The Eagle Lake native and University of Miami transfer had come off the bench to lead the Owls two four second-half touchdowns, obliterating a 17-point Tulane halftime lead and surging to an improbable 49-48 advantage with two minutes left to play.

But the Rice defense allowed a 73-yard TD bomb within 16 seconds of that go-ahead score, and Captain Cook's ultimate voyage of the day, though once again shipshape and trim, reached only as far as the Tulane 11 yard line before ultimately finding itself becalmed.

Taylor Cook lost the chance to become a storybook hero, but his even so second-half exploits showed to anyone who cared to pay even the scantest attention why he should have been Rice's starting quarterback beginning with Game One on Sept. 4 against Texas at Reliant Stadium.

Before launching into the narrative of theismiserable but almost-wonderful game, it gives pause to inquire just why in Hades was Taylor Cook in the position of having to pull out, for the second time in a matter of minutes, a fourth-down miracle as the game clock wore down.

For starters, go back to the first half of this time, in which Rice retreated into the locker room trailing 38-21. In that first half, the Owls wound up ceding minus-24 points as a direct result of four turnovers thrown or or fumbled away by starting quarterback Nick Fanuzzi.

Now Nick, bless his soul, has been nothing short of heroic against long odds for the past two seasons. He's a great Rice man, and deserves our respect and friendship. No-one can legitimately questions his guts, efforts and honor.

But still, we're talking about a football game here, against a beatable opponent. And oh, those turnovers. One was a fluke. The other three were inexcusable.

Three led directly to 17 Tulane points. One was implicit in taking seven Rice points off the scoreboard. 

Not only turnovers, but key penalties, brutalized Owl first half

But the maddening thing is that Rice would have exited the first half relatively unscathed, in any event, despite those four agonizing turnovers, had it not been for four equally sickening penalties. All four of them were judgments calls. Two were possible legitimate calls. The other two were hose jobs from the get-go. 

Hose Job Number One: With no score, Tulane's Ryan Griffin tossed to Cody Sparks on the third and long. The Tulane receiver was met solidly at the line of scrimmage by Travis Bradshaw -- who, let's face it, has about as much of a reputation for being a dirty player as Pope Benedict. No gain, fourth and long, punting. But in come le conasse refs, signaling a personal foul on Travis for alleged helmet on helmet contact. But the contact was helmet on shoulder pad. And this, after all, is football.

With an automatic first down, Tulane preserved its drive, and went on to score three plays later to take a 7-0 lead.

Second hose job was just before the half, with the Owls down 31-21, and trying to make something happen offensively before the break. Facing third and six at his 31, Nick Fanuzzi went to the deep sidline route. The pass was accurately thrown, but the intended receiver, Derek Clark, was literally tackled by the Tulane defender and had no chance to come after the ball. That left a second Greenie DB in the zone, free to descend on the ball and pick it off at the Tulane 46 yard line.

The Green Wave went on to score, and take a 38-21 lead into the halftime locker room.

Rice head coach David Baliff said he cautioned his team at halftime that they were not out of the game, and they took his exhortations to heart. "They just kept battling back," he said "We overcame a lot of mistakes from the first half with the penalties and the turnovers. We responded in the third quarter with two touchdown drives, no turnovers in the second half. I am proud of these kids because of what they have been through this season and they just keep showing up, playing hard, and trying to get better."

With such a big hill to climb coming out for the second half, Coach Bailiff sent in Taylor Cook to pilot the team on its initial drive of the third quarter.

Ross returned second half kickoff 64 yards

It didn't hurt a bit that he had a short field to work with, commencing at the Tulane 32 yard line after Charles Ross returned the second half kickoff for 64 yards, bumping and running over several Tulane defenders along the way.

First, Jeremy Eddington got 18 yards out of the Owlcat. A c ouple plays later, Cook hit Vance McDonald for 12 yards and the score, and the Owls suddenly were making a game of it at 38-28.

Justin Allen and Chris Jones got big stops on the next Tulane series, result in a rare three and out for the Green Wave. The Owls subsequently set up shop at their own 32 and alternatted Eddington at the Owlcat with Taylor Cook in the Meerkat.

Sam McGuffie, who'd been fairly quiet up until then, suddenly burst free down the home sideline for 28 yards and a first down. Taylor Cook then hit Luke Willson and Pat Randolph for key completions; Tyler Smith got 12 yards off tackle, and then Jeremy Eddington got seven yards to the one, and then bulled over for the score, next play.

At that point, just a bit over six minutes remained in the third quarter, and it was a whole new ball game at Tulane 38, Rice 35.

This time, though, Tulane had an answer for the Owls, traveling 76 yards in eight plays to extend the lead to 45-35 with 3:36 left in the third.

Like a prize fighter who wouldn't go down, the Owls struggled mightily to get back into the game. They reached as far as the Tulane 41 their next possession, but fizzled there and had to punt the ball away.

