Thursday night’s college football action kicks off with an American Athletic Conference showdown between two exciting offenses with the Rice Owls and Tulsa Golden Hurricane squaring off.
Both Tulsa and Rice sit at 3-3 and 1-1 in AAC play so far this season. Rice is coming off of a 38-31 loss to UConn last week, while Tulsa lost to Florida Atlantic last week 20-17.
What Channel Airs the Rice-Tulsa Game?
Rice @ Tulsa
- Start Time: 7Â p.m. ET
- Channel:Â ESPN2
- Odds:Â Tulsa -3
- Over/Under Total: 57
Believe it or not, Rice boasts one of the top passing offenses in the country. Quarterback JT Daniels has passed for 1,831 passing yards (18th in the country) with 15 touchdowns to five interceptions.
Rice’s best offensive player is wide receiver Luke McCaffrey. A former quarterback at Nebraska turned offensive weapon, McCaffrey has found a home at wide receiver with the Owls and has excelled. The brother of Christian McCaffrey, Luke sits third in the American conference in receiving yards (514) and second in receiving touchdowns (six).
His ability in the open field and superb hands have made him a standout weapon and Daniels’ go-to option. McCaffrey’s 53 targets are 23 more than the next Owl, and he is the only player with more than two touchdowns. McCaffrey made it onto the Shrine and Senior Bowl watch lists this preseason as well.
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This is a pretty rough matchup for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, who are 117th in passing yards allowed per game. While that number is skewed by playing Oklahoma and Washington to start the season, Tulsa’s passing defense has been a problem in every game.
Senior safety Jaise Oliver takes most of his snaps in the slot and has been Tulsa’s best defender, with three interceptions and four pass breakups this season.
Perhaps the most important defensive player for Tulsa in this matchup is pass rusher Ben Kopenski. Kopenski is second in the American in pressures with 24 and second in sacks with six on the season, but his 22% win rate leads all full-time pass rushers in the AAC.
Tulsa’s offense has been inconsistent throughout this season, living through the roller coaster of redshirt freshman Cardell Williams at quarterback. A week after finishing 14-of-17 for 244 passing yards and three touchdowns with another 90 yards and a TD on the ground against Temple, Williams had a clunker against FAU, completing just 50% of his passes and throwing two interceptions.
However, Rice’s defense isn’t much better than Tulsa’s, which means this could be a pretty productive game for Williams. Rice is allowing the third-most passing yards per game in the American and the fourth-most yards per attempt.
Williams’ passing will open up the run game for Tulsa in this one. Five different Golden Hurricane players have over 100 yards rushing this season, and Tulsa averages 4.9 yards a carry.
Rice’s defense, led by edge rusher Josh Pearcy and linebacker Chris Conti, is one of the best in the American at stopping the run, only allowing 3.8 yards per rush this season.
While this doesn’t look like an appealing matchup between two small schools, we should see plenty of fireworks as two productive offenses look to overpower a couple of struggling defenses.
