Tulane Green Wave Return From Bye to Host Rice Owls
After a week off, the Tulane Green Wave get back to the field as they prepare to host the Rice Owls in a continuation of American Athletic Conference action on Saturday at Yulman Stadium at 2:30 p.m.
The Green Wave (4-2, 2-0 in AAC) have won three straight games since back-to-back losses against power conference opponents. In their first two league victories Tulane has outscored its opponents 126-30.
Rice (2-4, 1-2) is coming off a two-point win over UTSA, but that game was at home. The Owls have played two road game so far this season and they’ve lost both games.
Tulane is a contender to reach the conference championship game for the third straight season, but it’s not alone. The Green Wave has opportunity to control its own destiny. In the next five games the Green Wave will play three teams that are currently undefeated in conference action. That may change by the time Tulane gets to those opponents, but it reveals the strength of their schedule down the stretch.
Here is a preview of the Green Wave and the Owls.
Rice at Tulane
Yulman Stadium, New Orleans
Time: 2:30 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN+
Radio: The Ticket 106.1 FM (flagship) and Heaven 106.7 (simulcast).
Coaches: Tulane — Jon Sumrall (4-2 at Tulane, 27-6 career as head coach); Rice — Mike Bloomgren (24-50 at Rice and overall).
Fun fact: Bloomgren’s last two jobs have been at highly-respected private schools. Before he took over at Rice, he spent multiple years as an assistant at Stanford under David Shaw, eventually becoming the team's offensive coordinator.
All-Times Series: Rice leads series, 20-16-1.
Last meeting: Tulane def. Rice, 30-28 (2023).
Series notes: The series dates all the way back to 1916 when the two teams played in Houston, with Rice winning, 23-13. Tulane is much better at home (9-7-1) than it is on the road (7-13) and only has four wins in the last 10 matchups.
Last Week: Tulane was idle. Rice def. UTSA, 29-27.
About Tulane: Tulane seems to have found a groove in all three phases of the game after their first two conference wins. The offense put up incredible numbers against both USF and UAB, and with a week to fine tune the scheme, the Green Wave should be in good position to put up similar numbers this week.
The defense has been adept at creating turnovers and forcing mistakes all season, and the unit hasn't slowed down in league action. Through two games the unit is giving up just 15 points per game, and if they can maintain that average they'll be a difficult team to beat.
The Green Wave can’t afford to look past Rice because the schedule gets tougher with consecutive road trips to North Texas and Charlotte, along with a road trip to Navy and a home finale against Memphis.
About Rice: Bloomgren has been slowly, but surely, building the Owls back up into a competitive program. Through his first four seasons he couldn't get Rice past four victories. Then, in 2022, the Owls won five games but ended up making a bowl game after there weren't enough six-win teams to qualify.
In 2023, the program's first in the American, the Owls finally hit that six-win threshold and got their first legit bowl bid under the former Stanford coordinator.
Rice can be consistently competitive. The program is a decade removed from three straight bowl games (2012-14) under David Bailiff. In 2013 the Owls won 10 games and won the Conference USA title. Owls fans aren't necessarily asking for that this year, but after a long tenure in Houston the heat might finally be on Bloomgren.
Next Up: Tulane travels to North Texas on Oct. 26. Rice travels to UConn on Oct. 26.
