Nov. 19, 2007

Link To Times Piayune Article

By Nakia Hogan
New Orleans Times Picayune

Tulane running back Matt Forté had his picture snapped with fans, and he tossed his gloves into the stands. His teammates hugged and gave one another high-fives. Coach Bob Toledo arrived for his postgame interview with one of the biggest smiles he has shown all year.

The Green Wave can get used to this winning thing, especially in games like Saturday's when Forté ran his way into the record books and carried his team along with him.

Behind a 39-carry, 194-yard, five-touchdown performance that pushed him past 2,000 yards rushing for the season, Forté led the Green Wave to its second consecutive victory, this one 45-31 over Rice in front of 11,539 fans at Rice Stadium.

"This one was really fun," said Forté, his eyes glowing brighter with every word. "Just to get two wins in a row has been great. I just want to thank everybody, the offensive line and the coaches to be able to go out there and get 2,000 yards and get a win."

Forté also got to thank his family and friends, celebrating the feat with his brother and best friend as the Green Wave ran out the clock.

"This is very special," Forté said. "Only a few people in history have done that. To become a part of history, your name is in the books forever."

In a season that was spiraling out of control, the Green Wave has managed to rally around Forté's historic season and has strung together two wins that players and coaches are proud of.

Rice (3-8, 3-4 Conference USA) had won two in a row. Tulane (4-7, 3-4) notched back-to-back wins for the first time since beating SMU and Southeastern Louisiana in 2005.

And much of it was because of Forté, who scored on runs of 46, 1, 5, 1 and 13 yards.

"By (Forté) doing what he did, it makes us prouder that we are putting this thing together, and we are building it with him and his senior class," Toledo said. "We have a chance to come in third in the West Division. We were picked earlier in the season not to win a football game."

Forté has had better rushing games, but this one was filled with accomplishments:

- Forté, who has 2,007 yards rushing, became the 11th Division I-A player (and the 12th time, Iowa State's Troy Davis did it twice) to surpass the 2,000-yard mark.

- His total snapped the C-USA single-season mark of 1,964 set by Memphis' DeAngelo Williams in 2004.

- His five touchdowns gave him 22 for the season, breaking the Tulane record of 19 set by Charles "Peggy" Flournoy in 1925.

- The five scores tied his school and C-USA record he set earlier this season against Southeastern Louisiana.

Early on, though, it appeared this might not be Forté's day.

The Owls' defense, which had allowed 320 yards a week earlier against Southern Methodist, came out inspired and smothered Forté for much of the first half. On Forté's first 15 carries, he had 47 yards, 3.1 yards per carry.

But on his 16th run, a play designed to go through the left side of the line, Forté cut to the outside and raced down the sideline for a 46-yard score, putting the Green Wave ahead 10-7 with 3:44 remaining.

After the Green Wave executed a hook-and-lateral on its next possession when Jeremy Williams caught a short screen pass and flipped it to Forté for a 51-yard gain to the Rice 9, Tulane was on its way. Forté scored on a 1-yard run, and the Green Wave led 17-7 at halftime.

The Owls didn't get any closer, as the Green Wave offense went to work in the second half, scoring touchdowns on four of its first six possessions of the half.

While Forté continued to hammer the ball at the Owls, quarterback Kevin Moore took a few chances to beat Rice with his arm, occasionally keeping drives alive by converting first-down throws.

The 45 points were the Green Wave's most since 2004 when it beat Army 45-31. This was the seventh consecutive game Tulane, with 455 yards, gained more than 400 yards from scrimmage.

"The real story tonight was Matt," said Moore, who completed six of 10 passes for 120 yards. "Matt makes my job a whole lot easier. Rushing for 2,000 yards in a season is tremendous. He was lights out tonight. When you have someone that runs the football like he does every game, some stuff is going to open up in the passing game. And we were able to find a couple of holes."

Despite the point total allowed, Toledo was pleased with the effort of his defense, which limited the Owls, who had scored a combined 99 points in its past two games, to 14 through three quarters.

Rice standout quarterback Chase Clement passed for 353 yards and four touchdowns, but much of his success came after the outcome had been decided.

Meanwhile, the players were happy to have accomplished some of their goals.

"It's just more or less consistency," Tulane offensive guard Michael Parenton said. "We are getting better. We put it on ourselves that we wanted to win this game. We had a goal we wanted Matt to get 2,000 yards. And we came out and got both of them. Now next week we have to put it on ourselves to get some more."

Toledo agreed.

"This is a building job for the future," he said. "These seniors have laid the groundwork for us. They've done a super job. Most seniors when you start going south, they go south. But these guys haven't done that."