Football sees victory taken away in last minutes
Not only does the football team have one of the highest points-allowed averages in college football, injuries in seemingly every position and one of the best teams in Conference USA coming to town this weekend following last weekend's 54-49 loss to Tulane University (4-6, 2-4 C-USA), but now they have one more toxic, team-dividing issue to deal with - a full-blown quarterback controversy. The quarterback is arguably the most important position in all of sports; the man who handles the ball on every play and leads the team in both a figurative and literal sense. Offenses like stability, and up until recently, redshirt junior transfer Nick Fanuzzi had provided that.
After redshirt freshman Taylor McHargue went down early in the season with an injury, Fanuzzi stepped up and seized the position, attempting to ensure it was not the Owls' offense that led to their defeats. Fanuzzi's performance, however, has steadily declined after the bye-week, with redshirt sophomore backup Taylor Cook playing well in his last two appearances. Adding to the debate is Head Coach David Bailiff's insistence at his Monday press conference that McHargue is healthy and able to return to the field.
"We are going to evaluate the quarterbacks this week," Bailiff said. "McHargue has been cleared to play. He is healthy now. He actually got cleared to play a couple weeks ago, but he did not have any velocity on his ball or accuracy. You could tell he had bluffed his way into getting cleared. But he is back and healthy now."
It will not matter who is under center this week against East Carolina University (6-4, 5-1 C-USA), if the defense that has given up 118 points in the last two games shows up again, since their recent performance would make it virtually impossible for any team to win a football game. This weekend in New Orleans, La., Tulane took advantage of the Owls' defense once again, leading to a 54-49 victory for the Green Wave.
Tulane scored on the first drive of the game, marching down the field and punching in a goal-line touchdown to make the score 7-0.
Despite a Fanuzzi fumble, the Owls were the next to score, with a Fanuzzi pass to sophomore tight end Vance McDonald to tie the game. The teams traded touchdowns until the closing minutes of the half, when Tulane gained the upper hand, punching in two touchdowns to move up 38-21.
Bailiff was unhappy with the four turnovers that his team had in the first half, all at the hands of Fanuzzi, which provided Tulane with a 17-point lead.
"At halftime, they knew it was what we had done to ourselves and the mistakes we had made," Bailiff said. "If we eliminated mistakes and played hard, we knew we could be in that one. Tulane never stopped us. We stopped ourselves."
Fanuzzi's three interceptions and one lost fumble caused Bailiff to make the switch at quarterback to Cook, and it largely proved successful. Rice drew the first blood of the second half, with a touchdown pass from Cook to McDonald, McDonald's second touchdown of the game. This moved the Owls within 10 points, which was cut to three after Rice punched in a touchdown from the one-yard line with a run from freshman running back Jeremy Eddington.
Tulane scored a touchdown on their next possession, giving the ball back to Rice with just over four minutes left. Cook led the team down the field, hitting redshirt senior wide receiver Patrick Randolph over the middle with a 30-yard pass to put the Owls up by one in the closing minutes of the game.
On the next play from scrimmage, however, Tulane quarterback Ryan Griffin countered, hitting wide receiver Ryan Grant with a 73-yard touchdown pass. After a missed two-point conversion attempt, Tulane went up by a score of 54-49. Rice failed to score in their next possession, leading to a five-point loss, leaving the Owls at 2-8 and 1-6 in C-USA play with two games left on their schedule.
Despite the loss, Eddington was still proud of the offense.
"I felt like we did a bunch of good things," Eddington said. "We just went out and had fun and played for the first time in a long time."
This weekend, ECU comes to town, as the Owls play their first home game since their Bayou Bucket victory over the University of Houston in the middle of October. It will be a challenge for the Owls, who have many questions to answer before tomorrow's game.
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