SportsDirect Inc. staff
Nov 30, 2013
Rice 17, Tulane 13: Taylor McHargue passed for a touchdown and Jawon Davis rushed for a score as the host Owls beat the Green Wave to advance to the Conference USA title game.
Charles Ross had 80 rushing yards for Rice (9-3, 7-1), which won the West Division and will face Marshall on Dec. 7. The Owls limited Tulane to seven first downs and 123 total yards.
Nick Montana was 14-of-31 passing for 97 yards for the Green Wave (7-5, 5-3). Tulane didn’t record a first down in the first half when it had just 10 total yards.
The Green Wave had an early 3-0 lead on Cairo Santos’ 30-yard field goal before McHargue tossed a 19-yard scoring pass to Turner Petersen with 1:10 left in the opening quarter. Davis scored on a 16-yard run early in the second quarter and Chris Boswell kicked a 36-yard field goal seven seconds before halftime to make it 17-3.
Montana threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Devon Breaux late in the third quarter and Santos kicked a 32-yard field goal with 10:14 remaining in the game. The Green Wave turned the ball over on downs with 1:56 left and Rice ran out the clock.