Rice football returns home this week to take on Tulsa. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.
For the fourth time in as many weeks, Rice football found itself in a one-score game against a quality opponent and came up short. This time, it was the East Carolina Pirates that hung on to beat the Owls. The Tulsa Golden Hurricane, their opponent this week, didn’t fair much better last time out, falling to Navy on the road. Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup between Rice and Tulsa.
Kickoff time | 3:30 PM
Venue | First Community Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)
Gameday cartoon illustrated by Hong Lin Tsai.
Sizing up the Contenders
Rice football just needs a win. Somehow, some way, they need a salve from a season full of near-misses. In another world, the Owls might have two or three victories at this point in the season if they’d gotten better injury luck or made an extra field goal or two. That’s not this reality, though. Nor is this team shutting it down for the remainder of the season. A winning streak starts with a single win. Tulsa is the most beatable foe they faced in a month.
More: Join the Conversation on The Roost Discord
On the other side of the field, it’s been a strange season for Tulsa. They own arguably the best win in the conference, upsetting Oklahoma State at home in their opener, and yet, the Golden Hurricane have dropped three straight and, like Rice, are 0-2 in conference play. Getting to a bowl game under second-year head coach Tre Lamb would be a lot easier if they can find a way to beat the Owls on the road this weekend.
Get the Inside Scoop
Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to attack this week’s opponent, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. Don’t miss out! Join now!
Become a Patron!Already a Patron and not part of our Discord channel? Follow these instructions to link your account.
Last Time Out
Make sure you check out The Roost Podcast every week this season as we review the Owls’ most recent game, breaking down the key moments, decisions and their impact on the outlook of the program moving forward.
Series History
All-Time | Tulsa leads, 10-9-1
Last Five | Tulsa leads, 3-2
Last Meeting | Away 2023, Rice won 42-10
Rice Football Stat Notables
Passing | Brown – 38/77 (49.4 percent), 431 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Brown – 107 carries, 514 yards (4.8 yds/car), 4 TD / Byars – 66 carries, 319 yards (4.8 yds/car), 2 TD / Hardeman Jr. – 52 carries, 200 yards (3.8 yds/car), 1 TD
Receiving | Clark – 15 receptions, 171 yards (11.4 yds/rec) / Jackson Jr. – 7 receptions, 102 yards (14.6 yds/rec), 1 TD
Tackles | AJ Brown – 45 / Harnetiaux – 40 / Combs – 37
Pass Breakups | Akui – 4 / Brown, Harnetiaux, Benjamin, Amey – 2
Interceptions | Hook, Harper – 1
Tulsa Stat Notables
Passing | Hayes – 78/131 (59.5 percent), 832 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT
Rushing | Alston – 79 carries, 314 yards (4.0 yds/car), 5 TD / Jones – 43 carries, 245 yards (5.7 yds/car), 2 TD
Receiving | Singleton Jr. – 31 receptions, 387 yards (12.5 yds/rec), 3 TD / Ross – 20 receptions, 212 yards (10.6 yds/rec), 1 TD / Wells Jr. – 12 receptions, 135 yards (11.3 yds/rec), 3 TD
Tackles | Thompson Jr. – 56 / Collins – 52 / Williams, Ashton – 30
Pass Breakups | Williams, T. – 4 / Collins – 3 / Thompson Jr., Williams, A. – 2
Interceptions | Williams, T. – 2 / Five tied with 1
Tulsa X-Factor | Get off the Field
Tulsa has faced the second-most fourth-down attempts in the conference, allowing 39 percent conversions. Rice has attempted the third-most, going for it on their final down 17 times with 10 successes (59 percent). Abell has proven to be unafraid to trust his offense at advantageous distances, even if the risk is a possession change in negative territory. Rice is going to do it. Tulsa has better be ready.
It’s not just a fourth down discussion, though. Tulsa ranks fifth-worst in the conference in third down defense, allowing opponents to convert 42 percent of the time.
The Rice offense feels as fragile as its been all season right now, but the Owls have shown how quickly the ball can start going downhill when everything is clicking. If Tulsa can’t get off the field and finds itself suffering through extended Rice drives, they’ll not have the chance to mount much of a counterpoint while the clock ticks away.
Rice X-Factor | Win the Turnover Battle
Rice football hasn’t managed to string together so many close games by sheer chance. They’ve been good enough to hang with every team on their schedule thus far, Notre Dame notwithstanding. What they haven’t done to this point is find good fortune on the turnover front.
That’s not to say the Owls have been bad. They’re -5 on the season in turnover margin, -1 if you remove a disastrous day in South Bend. They don’t put the ball on the ground often (three fumbles lost over the past four weeks) and were victims of a tipped pass on one of Jacurri Brown’s two picks thrown this year.
Where they’ve struggled is the takeaways piece. Rice is 10th in the league with just four takeaways. Tulsa is first with 14. They’ve only lost four. And still, with an overwhelming amount of turnover luck, Tulsa is 2-3 against FBS opponents. Rice has been considerably less fortunate, but has come close on several occasions.
Rice can seize control of this game if they flip the script on Tulsa’s turnover fortunes. Tulsa is +6 in their last three games in that metric, but still lost all three.
Injury Report (Subscribers only)
One Final Thing
The truth about sports is usually somewhere in the middle. Things are never as good as they seem when a team is riding high and they’re never as bad as they seem when they’re down in the dumps. For as disappointing as the Rice football offense was last week against East Carolina, they’ve had much better outings not that long ago (e.g. Western Michigan and Fresno State).
Also, the defense has now put together back-to-back outstanding performances while the kicking game is improving and special teams is holding their own weight. This is a flawed football team, but not one that hasn’t shown promise. What the Owls are able to do with that flicker of hope is the most pressing issue Abell and his staff face this week.
It’s impossible to overstate how much Rice needs to head into the bye week with a win and a reminder that this offense can and will have success against quality competition. If they can do that, then we’re looking at a team with a bad record, but promise. If they can’t, it’ll be two weeks of further frustrations.
Tulsa enters this game as a modest favorite. It’s the first time Rice football hasn’t been a double-digit underdog against an FBS team this season. Until last Saturday, they’ve overperformed against those oddsmakers’ expectations. The next step is turning those losses into wins.