Sports writer Myles Few says TU football had a crushing loss against Rice on Thursday.
The University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane was disappointed with its performance on Thursday night after losing to the Rice University Owls 42-10 at H.A. Chapman Stadium. Coming off of a bye week, Tulsa was hoping to bounce back from their close loss last game against the Florida Atlantic University Owls. Rice also came in well-rested off of a bye week, with their last game ending in a close loss against the University of Connecticut as well.
The TU offense was led by quarterbacks Braylon Braxton and Cardell Williams. Braxton made his first start since the season opener against Arkansas Pine-Bluff. However, on his first passing attempt, Braxton rolled out to his right and tried to find junior receiver Malachi Jones, but the pass was picked off by Owls’ defensive back Gabriel Taylor. Rice would then go 70 yards on just two plays, the latter being a 54-yard touchdown run by running back Dean Connors to make the score 7-0 in favor of the Owls.
TU’s next two offensive drives ended with zero points after a turnover-on-downs in the red zone and a fumble due to a big sack on Braxton by Owls’ blitzing defensive back, Johnathan Jean. After the fumble, it took just two plays for Rice to reach the end zone again, this time thanks to two big passes from their new transfer quarterback, J.T. Daniels. He found his receiver, Matt Sykes, for a big 32-yard pickup before connecting with Luke McCaffery on the next play for a 21-yard touchdown to give the Owls a 14-0 lead.
TU got the ball from the kickoff before giving it right back to the Owls once more thanks to another sack resulting in a fumble, this time being Josh Pearcy knocking it out of TU quarterback Williams’ hands. The tide would turn for the Golden Hurricane thanks to the defense, as Owen Ostroski would get a big sack on third down to force a punt. TU got their first points on its next drive after Chase Meyer hit a career-long 45-yard field goal to make the score 14-3 with just under six minutes left in the first half.
Rice went for it on fourth down but came up unsuccessful, giving TU a chance to make it a one possession game. Both quarterbacks came up big for the Golden Hurricane on its next drive, as Braxton took off for a huge 40-yard run, followed by Williams staying strong in the pocket to avoid a sack and finding receiver Kamdyn Benjamin who broke a tackle and took it 30 yards to the endzone for his first career receiving touchdown. The score was then 14-10 with a minute left in the half.
With momentum swinging in favor of the Golden Hurricane, Rice needed a big drive before the halftime whistle. Daniels, the former Georgia and West Virginia quarterback, stepped up to the challenge, completing five of his six pass attempts and moving the Owls 74 yards down the field and finding Landon Ransom-Goelz for the 17-yard touchdown. Rice would head into the locker room with an 11-point lead with the score at 21-10.
The second half, however, proved to be a much different game. TU’s offense was only able to manage 34 total yards in the half, while Rice’s offense drives all ended with rushing touchdowns before kneeling out the clock, one score coming from Daniels, and the other two coming from Connors. The score ended 42-10 in a crushing loss for TU.
Rice improved its record to 4-3 overall with a conference record of 2-1. TU dropped to 3-4 overall with a conference record of 1-2. TU football will look to bounce back this weekend on Oct. 28 when the team takes a trip to Dallas to visit the SMU Mustangs.
