NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Luke Turner put Rice ahead to stay with his first of two fourth-quarter touchdowns and the Owls outlasted Tulane 49-47 Saturday.
Turner's go-ahead run was confirmed by review after it appeared he might have been down before crossing the goal line.
The Owls (4-6, 2-4 Conference USA) withstood a comeback led by Ryan Griffin, who threw for 476 yards and four touchdowns, including three in the second half when Tulane (2-7, 2-3) rallied from a 28-10 halftime deficit.
Ryan Travis' 73-yard interception for a touchdown started the comeback. Tulane led 38-35 on Orleans Darkwa's 1-yard run after Griffin's 62-yarder to Ryan Grant moved the ball to the 1.
Rice led 14-0 early after two touchdown runs by Taylor McHargue. The second came after the Owls recovered a Tulane fumble on the kickoff following the first score.
Tulane gained all its offensive yardage by passing, netting 0 yards on 14 rushes.
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| Scoring Summary |
| RICE | Taylor McHargue 9 yd run (Chris Boswell kick) |
| RICE | Taylor McHargue 11 yd run (Chris Boswell kick) |
| TULANE | Wilson Van Hooser 35 yd pass from Ryan Griffin (Cairo Santos kick) |
| RICE | Turner Petersen 6 yd run (Chris Boswell kick) |
| RICE | Gabe Baker 55 yd interception return (Chris Boswell kick) |
| TULANE | Cairo Santos 57 yd FG |
| TULANE | Ryan Travis 73 yd interception return (Cairo Santos kick) |
| RICE | Charles Ross 11 yd run (Chris Boswell kick) |
| TULANE | Rob Kelley 7 yd pass from Ryan Griffin (Cairo Santos kick) |
| TULANE | Xavier Rush 62 yd pass from Ryan Griffin (Cairo Santos kick) |
| TULANE | Orleans Darkwa 1 yd run (Cairo Santos kick) |
| RICE | Luke Turner 3 yd run (Chris Boswell kick) |
| TULANE | Cairo Santos 42 yd FG |
| RICE | Luke Turner 2 yd run (Chris Boswell kick) |
| TULANE | Wilson Van Hooser 33 yd pass from Ryan Griffin (failed 2pt pass) |
| Team Stats | ||
| RICE | TULANE | |
| First Downs | 25 | 20 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 10-19 | 6-13 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 86-482 | 63-476 |
| Rushes-Yds | 65-211 | 14-0 |
| Passing Yds | 271 | 476 |
| Kick Return Yds | 12 | 59 |
| Punt Return Yds | 31 | 0 |
| Passes | 13-21-1 | 28-49-2 |
| Punts | 7-239 | 4-189 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 2-1 | 3-3 |
| Penalties-Yds | 9-100 | 4-25 |
| Time of Poss. | 40:1 | 19:59 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| RICE: Charles Ross 20-95, Taylor McHargue 19-60, Luke Turner 7-14, Brandon Hamilton 7-13, Turner Petersen 5-13, Jordan Taylor 1-12, Driphus Jackson 3-4, Jeremy Eddington 1-2, Team 2--2 |
| TULANE: Josh Rounds 1-7, Orleans Darkwa 4-6, Dante Butler 1-6, Rob Kelley 4-4, Ryan Griffin 3--11, Team 1--12 |
| PASSING |
| RICE: Taylor McHargue 12-20-259-1, Driphus Jackson 1-1-12-0 |
| TULANE: Ryan Griffin 28-49-476-2 |
| RECEIVING |
| RICE: Taylor Cook 3-53, Luke Willson 2-59, Jordan Taylor 2-58, Charles Ross 2-46, Sam McGuffie 2-45, Donte Moore 1-10, Turner Petersen 1-0 |
| TULANE: Rob Kelley 8-49, Ryan Grant 5-176, Xavier Rush 5-96, Marc Edwards 3-40, Josh Rounds 3-37, Wilson Van Hooser 2-68, Orleans Darkwa 2-10 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| Rice | 3rd Conference USA West | 4-4 | 7-6 |
| Tulane | 5th Conference USA West | 2-6 | 2-10 |
