No. 22/23 Football Defeats Rice, 30-28

Saturday, October 28

Houston, TX

3 p.m.

Tulane University

7-1 , 4-0

Rice

4-4 , 2-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulane

Rice

Photo by: Parker Waters

Oct 28, 2023 | Football

Box Score

FINAL STATS | RADIO HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTO GALLERY (BY PARKER WATERS)

HOUSTON – The No. 22/23 Tulane football team (7-1, 4-0 AAC) earned a hard-fought road 30-28 victory over Rice (4-4, 2-2 AAC) on Saturday at Rice Stadium.

Running back Makhi Hughes ran for a career-high 153 yards to lead the offensive attack. Quarterback Michael Pratt went 22-for-30 for 263 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also ran 12 times for 40 yards and another score. Wide receiver Chris Brazzell II led the team with his five catches for 75 yards. Fellow wideout Yulkeith Brown caught five passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Alex Bauman also hauled in five passes for 24 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Jha'Quan Jackson had three catches for 44 yards.

Linebacker Jesus Machado led the team with 12 tackles. Safety D.J Douglas tallied five tackles and an interception. Defensive end/outside linebacker Devean Deal tallied four tackles, a sack and two stops for loss.

Tulane totaled 24 first downs in the game. The program accumulated 194 yards on the ground and 263 through the air for a total of 457 yards. The team also held onto the ball for 36 minutes, five seconds. The Green Wave defense limited the potent Owls' attack to 271 total yards.

Tulane scored first as Valentino Ambrosio knocked in a 44-yard field goal to give the Green Wave a 3-0 lead at the 12:57 mark of the first quarter. The big play on the drive was a 43-yard rush from Hughes.

After a defensive stop, the Tulane offense wasted no time in scoring its first touchdown of the game as Pratt connected with Brown on a 26-yard pitch-and-catch to put the score at 10-0 with 9:23 remaining in the opening quarter.

After Rice answered with a touchdown of its own, Tulane again made it a two-score game on a one-yard touchdown rush from Pratt to put the margin at 17-7 with 13:59 remaining in the second quarter.

The Green Wave offense made it a three-score game as Pratt threw a one-yard touchdown pass to Bauman to put Tulane up 24-7 with 3:12 remaining in the second quarter.

Tulane added one more score before the half as Ambrosio hit his second field goal of the contest, this one from 41 yards, to put the Green Wave up 27-7 at the break.

Rice started the second half with back-to-back scoring drives to cut the deficit to 27-21 with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter.

Ambrosio helped stem the tide with his 43-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to put the Green Wave up 30-21 with 11:41 remaining in the contest.

Rice answered with another touchdown to put the score at 30-28 with just over eight minutes remaining in the game. The Tulane offense was able to salt away all but the last four seconds of the contest on the ensuing drive.

Next, the Tulane football team travels to take on East Carolina on Nov. 2 at 2:30 p.m. in a game that will be shown on ESPNU.

NOTES:

Pratt now has 30 multiple touchdown passing performances in his career and has thrown a touchdown pass in 40 of 41 career games…Tulane is 7-1 on the season for the second straight year under Coach Fritz (2023 and 2022)…Overall the program is 7-1 or better for the 13th time since 1893 (2023- 7-1, 2022 – 7-1, 1998 – 8-0, 1973 – 7-1, 1948 – 7-1, 1939 – 7-0-1, 1934 – 7-1, 1931 – 8-0, 1930 – 7-1, 1929 – 8-0, 1925 – 7-0-1, 1924 – 7-1, 1908 – 7-1)…The Green Wave is 4-0 in conference play for the second straight year under Willie Fritz and the ninth time overall (2023, 2022, 2013, 1998, 1949, 1939, 1934)…The win made Tulane 19-3 in its last 22 games over the last two seasons…The four wins in conference this season is tied for the 10th most in school history for a single season (along with the 1933, 1938 and 2022 teams) and behind the eight by the 1934 team, the seven from the 2022 team, the six from the 1998 team, the five from the 1939, 1948, 1949, 1997, 2013 and 2018 teams…The 19 victories since the start of the 2022 season ranks third nationally only behind 23 from Georgia and 21 from Michigan ... The 19 wins in 22 games is the fourth time the program has won at least 19 of 22 games dating back to the start of the program in 1893 (19-3 between 2022 and 2023, 20-1-1 between 1930- 1931- 1932, 21-1 between 1929-1930-1931, 20-1-1 between 1928-1929-1930)…Tulane has run for 100 yards as a team in 94 of its last 98 games…Tulane is 39-6 when leading at halftime and 41-9 when leading or tied through three quarters under Willie Fritz…Makhi Hughes' 153-yard rushing was a career high and his fourth straight game topping 100 yards on the ground…It was the 205th time that a Tulane player has run for 100 yards or more in a game…The Tulane defense has now gone 29 straight games without allowing 100-yard individual rusher (10/2/21 against ECU's Keaton Mitchell – 222 yards rushing).

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