What Story Do Stats Tell in Tulane-Rice Rush Attacks?

By the time the Tulane Green Wave finish the season, they will have played all but one of the top six rushing offenses in the American Conference this season.

They won’t play the Navy Midshipmen, have already played the Army Black Knights, Memphis Tigers, and UTSA Roadrunners, and will play the Rice Owls and North Texas Mean Green in their next two matchups.

Thus far, the Green Wave are 1-2 against the top rush offenses in the conference. However, they held the Black Knights, the leading rush offense, to their lowest point total of the season.

They also committed six turnovers against the UTSA Roadrunners and gave them such great field position due to penalties that it really didn’t matter how prolific their attack was at a point.

Of note, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane are eighth in the league. Tulane is 12th entering Week 11.

Their upcoming opponent, Rice, is third in the conference with an average of 270.3 rush yards per game through nine contests.

They have 443 carries for 2,433 yards this season, average 5.5 yards per carry, and have 20 rushing scores on the year.

In contrast, they’re 13th in passing with 93.2 yards per game and five touchdowns, which makes sense given that their offense mainly runs on the gun triple option.

Now, the Wave have a top rush defense in the nation. That was certainly distorted by their recent 60-10 loss to the Golden Hurricane.

But they’re a bit more vulnerable to rushing scores than passing ones, allowing 18 touchdowns on the ground this season compared to just eight in the air.

So, while they have experience against this sort of offense, have held a similar one to its lowest point total of the year, and have an extremely impressive red zone defense, they aren’t totally advantageous in this matchup.

That all said, it might be a battle of who can get it done there at all, as the Rice Owls have a strong rush offense, poor pass offense, and fail to get it done once they hit the red zone.

They are dead last in red zone offense in the conference with just nine touchdowns and 6-of-7 field goals through nine matchups.

However, Tulane isn’t much better, slotting in just above them at 13th. They have 12 touchdowns in the red zone this season and are 8-of-8 on field goal tries once they get down there.

Stats don’t really dictate a football game, but they do give a good baseline of where each team is at with their strengths and weaknesses heading into this one. It’s not clear which team, if either, has a definitive edge.