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Rice University Athletics
Fresno St. 27, Rice 24
10/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
- Box Score
HOUSTON (AP) - Asen Asparuhov kicked a 43-yard field goal with five seconds left as Fresno State scored 11 points in the final 1:58 to beat Rice 27-24 on Thursday night.
Trailing 24-16 with 4:23 left, Fresno State drove 80 yards in 10 plays, with David Carr hitting David Shabaglian with a 9-yard touchdown pass with 1:58 left. Carr then passed to Rodney Wright for the 2-point conversion.
Fresno State (2-2, 1-0 Western Athletic) kicked the winning field goal a play after Travis Hale's 21-yard punt gave the Bulldogs the ball at the Rice 38.
Rice (1-5, 0-3) took a 17-16 lead with 10:24 to go in the third quarter on Jamie Tyler's 3-yard touchdown run following Rashard Pittman's fumble recovery.
The Owls, who have lost five straight, made it 24-16 on Evans' 15-yard touchdown run with 5:50 left in the third quarter. John White's interception set up the score.
Fresno State took a 9-0 lead in the first 1:12 of the game. The Bulldogs got a safety when Rice fumbled the opening kickoff, and Carr threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Johnson.
The Owls regained the lead at 10-9 on Derek Crabtree's 39-yard field goal, and Robbie Beck's 22-yard run with 2:58 to go in the first quarter.
Fresno State made it 16-10 early in the second quarter on Carr's 28-yard TD pass to Johnson.
"We gave ourselves a chance and we didn't make it," Rice coach Ken Hatfield said. "We've got two seasons and this is our second season. We have an open date now and hopefully we can get some of our guys healthy again."
The game marked the return of quarterback Jeremy Hurd, who broke a finger in the first game of the season.
"I guess I had a lot of anticipation, bottled," Hurd said. "I was just ready to get another chance to play. I watched my teams these last games and I felt I wasn't contributing."
Hurd ran for 97 yards on 10 carries, and Evans had 94 yards on 18 attempts. Hurd and Evans combined for only 61 yards passing, with Evans going 3-of-11 and Hurd 1-of-2.
