points per game heading into the day, they only had 10 points by the time the fourth quarter began.
Watching Makhi Hughes run the ball down the stretch in this matchup was giving shades of Alvin Kamara for the New Orleans Saints. The contact balance and playmaking ability was able to breath some life into the offense.
There's no telling what this game would look like without Hughes, as he came up big when taking a screen pass 29 yards for the Green Wave's first score of the game towards the end of the second quarter.
The superstar sophomore back had a fantastic day overall with 138 yards on 25 rushes on the ground. He added that 29-yard scoring reception as well, pushing his day over the top.
After back-to-back weeks with a completion rate around 80%, Darian Mensah came back down to earth in this one. He was just 12-for-25 for 152 yards.
Most of Mensah's plays were for big yardage, but they were unable to find the consistency to march down the field through the air,
The freshman quarterback has had ups-and-downs this season, and this was in the down category after a couple of stress-free weeks.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Owls were unable to cash in on their solid drives as Tulane came up with multiple big plays.
Rice quarterback E.J. Warner turned the ball over a handful of times and had a couple more interceptions dropped.
Tyler Grubbs came up with yet another highlight-worthy interception back in the first quarter of this game as he extended his body to come up with an acrobat catch. Grubbs added three tackles on the day.
Green Wave cornerback Micah Robinson had a busy day in giving the Owls a headache. He had four tackles to go along an interception, two passes broken up and a forced fumble.
Punter Will Karoll also deserves a shoutout as one of the most important players. He averaged 52.8 yards per punt in this one. His 64-yard punt in the fourth quarter made things difficult on Rice after they came up with a crucial stop of defense.
A sack fumble by Javion White that was recovered in the endzone by Sam Howard pushed Tulane ahead 24-10 and put a dagger in this one.
Tulane can put this game behind them now that they walked out with a victory and a trip to North Texas on the docket.
