Green Wave Bows to Houston, 24-3

The Houston Cougars defeated the Tulane Green Wave 24-3 in Conference USA action from Robertson Stadium. Tulane's record falls to 2-5 overall, 1-4 in C-USA, while Houston improves to 2-6 overall and 2-3 in C-USA.

It was a tale of two halves for the Green Wave defense, as they surrendered 17 of the Cougar's 24 first half points, but rallied in the second half to hold the Cougar's scoreless.

Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb netted 314 yards of total offense and ran for a touchdown as he completed 14-of-24 pass attempts for 267 yards. Kolb added another 47 yards rushing on 12 carries for the Cougars, who snapped a four-game losing streak.

The Cougar's blitzing game plan held Tulane quarterback Lester Ricard to 149 yards passing, as the redshirt sophomore managed to complete 17 of 35 passes. Ricard threw two red zone interceptions that cost the Green Wave dearly.

Jovon Jackson led the Green Wave rushing attack with 59 yards rushing on 12 carries despite being withheld from most first half action due to a minor disciplinary infraction. Sophomore Ray Boudreaux replaced Jackson in the starting lineup and gained 23 yards on 7 carries.

Sensational Cougar receiver Vincent Marshall lead the Cougars with seven receptions for 110 yards, while runnng back Anthony Evans led the Houston rushing attack with 87 yards on 19 carries.

Senior Roydell Williams led all Green Wave receivers with 6 catches for 76 yards.

The Cougars broke a scoreless tie midway through the opening frame when LSU tansfer running back Ryan Gilbert rolled into the end zone from the one.

The Cougars had been backed up to their own 9 yard line after Tulane's opening drive by a Chris Beckman punt but burst out of the hole, due largely to a 60 yard pass completion from Kolb to Marshall.

On the third play of Tulane's ensuing possession, Houston increased its lead to 14-0 when Ricard, who was being sacked at the Tulane 14, fumbled and Coog linebacker Wade Koehl recovered the fumble in the Tulane end zone for a touchdown.

Tulane had taken the game's opening kickoff and advanced as far as the Houston 37. A Ricard pass for Chris Bush fell imcomplete on a 3d and 12 from the Cougar 39 to end the Greenie threat.

A three-yard touchdown run by Kolb early in the second quarter and a 42-yard field goal by Dustin Bell midway through the frame gave the Cougars a commanding 24-0 lead heading into the break.

Tulane managed to finally get on the board when Nick Beucher split the uprights with a 42-yard field goal early in the final frame. However, that would be all the points that the Green Wave could muster. Beucher had missed two other field goals of more than 40 yards in length.

The Cougars totalled 450 total yards of offense in the victory, while holding Tulane to only 250 yards of total offense.

All-American candidate linebacker Anthony Cannon led Green Wave defenders with 11 tackles. Defensive back Sean Lucas, who played much of the game at safety added 8 tackles and true freshman defensive end Antonio Harris added 8 tackles, a career high.