University of Tulsa Cooks Rice

Originally Published: Oct 3, 2009 10:37 PM CDT

Andrew Topps & JB Long
Oklahoma Sports

HOUSTON – The Tulsa offense performed like a diesel engine against Rice. It started slowly, but once it got going, it did not stop.

G.J. Kinne completed 12-straight passes and the Golden Hurricane reeled off 20 unanswered points in their 27-10 win over the Owls. TU improves to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in Conference USA play.

Tulsa came out firing on both ofits opening drives. Jamad Williams capped off the Golden Hurricane 80-yard opening drive with a six-yard touchdown run to give TU an early 7-0 lead. Quarterback G.J. Kinne took it in fromsix yards out during the beginning stanza of the third quarter.At that point, TUtook a 17-10 lead and never looked back.

Kinne connected on a 39-yard touchdown pass with A.J. Whitmore in the fourth quarter to put the nail in thecoffin. Kinne finished with 251 yards through the air on 21-32 passing. The Texas native also carried the ball 16 times fornine yards and a score.

To see Kinne's touchdown pass and other highlights click here.

On the other side of the ball, the Tulsa defense had one of its best games of the year. The Golden Hurricane recorded 12 tackles for a loss and held Rice under 200 total yards.

Click here for more on Tulsa's defensive performance.

Things did look dicey in the first half for Tulsa. The Owls sacked Kinne five times in the first half and held TU to just 32 yards after the opening drive.

Rice found the end zone just 45 seconds into the second quarter. Ryan Lewis connected with Taylor Wardlow on a 29-yard touchdown pass to tie things up at seven.

Both teams had their miscues. A mishandled snap on a field goal cost the Owls three points. G.J. Kinne fumbled a snap and Rice recovered. The Texas native was sacked five times in the first half.

The Owls took a 10-7 lead on a 42-yard field goal by Clark Fangmeirer.

Sophomore Damaris Johnson showed why he was the preseason C-USA special teams Player of the Year by returning a kickoff 75 yards down to Rice's 12 yard line. However, the Golden Hurricane came away with just a field goal to tie the game at 10 at halftime.

To hear from Damaris Johnson and GJ Kinne click here.

To hear from Tulsa Head Coach Todd Grahamclick here.