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Rice University Athletics
Owls Set To Take On UCF
10/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
GAME TIME: 3:00 pm (Central)
CITRUS BOWL, Orlando, FL
RADIO: SuperTalk 97.5 FM (Matt Musil, Bobby Dixon and Jorge Vargas)
TELEVISION: None
WEEK EIGHT: The Rice Owls head back on the road for the second, three-game road swing of the season with their first trip to Orlando on Saturday. Rice will be looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since the Owls opened the 2004 season with wins over Houston and Hawaii and their first back-to-back conference wins since the end of the 2003 season when they closed the year with wins over UTEP and Louisiana Tech. A win Satuday would also be the Owls first on the road as a member of C-USA.
WEEK SEVEN RECAP: Chase Clement and Jarett Dillard continued to build upon the great seasons they have fashioned and added a flair for the dramatic, hooking up on a nine-yard TD pass with 3.5 seconds left to give the Owls a 34-33 victory over UAB at Rice Stadium.
LOOKING AT UCF: The Golden Knights, who won the Eastern Division of C-USA last year, are 2-4 this season (1-1) in the conference. The are led by running back Kevin Smith, who has surpassed the 100-yard plateau in back-to-back games (129 vs. Southern Miss and 166 vs. Marshall). Smith is averaging 94.6 yards rushing in five overall games - a total that ranks third among C-USA running backs. Senior receiver Mike Walker leads the team with 41 receptions for 478 yards and three touchdowns. During the first six games, he has either led the team in receptions or receiving yards in every game and now has caught at least one pass in 22 straight games.
SUNSHINE STATE
Saturday's game at UCF will mark Rice's second journey to play in the Florida this year, a state the Owls had not previously visited since 1984 when the Owls lost to Miami 38-3. Saturday is the Owls' sixth appearance overall in the state. Rice is 2-3 in the state, with both wins coming in the city of Miami (8-0 win over Tennessee in the 1946 Orange Bowl, 10-0 over Florida in a regular season game in 1960). Their other losses in the state were a 50-22 verdict to Florida in Gainesville in 1976 and a 55-7 loss at Florida State in September.
DILLARD KEEPS ROLLING: Jarett Dillard has jumped out of the gate looking to build upon his C-USA All-Freshman team effort in 2005. In his most recent effort, he caught nine passes for 111 yards and three touchdowns against UAB. His 53 catches on the season are the most by an Owl since Eric Henley set the Rice single-season record with 81 in 1989. He has caught at least two passes in all 18 games of his college career and has caught TD passes in the last nine games. The scoring streak is the longest current streak in the nation for receivers and is tied for the second longest active scoring streak in the NCAA, trailing Antonio Pittman of Ohio State, who has scored in 12 straight. His three scores marked the second time this year he has tied the Owls' single-game record (it had been done just twice in school history prior to 2006) and gave him 11 for the year to set a school single-season mark. Dillard has 16 TD catches in 18 career games, and he needs just two more scoring grabs to tie the Owls career record.Dillard has been on the receiving end of nearly half of the Owls completions in the first seven games (53 of 128). Last year, he caught 35 of Rice's 89 completions.
CONFERENCE MARK Dillard's 11 TD catches this season put him within four of breaking the C-USA season record of 14 which is held by three receivers (Adrian Burnette of Tulane, 2000; Brandon Middleton of Houston, 2003; Roddy White of UAB, 2004).
RANK HIM Dillard leads C-USA and is third in the nation with 7.57 catches per game. He also leads the conference with his 11 TD's and 9.4 points per game. He is second in the conference and sixth in the country with 97.6 yards per game.
Q ON THE OFFENSIVE: Senior Quinton Smith, a second-team, all-conference selection last year, rebounded from a tough outing against Texas by rushing for 310 yards in the last four games. With his 69 yards against UAB, he moved to within 25 yards of passing All-American Kosse Johnson into eighth on the Owls career rushing chart. He ranks fifth in the conference with 69.1 yards per game and is tied for seventh in the league with 103.0 all-purpose yards per game. He has four plays from scrimmage this season of 37 yards or better, including an 80-yard catch and run against Houston that is the longest scoring play of the year in the conference and matched the fourth longest scoring pass in Rice history. Smith is looking to become the first Owl to lead the team in rushing in back-to-back seasons since Chad Richardson in 1998-99 and to become the first Owl to top 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons since Trevor Cobb put together three straight from 1991-92.
 Rice's offense has averaged 34 points with Chase Clement at the controls  | |
GOOD LOSSES
Courtney Gordon leads the team and is tied for third in the conference with eight tackles for loss, and has recorded at least one in each of the last six games. He also leads the team with four sacks on the year (tied for 4th in the conference). He now has 10 career sacks and needs three to tie Tim Fitzpatrick for fifth on the Owls career list.
NEXT UP: The Owls will have the week off next weekend, then return to the road the following two weeks with trips to UTEP and Tulsa, before returning to Rice Stadium on November 18 to host East Carolina.
