Rice Hosts #22 Tulane on Hall of Fame Weekend

Game #8
Who: Rice (4-3, 2-1) vs. #22/23 Tulane (6-1, 3-0)
When: Saturday 3:00 p.m. CT
Where: Houston, Texas
Stadium: Rice Stadium
Television: ESPN 2: Drew Carter (PXP); Brock Osweiler (Analyst); Kayla Burton (sidelines)
Where to Find the Game: ESPN2
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst)
Audio Streaming: RiceOwls.com, Rice Game Day App, Varsity Network
Live Stats: Sidearm.com
Digital Game Program: Game 8 Rice vs. Tulane
Series Information: 37^th meeting

Full Game Notes
Series Notes
• This will be the 37th meeting between the schools and the first since 2013.
• The series dates back to 1916 when the Owls took the first meeting, 23-13. Rice leads the overall series 20-15-1. The Owls lead the series at Rice Stadium 9-4 and have won the last three at home.
• This will be the first meeting between the teams when one comes into the game ranked in the AP poll
• In 1946 and 1947, Rice used wins over Tulane to move into the AP rankings the following week.
• The Owls' 42-34 win in 2005 over the Wave was their first C-USA win.
Rice defeated the Green Wave 17-13 in the most recent meeting (11/30/13), clinching a spot in the C-USA Championship game the following week at Rice Stadium.
• Tulane took an early 3-0 lead, but Rice took a 17-3 lead into the locker room and rode a stout defensive performance that held the Green Wave to 123 yards on the day to set up a showdown with Marshall.

Facing Ranked Conference Opponents
Saturday's game will be the Owls' first against a ranked opponent at Rice Stadium since 2016 when Rice opened its home schedule by hosting Baylor which was ranked 21st by AP and 19th by the coaches. This will be the Owls' first home game vs. a ranked conference opponent since they defeated #21 BYU 27-14 on 10/11/97 on ESPN 2. Ironically, Rice was coming off a 42-24 road win at Tulsa heading into the BYU game. Rice has played 53 games at Rice Stadium against ranked conference opponents since it opened in 1950(10-40-3), but the Owls have won the last two (vs. #20 Utah in 1996 and #21 BYU in 1997).

JT's Best Start
JT Daniels has thrown for 2,137 yards and 17 touchdowns in the first seven games, his highest totals through seven games in his career. His previous best was 1,686 in the seven games last season at West Virginia.
Also notable:

His 2,137 yards in seven games are the most by an Owl since Chase Clement had 2,192 on his way to a school-record 4,119 in 13 games in 2008. Tommy Kramer threw for 2,039 yards in seven games on his way to 3,317 yards in 11 games and consensus All-American honors in 1976.
His 310.4 yards per game would rank second at Rice. Clement holds the record with 316.8 in 2008 and Kramer is third at 301.5 in 1976.
His 17 TD passes are a career high.
His seven consecutive starts at QB to open the season are the most by an Owl since Tyler Stehling started the first 10 games in 2016.
Daniels' 434 yards vs. USF are the third most in school history and his 409 yards of total offense at USF were the eighth-best total in school history.
Rice has had seven games when a quarterback has thrown for 400+ yards and Daniels is the first Rice quarterback to top 400 yards twice in the same season. Chase Clement had one in 2007 and another in 2008.
He bettered his longest career completion in consecutive games with a 70-yard TD to Kobie Campbell vs. TSU and an 80-yard TD to Dean Connors at USF.
Daniels leads the AAC in yards per game, passing efficiency, passing touchdowns, and yards. He is seventh nationally in yards per game. 10th in passing TDs and yards, 17th in yard per completion, and 24th in passing efficiency.

Starting Fast
Rice has scored 90 points in the first quarter this season while allowing 13, the most since scoring 81 in 2014 (allowed 97). Rice's +77 scoring margin in the first quarter is the second-best at the FBS level, trailing Oklahoma (+82). Rice has already outscored the '22 Owls who scored 65 in the first quarter in 13 games in 2022 and were outscored 94-65. The Owls have not outscored the opposition in the first quarter of a full season since 2019 (65-58). They held a 29-0 lead after the first during the shortened (5 games) 2020 season. In full seasons since 1974, Rice has outscored opponents in the first quarter 11 times and has averaged 6.1 wins in those years (67-61-1). In the 37 other full seasons since 1974, they averaged 3.2 wins (120-301-2).

Making Them Count
Rice converted Gabriel Taylor's interception and De'Braylon Carroll's fumble recovery in the first quarter at Tulsa into touchdowns, giving the Owls seven touchdowns off seven turnovers to that point in the season. The streak ended later in the quarter when they failed to score after a second fumble recovery in the quarter. They have scored 42 points this year while yielding just 25 on 10 turnovers. Rice scored 48 points off 18 turnovers in 13 games last year while opponents scored 101 points on 32 Owls' turnovers.

Up Next
Rice welcomes SMU back to Rice Stadium for the first time since 2012 at 6:30 next Saturday, November 4. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN U.

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