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RECAP | Louisiana Tech suffered a heartbreaking 42-41 defeat in overtime to Rice on Saturday afternoon in front of 18,300 fans at Joe Aillet Stadium.
If the score didn't indicate it, this game was every bit as wild as one could imagine between the Bulldogs and Owls.
As if playing without five starters wasn't enough, Louisiana Tech was also forced to play three quarterbacks in the defeat.
Parker McNeil was injured late in the first quarter with the Bulldogs having jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead.
Matthew Downing entered the contest, and Rice was able to chip away at Tech's lead.
Leading 17-14 in the 3rd quarter, Smoke Harris returned a Rice kickoff 65 yards to put the Bulldogs in business.
On 2nd & 20 from the Rice 32, Tre Harris took a bubble screen to the house for a touchdown to stretch Tech's lead back out to 10 at 24-14.
After a Luke McCaffrey 9-yard TD catch late in the third quarter cut Tech's lead to 27-21, TJ McMahon would take one 64 yards to the house to give the Owls their first lead at 28-27 with 10:30 remaining in the game.
The Owls would add another score to make it 35-27 with 3:57 remaining.
Tech would need to drive 75 yards and convert a two-point conversion to force overtime.
On 3rd & 7 from the Rice 34 with under a minute remaining, Matthew Downing threw a beautifully placed ball to Cyrus Allen that was dropped for a walk-in touchdown.
Rice was called for roughing the passer on the play, but Downing was knocked out of the game with a lower leg injury.
True freshman Landry Lyddy would enter the game with the ball on the Rice 19.
On Lyddy's first pass he connected with Cyrus Allen for a 19-yard score to cut Rice's lead to 35-33.
Lyddy would then hit Tre Harris on the two-point conversion to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Rice would need only three plays to score a touchdown on its first possession to take a 42-35 lead.
On 4th and 3 from the Rice 18, Lyddy hit Tre Harris for an 18-yard touchdown.
Tech would go for two and play for the win. Lyddy's pass to Cyrus Allen sailed out of bounds and the Bulldogs would fall to the Owls 42-41.
Lyddy completed three passes in the contest with two of them going for touchdowns in the biggest moments on the game.
Individual Statistics
RB Marquis Crosby | 14 carries for 87 yards
WR Tre Harris | 8 catches for 92 yards, 3 TDs
WR Cyrus Allen | 2 catches for 50 yards, 1 TD
LB Hugh Davis | 11 tackels, 1 TFL
DT Zion Nason | 5 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack
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