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TULSA, Okla. (AP) -
David Johnson
threw for 177 yards and four touchdowns and A.J. Whitmore had 83 yards and two scores as Tulsa shook off Rice in the second
half and rolled to a 63-28 victory Saturday night.
The
Golden Hurricane
(5-0, 2-0 Conference USA) had a 21-14 halftime lead when they broke open the game early in the third quarter. Tulsa's
Slick Shelley
caught a rollout punt from Rice punter
Kyle Martens
at the Rice 25 and raced to the end zone.
Then Kenny Sims picked off
Chase Clement
, setting up a Tulsa drive capped by Johnson's 21-yard pass to
Charles Clay
for the score.
Rice cut the lead to 35-21, but the
Golden Hurricane
defense limited the Owls (3-3, 2-1 CUSA) to one more score after that.
Clement completed 22 of 42 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns, but besides being intercepted, he fumbled once and was
sacked three times.
Tarrion Adams
led all rushers with 112 yards and
Charles Opeseyitan
had 93. The
Golden Hurricane
piled up 577 yards, including a season-high 386 on the ground.
Despite the outcome, the first half was competitive. Tulsa, scored on a 15-yard run by Whitmore and Johnson's touchdown passes
of 7 yards to
Brennan Marion
and 20 yards to
Damaris Johnson
.
Rice countered with a 2-yard run by
James Casey
and a 25-yard strike from Clement to
Jarett Dillard
, his 51st career touchdown reception. That broke an NCAA record of 50 held by Troy Edwards of Louisiana Tech.
It was the 42nd time Dillard and Clements have hooked up for a touchdown reception, adding to their NCAA mark set the previous
week.
Tulsa scored more than 50 points in its fourth consecutive game, something that hasn't happened since the 1919 season.
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