Owls fly past mistake-prone Golden Hurricane

TULSA — Tulsa was expected to win over Rice in Thursday night’s American Athletic Conference game scheduled for home before a nationally-televised audience and a Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium crowd of 18,527.

Instead, the Golden Hurricane (3-4 overall, 1-2 in conference play) made mistakes early that led to a 42-10 loss to the visiting Houston-based private institution.

Now, a season that looked like it was headed in the right direction three weeks earlier is in question with a road game against Southern Methodist University this Saturday morning in Dallas and another at defending conference champion Tulane on Nov. 11 in New Orleans.

The trio of quarterback J.T. Daniels, running back Dean Connors and wide receiver Luke McCaffrey proved to be a nightmare for Tulsa.

Daniels finished with two touchdowns passing and 342 yards on 24-of-37 attempts. Connors ran the ball nine times for 120 yards with three scores, and McCaffrey caught a TD pass and had six receptions for 99 yards. Yes, McCaffrey is the son of Ed McCaffrey, who won three Super Bowl rings over 13 seasons with two different National Football League teams.

Braylon Braxton started at QB for Tulsa for the first time since the season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Like that game, he got his team into trouble on its first drive when he threw an interception.

Two plays later, Connors bolted 54 yards through an open seam to the end zone and didn’t look fast doing it. The Owls were up 7-0.

Braxton’s pick was the first of three turnovers on the night. The other two came by way of fumbles with the first fumble also setting up a Rice touchdown.

The Golden Hurricane tried to answer the Owls’ first score when they drove to the 10, but turned the ball over on downs when Braxton threw a pass that was broken up by Rice defenders.

A sack of Braxton by the Rice defense forced a fumble, allowing the Owls to recover at their 47-yard line. Once again, they scored in two plays. Daniels hit Matt Sykes for 32 yards, then connected with McCaffrey for a 21-yard TD. It was a 14-0 game with 2:42 left in the first quarter.

Cardell Williams then entered the game afterwards.

Tulsa got on the board with a 45-yard field goal by Chase Meyer with 5:45 left in the first half, then cut the deficit to 14–10 when Williams hit Kamdyn Benjamin, who went 30 yards down the left sideline to the goal line 4:30 later.

However, Rice responded with Daniels throwing to a wide-open Landon Ranson-Goelz with 33 seconds before intermission, making it 21-10.

Daniels added an 8-yard TD, and Connors ran in scores from 2 and 10 for the final margin in the second half.

Tulsa wide receiver Kamdyn Benjamin sneaks into the end zone on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Cardell Williams in the second quarter against Rice during Thursday night’s American Athletic Conference game at Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

PHOTO BY BRTT ROJO/THE UNIVERSITY OF TULSA