Tulane University
Rice
Griffin, Darkwa Lead the Way Past Rice
Nov 13, 2010 | Football
Nov. 13, 2010
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NEW ORLEANS - Orleans Darkwa eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight game and Ryan Griffin threw for 314-yards and three touchdowns, including a 73-yards strike to Ryan Grant for the go-ahead score with 1:46 remaining in the game, as the Tulane football team claimed a thrilling 54-49 victory over Rice inside the Louisiana Superdome on Saturday (Nov. 13) afternoon.
"I'm happy for these guys. It was a very exciting game. Both teams went in with very similar statistics and it shows how equal we really were," said Tulane head coach Bob Toledo. "Defensively, we gave up a lot of yards and a lot of big plays but we came through when we needed it. Offensively, we had receivers running for touchdowns, tailbacks throwing for touchdowns which made for a very exciting game. We tried to create things that gave us big plays, and that is what helped us win the game today."
Tulane would take the opening kickoff and put together a ten play, 75-yard drive that took 4:22 off the clock to open the scoring against the Owls. D.J. Banks would take a handoff and go over the right end and into the end zone to give the Green Wave the early lead.
Trent Mackey would give the home team the first turnover of the game when he stripped Rice quarterback Nick Fanuzzi of the football on the ensuing drive, but the Owl defense forced a three-and-out and the Owls were able to scratch one across the goal line to even things at 7-7. A 76-yard drive closed out the quarter for Tulane, as Orleans Darkwa connected with Ryan Grant on a 40-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left. It was the first passing attempt, completion and touchdown pass for the freshman running back and gave Tulane a 14-7 lead with 0:02 remaining in the opening stanza.
Mackey would continue his solid effort on the defensive end on the ensuing Rice drive, picking off a Fanuzzi pass at the Rice 35 yard line and returning it six yards to set up the Green Wave's offense. Tulane turned that into three points, as Cairo Santos connected on a 30-yard field goal, but Rice drew closer on a six-yard touchdown scamper from Sam McGuffie to make it a 17-14 game in favor of the home squad.
Darkwa would throw his second touchdown pass of the game in the second quarter when the Green Wave lined up in the Pelican formation at the three yard line. Darkwa took the snap and threw a jump-pass that Cody Sparks hauled in to make it a 24-14 lead. A score from Rice tighten the score, but Shakiel Smith picked off Fanuzzi on back-to-back Owl possessions and the Green Wave scored 14 points to close out the first half with a 38-21 lead.
Banks would net the only score of the third quarter for Tulane, while Rice would use a touchdown pass from quarterback Vance McDonald to Taylor Cook and a one-yard touchdown dash from Jeremy Eddington to pull within ten points, 45-35, heading into the fourth quarter.
Four of the six drives in the fourth quarter were scoring drives, with Rice crossing the goal line on each of their first two drives. Santos converted a 23-yarder in between the two Owl scores, but the later of the two RU tallies gave the visitors their first lead of the game at 49-48 with 2:02 to play.
The two-minute drill was in effect when Griffin led the offense back onto the field at his own 27 yard line. With a first and ten and just 2:02 left, the redshirt-sophomore uncorked a 40-yard strike that hit Grant in-stride. Grant out-ran the lone Rice defender to the end zone and reclaimed the led for the Olive and Blue. It was the longest passing play for Tulane since the 2005 season, when they netted a 74-yarder versus Southeastern, and made it a 54-49 advantage. The two-point conversion failed, so it was up to the defense to make their stand.
"We were in our two minute drill, and we were surprised Ryan Grant got in behind the secondary," said Toledo. "When Griffin saw that, he let it fly. We told Ryan, going into it, that he had time and he didn't have to force anything. He is supposed to look deep real quick and then look short. When he looked deep he saw it and threw it."
The Owls (2-8, 1-5 C-USA) took the ensuing kickoff and returned it to their own 47-yardline to give them great starting field position. After a flurry of passes, the Owls sat with first-and-ten at the Tulane 14 yard line. A two-yard rush was followed by the final timeout for the visitors and after a one-yard slant pass, the incomplete pass stopped the clock with under 30-seconds to play. The Owls had a player opened for a second in the back of the end zone, but Justin Adams flushed Taylor Cook out of the pocket and his pass was just out of the reach of his receiver in the back of the end zone, with Smith defending the play, to turn the ball over on downs.
Griffin took a knee and Tulane celebrated a thrilling 54-49 win on the turf inside the Louisiana Superdome.
On the game, Griffin threw for 314 yards, on 21-of-34 passing, with three touchdowns through the air. He surpassed 2000-yards for the season and completed passes to eight different receivers in the game. It was the fifth multiple-touchdown game of the 2010 campaign. Santos converted all five extra points and was a perfect two-for-two on field goal tries.
Darkwa eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight game with 113 yards on the ground and was also a perfect two-for-two passing with a pair of touchdown tosses. Banks caught a touchdown pass and rushed for two more in the contest, while Sparks set the school single season record for touchdown catches by a tight end with two in the game, giving him six on the year.
Smith posted a pair of interceptions, set a career-high with 18 tackles (14 solos), posted one tackle-for-loss and added a pass breakup to shine for the defensive unit. Alex Wacha contributed 12 tackles and two pass breakups, while Mackey forced and recovered a fumble on the same play, picked off Fanuzzi and added eight tackles, with two for lost yardage.
With the victory, Tulane improves to 4-6 overall and are now 2-4 in Conference USA. The win also kept hope alive for the Green Wave to earn a spot in a postseason bowl. The next test for the Olive ad Blue will be a date with UCF on Saturday, November 20 starting at 2:30 at the Superdome.
--TulaneGreenWave.com--