Leave it to Kyle Martens, however, as he poked a 46-yard punt which was downed at the Tulane three. The Greenies managed but a single first down from there, but had to punt out on fourth and eight from their own 17, thanks to key stops by Justin Allen and Xavier Webb.

Mixing spread and 'cat, Owls consistetnly moved the football

The Owls then set up at their own 34, and gradually began to move the ball once more. Taylor Cook scrambled for a key first down on third and six from the Tulane 46; it was a case where the pass wasn't there, and the daylight wasn't there, but Cook tucked it under and willed his way to the necessary yardage.

Two plays later, operating out of the Owlcat, Turner Peterson took an inside handoff and sprinted 36 yards untouched into the end zone, and now, with ten mnutes left in the game, the Owls once again narrowed the gap to three, this time at 45-42.

Riding the back of the surprisingly quick and elusive frosh running back, Orleans Darkwa, the Green Wave tried to move in for the clinching score, and eat up as much time as they could along with way.

They did manage a 55-yard drive, getting as far as the Owl six yard line, on a march which was interrupted four times by Cheta Ozougwu solo tackles. That kept the Greenies out of the end zone, but they did settle for a 23-yard Cairo Santos field goal at 5:37 left in the game.

It was enough time, to be sure, for the Rice offense to work one more scoring drive. Operating out of the Owlcat, Jeremy Eddington and Sam McGuffie deliberately moved the Owls downfield after Charles Ross, once again, set the table with a 39-yard kickoff return out to the Owl 45.

Along the way, Jeremy Eddington converted a key fourth and one from the Tulane 46. Moments later, with Taylor Cook in the gun, the Owls were looking at second and 11 from the Green Wave 29.

Cook took the full drop, Pat Randolph beat his coverage, and Taylor found him open deep in the end zone for a 29 yard TD pass which put the Owls up for the first time in the game, at 49-48. It was almost too easy, too fast, as there still remained 2:02 on the scoreboard clock, plenty of time for the Green Wave to responde, given the porousness of the Owl defense. After all, they only needed three.

But it took only 16 second for Tulane to strike back not with three, but with a quick six, as Tulane's Ryan Griffin, operarting frm his 23, dropped back to pass with scant pressure on him. He let it fly and hit his receiver, Ryan Grant, in full stride, three yards behind Rice defender Chris Jammer, 50 yards down the field. Jam managed to catch up with him, but Grant tumbled into the end zone as the Rice defender made the shoestring tackle, and just as suddenly as the Owls had taken the lead, they once again had fallen behind.

"We kicked off and knew the deep balls were coming," Coach Bailiff said afterwards "They had thrown them all day. We had deep ball security until that point. We need to make plays, rely on technique, and we didn't do it."

But, Coach, how on earth did....

"It was quarters. It was zone coverage."

"We were in our two minute drill, and we were surprised Ryan got in behind the secondary," Tulane Coach Bob Toledo explained. "When Griffin saw that, he let it fly. We told Ryan, going into it, that he had time and he didn't have to force anything. He is supposed to look deep real quick and then look short. When he looked deep he saw it and threw it."

Still, 1:46 now remained on the game clock, and Taylor Cook came back in wheeling and dealing, hitting Luke Willson for 19 yards and Derek Clark for 26 more -- Derek came that close to taking it to the house.

Suddenly it was first and ten at the Tulane 14 yard line with 53 seconds left. The first down call was a quarterback draw up the middle that garned two yards. Had it worked, Taylor and his offensive coaches would have been hailed as geniuses, but Tulane clogged the middle and made the play.

McGuffie couldn't shake coverage coming out of backfield

Still, 41 second remained. On second down, Cook threw complete to Sam McGuffie circling out of the backfield, but once again Tulane had the paly contained, and Sam couldn't pull away and work his heroics, picking up but a single yard.

On third and seven, Cook misfired to Patrick Randolph in the deep end zone corner. And then on fourth, a heavy rush by the defensive ends forced Taylor to hurry to get the pass away. He had Derek Clak with a couple of steps on his defender in the end zone, but the ball sailed high and Derek had no chance to haul it in.

Thus the game, moments earlier on the verge of being seized, slipped away from the Owls' grasp.

“We put ourselves in position to win the game at the end,” Coach Bailiff said. “We came up a play short.”

And so a situation that was twice Taylor-made for a storybook ending for the young quarterback ended, instead, quite disgustlingly for the Owls.   For Taylor Cook, it might have been the stuff of dreams.  But ultimately, those sorts of happy endings rarely take place outside of fairy tale books. 

This one ended in a cavernously empty domed stadium, with few there to witness it. This one, in fact, ended up like events of daily life so often do.

--P.T.H.

Two teams badly in need of a win
Familiar woes, common predicaments
face Owls, Tulane as contest looms

NEW ORLEANS (Nov. 12) -- The drumbeat went on for the the struggling Rice and Tulane football programs this week, as the two teams prepare to face off against each other in the Superdome Saturday (2:30 pm, CST, TV: WHNO).