Rice Defeats Louisiana Tech in Overtime, 42-41

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The Lead

Juma Otoviano gave Rice the lead in overtime and the Rice defense stopped Louisiana Tech's two-point conversion attempt and the Owls defeated La Tech, 42-41, Saturday afternoon at Joe Aillet Stadium.

The Story

Rice began the game driving to the Louisiana Tech 36-yard line. But on fourth-and-eight, TJ McMahon couldn't connect with Bradley Rozner and the Bulldogs took over. La Tech took advantage, needing just four plays to drive 64 yards for the early lead. After Rice went three-and-out, La Tech tacked on a field goal to go up 10-0 late in the first quarter. After a Rice fumble, the Bulldogs drove into the Owls red zone. But, Sean Fresch intercepted a pass in the end zone. After the teams traded punts, Rice drive to the Louisiana Tech three-yard line. But, Ari Broussard fumbled just before the goal line and the Bulldogs recovered. Rice forced a punt, taking over at the La Tech 43. The Owls took advantage of the short field position as McMahon hit Luke McCaffrey for a 32-yard touchdown to pull them within 10-7 going into halftime.

The second half saw the teams turn up the offense. After Louisiana Tech recovered a Fresch fumble, it needed just four plays to go 28 yards. However, the Owls answered, driving 75 yards, capped off by McMahon's 12-yard pass to Rozner. The Bulldogs answered with a touchdown, but Rice again drove down the field, scoring on McCaffrey's nine-yard touchdown catch. Jacob Barnes hit a 41-yard field goal to make it a 27-21 lead. But three possessions later, McMahon went straight up the middle for 64 yards to give Rice its first lead of the game, 28-27. The Owls then forced a punt and drove 70 yards with McCaffrey scoring his third touchdown of the day, this time on a 17-yard run to give them a 35-27 lead with 3:57 to play. But, La Tech wouldn't go away. It drove down to the Rice 19 before Landy Lyddy hit Cyrus Allen for the touchdown. He then found Tre Harris for the two-point conversion to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Rice got the ball to start overtime and didn't waste any time as Juma Otoviano ran we yards in two plays, the last of which was a four-yard touchdown that gave the Owls a 42-35 lead. La Tech tied it on a 18-yard touchdown pass. But the Bulldogs went for two, and Lyddy's pass attempt was incomplete to give Rice the one-point victory.

Postgame Notes
Team

This was the 16th meeting between Rice and Louisiana Tech.
Rice improved to 6-9 in the series and 2-5 in Ruston.
Louisiana Tech won the toss and deferred to the second half.
Rice had an 89-yard scoring drive, its sixth scoring drive of at least 80 yards this year.
The Owls have played an overtime game in each of the last three seasons.
Rice snapped a four-game losing streak in overtime, moving to 7-9 all-time in extra sessions.
Rice won consecutive games against the Bulldogs for the second time and the first since 2002-03.

Individual

QB TJ McMahon was 16-of-27 for 208 yards and three touchdowns.
McMahon has 13 touchdowns this year and 15 in his career.
The 13 touchdown passes are the most since Driphus Jackson had 18 in 2015 and are the ninth-most in a season in school history.
McMahon has three games this year with at least three touchdown passes.
He went over 1,500 passing yards for his career.
McMahon also ran five times for a career-high 67 yards and a touchdown.
The 64-yard touchdown run was his second of the year and the longest run of his career.
WR Luke McCaffrey set or tied career-highs with 10 receptions, 171 yards and two touchdowns.
The 171 yards are the most since Jordan Taylor had 185 against UTEP on Oct. 26, 2013 and tie the sixth-most in a game in school history (Jarett Dillard at Army, Sept. 30, 2006).
It was McCaffrey's second game this year with two touchdowns.
He now has five touchdowns on the season.
McCaffrey also ran three times for 31 yards and a touchdown.
It was his first rushing touchdown of the season and the seventh of his career.
WR Bradley Rozner caught a 12-yard touchdown, his fifth of the year and the 10^th of his career.
This is the first time Rice has had two players with five receiving touchdowns since Mario Hull had eight and Jordan Taylor had seven in 2014.
RB Cameron Montgomery rushed for 87 yards on a career-high 14 carries.
LB Chris Conti led the Owls with 10 tackles, his second double-digit tackle game of the year.
Conti also recorded his first career sack.
DE Ikenna Enechukwu recorded a sack in the third quarter. He has 3.5 his year and 9.5 in his career.
DT De'Braylon Carroll recorded his first sack of the season. He now has 3.5 in his career.
Carroll also set a career-high with two tackles for loss.
CB Sean Fresch picked off his first pass of the year and the second of his career.
LB Andrew Awe had a career-high six tackles.
Awe also recorded his first career tackle for loss.
DE Trey Schuman recorded his third sack of the year and the eighth of his career.

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