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Rice University Athletics
Owls Head West To Face UTEP
11/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Monday UTEP Press Conference audio
RICE (3-5; 2-2) @ UTEP (4-4, 2-2):
GAME TIME: 8:00 pm (Central)
SUN BOWL, El Paso, TX
RADIO: KSEV (700 am) (Matt Musil, Bobby Dixon and Jorge Vargas)
TELEVISION: None
WEEK TEN: After a week off to rest and recuperate, the Rice Owls will head back on the road to face UTEP in El Paso on Saturday night. Rice will be looking to win three straight games for the first time since the Owls won the last two of 2003 and the first two in 2004. The last time the Owls won three straight in the same season was 2001. They also will be looking to win two in a row on the road for the first time since 2003 and win three road games in a season for the first time since 2001..
WEEK EIGHT RECAP: Quinton Smith rushed for a career-high 183 yards and scored three times, while Jarett Dillard and Chase Clement maintained their streaks as the Owls won their first C-USA road game, 40-29 at UCF.
LOOKING AT UTEP: The Miners are 4-4 this overall this season, 2-2 and tied with Rice and SMU in the Western Division of C-USA, heading into their Homecoming battle against Rice. This is the Miner's 75th Homecoming game and they have posted a 33-40-1 record in the previous 74 celebrations. The Owls have twice before been the opponent in the Miners Homecoming games, having won 48-21 in 1996 and losing 38-35 on a 59-yard field goal. UTEP is 3-1 this season at home and has won three straight at the Sun Bowl after dropping their home opener to Texas Tech. UTEP is lead by senior quarterback Jordan Palmer, who is the school's career leader in total offense and wide receiver and kick returner Johnnie Lee Higgins, who joined Rice's Jarett Dillard in being named as semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award.
 Jarett Dillard  | |
DILLARD ON THE SHORT LIST: Jarett Dillard has been named as one of 14 semifinalists for the 2006 Biletnikoff Award, which goes to the top receiver in the country. The award is presented by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club and the winner will be announced on December 7 during the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on ESPN.
DILLARD KEEPS ROLLING: Biletnikoff semifinalist 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 seven passes for 85 yards and a touchdown at UCF. His 60 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 19 games of his college career and has caught TD passes in the last 10 games. The scoring streak is the longest current streak in the nation for both touchdown passes and for overall touchdowns. He has caught three TDs in a game twice this year to tie the Owls' single-game record (it had been done just twice in school history prior to 2006) and his 12 TD catches for the year are a school single-season mark. Dillard has 17 TD catches in 19 career games, and he needs just one more scoring grab to tie the Owls career record.
CONFERENCE MARK: Dillard's 12 TD catches this season put him within three 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).
LOOKING AT THE STREAK: Only once during his 10-game TD catch streak has Jarett Dillard gone deep into the fourth quarter before he extended the streak. He scored the Owls only points against Texas and added to the streak when Joel Armstrong found him in the end zone with just 3:15 left on the clock. He has extended the streak three times with a score in the first, two times in the second, three times in the third and twice in the fourth quarter. His 17 career scores break down this way: three in the first quarter, two in the second, five in the third and seven in the fourth.
RANK HIM: Dillard is tied for both the NCAA and C-USA lead with 7.50 catches per game. He also leads the conference with his 12 TD's and 9.0 points per game. He is second in the conference and ninth in the country with 96.1 yards per game.
 Quinton Smith | |
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 493 yards in the last five games. With his career-high 183 yards against UCF, he vaulted from 9th to 5th on the Owls career rushing list. and he is just 143 yards away from moving past Robbie Beck into 4th. He ranks fifth in the conference with 83.4 yards per game and is seventh in the league with 114.0 all-purpose yards per game. He has six plays from scrimmage this season of 37 yards or better, including a 69-yard scoring run and a 41-yard non-scoring jaunt. His 80-yard catch and run against Houston 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 needs to average 83.3 yards over the final four games to become the first Owl to top 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons since Trevor Cobb put together three straight from 1990-92..
BACK IN THE ZONE: Quinton Smith's three touchdowns against UCF were also a career high and matched his total for the season. He had not scored since his 48-yard run against UCLA. His six rushing TDs are a career-best and are just one shy of his career total of seven heading into this year.
CHASE IN CHARGE: In five games this year, Chase Clement is averaging 216.6 yards passing and 284.6 yards of total offense. He would rank seventh in the nation and second in C-USA in total offense, but has not played in 75% of the Owls games this year and does not qualify for the rankings. In four games since he returned from an injury, he has averaged 311 yards of total offense and 232.8 yards passing while accounting for 15 touchdowns (12 passing, three running). He opened the year by throwing for 152 yards and two scores against Houston, and then returned in Week 5 to earn Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week honors by throwing a school-record five TD passes and amassing 299 yards passing and 363 yards of total offense. He came back against Tulane to throw for 271 yards and two scores. He is the first Owl QB to throw for better than 270 yards in consecutive games since Donald Hollas went for 366 against Texas and 286 against TCU in 1989. Clement has thrown for 1083 yards this season and is the first Owl to reach that mark since Kyle Herm threw for 1,121 in 2001.
RAINES GAINES NOTICE: Linebacker Brian Raines was tabbed by College Football News.com as the C-USA Defensive Player of the First Half and he continues to rack up impressive tackle numbers. He has 77 total tackles and leads C-USA with 58 solo tackles. He is third in the nation with 7.25 solo tackles per game. He leads the conference with 9.6 tackles per game (18th in the nation). His 77 tackles on the year are already more than any Rice defender has totaled since Terry Holley led the team with 92 in 2003. He is on a pace to finish with 115 tackles, which would rank him ninth on the Rice single-season list. He was credited with 10 tackles against UCF, his fourth game this year with double figures in tackles. Raines is tied for fourth in the league with nine tackles for loss and four sacks. He is tied for second in the league with three forced fumbles. After back-to-back games in double figures (17 vs. Houston, 12 at UCLA), he has been credited with at least five tackles in every game.
 Courtney Gordon | |
GOOD LOSSES: Courtney Gordon has recorded a tackle for loss in each of the last seven games. He is tied with Brian Raines for the team lead and are tied for fourth in the conference with both nine tackles for loss and four sacks. Five of Gordon's nine TFL's have come on third down plays to end opponent drives, including a key stop on third and two last week against UCF. He dropped Kevin Smith of UCF for a two-yard loss to stymie the Golden Knights first drive of the second half and hold them to a field goal. Rice then scored a touchdown on its next possession and never trailed again in the game. Gordon now has 10 career sacks and needs three to tie Tim Fitzpatrick for fifth on the Owls career list.
DOWNS ON THE WAY UP: Senior Andray Downs is second on the team with 59 tackles this year and has moved to within 20 stops of cracking into the top 10 on the Owls career tackle chart. Downs, who has made 36 consecutive starts, has 249 career tackles. Joe Heikkinen is currently 10th on the list witih 269 tackles from 1983-86.
NEXT UP: The Owls wrap up their extensive road schedule with a trip to Tulsa next weekend to meet the Golden Hurricanes. Game time is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be carried locally on SuperTalk 97.5 FM.
