Rice Tops Tulsa In Double-Overtime, 41-38

Saturday, November 11

Tulsa, Okla.

2:00 PM

Rice University

5-5 , 3-3

Tulsa

7-3 , 4-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	OT	Final F
Rice	7	13	0	8	7	6	41
Tulsa	7	0	0	21	7	3	38

Rice quarterback Chase Clement. (AP Photo/David Crenshaw)

11/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Nov. 11, 2006

Final Stats

TULSA, Okla. - Chase Clement lofted a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jarett Dillard at the end of the second overtime period to lift the Rice Owls to a dramatic 41-38 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday.

The final scoring toss was one of three on the day from Clement to Dillard, as the sophomore wide receiver finished the day with eight catches for 137 yards. He broke both the C-USA season and the Rice career records for touchdown catches on the day, and his first scoring grab (a career-long 65 yard jaunt) also extended his streak of consecutive games with a TD pass to 12, longest in the nation.

Homecoming 2006 for Tulsa became a happy return for Rice coach Todd Graham, who was Tulsa's defensive coordinator the past three years, along with three of his assistants who coached with him at Tulsa. The win was the Owls' (5-5, 4-2 in C-USA) fourth straight and fifth in the last six after opening the year 0-4. They also closed out their lengthy road schedule at 4-3, posting their first winning record away from home since 1997. It also marked the Owls first overtime win on the road in school history. They had been 0-3 in road overtimes, while they are unbeaten in three home overtime games in their history.

Clement completed 14 of 36 passes for 209 yards and the three touchdowns and rushed for another 69 to finish with 278 yards of total offense. His three TD passes gave him 20 for the season, just one shy of the school mark. He has thrown at least two TD passes in all seven games he has played this year.

After Tulsa took the opening kickoff in for a touchdown (the 10th straight game this year for the Owls in which the team taking the ball first has scored on its opening possession), the Owls struck back with a TD drive of their own on their second series, which was set up when Chad Price plucked a juggled ball off the back of a Tulsa receiver. Quinton Smith capped the drive with a 10-yard run. The Owls extended the lead on a pair of field goals by freshman Clark Fangmeier, and then capped their first half scoring when Clement fond Dillard up the left sideline for a 65 yard score.

Tulsa held the Owls without a first down in the third quarter and then took a 21-20 halfway through the fourth quarter. Tulsa forced the Owls to punt with just under five minutes left, Idris Moss botched the punt and it was recovered by Rice's Andrew Sendejo at the TU 21. Four plays later, Clement braved a hard hit at the goal line to put the Owls back in front. Joel Anderson came in to take the snap on the two-point conversion, which was converted by Quinton Smith to put Rice up 28-21.

Paul Smith brought Tulsa right back, completing four-of-four passes for 80 yards on the 86-yard drive and scoring on a 3-yard bootleg to tie the game with 1:19 to play.

Rice took the ball first in the initial overtime, and Clement went to his favorite target for the score, nailing Dillard on a slant for an 11-yard score. Tulsa survived a pair of 4-down conversions to tie it back up at 35-35. In the second overtime, the Owls defense stiffened and forced Tulsa to settle for a 39-yard field goad, setting up Clement's last opportunity to find Dillard for the game-winner.

Marcus Rucker led the Owls on defense with a career-high 13 tackles, including a pair of sacks, a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery. Brian Raines chipped in 11 stops, while Courtney Gordon was in on seven stops and recorded a tackle for loss in his ninth straight game, a 12-yard sack of Paul Smith. Chad Price added his fourth fumble recovery of the season in addition to his interception and five tackles.