Rice 42 Tulane 34

The Owls (1-8) get the top spot on the local football review this week as they finally broke their 14 game losing streak (the longest in major college football) in beating Tulane at Rice Stadium. The win was a relief for the Rice program, which could attract a “crowd” of less than 10,000 for homecoming on a mild Texas autumn afternoon. Rumors continue to swirl that this will be head coach Ken Hatfield’s last season, and — despite the problems that the program has endured over the past two seasons — he is going to be a tough act to replace. While Rice’s new affiliation with Conference USA renews its traditional rivalries with Houston, SMU, and Tulane, it’s reasonably clear that those rivalries will not be enough to revive the lagging Owl football program. The Owls have a tough game next Saturday at Central Florida before ending the season on the Saturday after Thanksgiving against Houston.

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