Owls Come Up Short in Bucket Battle
10/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 13, 2007
Chase Clement threw for a career-high 355 yards and three touchdowns, but the Houston maintained possession of the Bayou Bucket by scoring the final 21 points of the game, downing Rice 56-48 at Robertson Stadium on Saturday.
The loss was the Owls first in conference play since they fell at Tulane 38-24 last season, snapping a seven-game conference winning streak and a four-game conference road winning streak for the Owls.
The crowd of 26,514 was treated to an offensive showcase from the first play of the game, and when the smoke had cleared, the two teams had combined for a series record 104 points and nearly 1,200 yards of offense.
Houston needed a combined 1:51 to score the first 14 points of the game, but Rice battled back to knot the game at 14. After Marcus Knox scored his first career touchdown from one yard out, the Owls forced a turnover on the kickoff and recovered at the Houston 17. After James Casey lost a yard on first down, Clement hit Jarett Dillard at the goal line and the All American wide receiver stretched across the goal line for the score.
Dillard finished the game with a season-best seven catches, which moved him past David Houser into second on the Owls career chart with 154. He topped 100 yards for the first time this season, finishing with 133.
Houston struck back for two more scores before the marathon first period came to a close, the but after Clark Fangmeier closed the gap to 28-17 with a field goal to open the second quarter, the Owls defense rose up in the second stanza, forcing a pair of turnovers that the offense quickly turned into touchdowns and give the Owls the lead.
Carl Taylor intercepted the first pass of his career, grabbing a pass that was knocked loose by Andrew Sendejo to give the Owls the ball at the Houston 5. Clement fond Taylor Wardlow alone in the end zone on the first play to cut the lead to 28-24. On the ensuing kickoff, Marcus Knox forced Andre Aldridge to fumble and Chris Jones recovered to set the Owls up at the Houston 14. Five plays later, James Casey bulled through multiple defenders to score from the two, putting the Owls up for the first time, 31-28.
Fangmeier added a career-best 46-yard field goal later in the quarter to move the lead out to 34-28, but the Houston nearly took the lead before halftime when Blake Joseph hit Jeron Harvey for a 42-yard gain to the Rice 1. But Joseph fumbled the snap on the next play and the Owls headed to the locker room up 34-28.
The Owls built the lead to 48-35 midway through the third, but Houston began to rely more on their ground attack to wear down the depleted Owl defense and rally for the win.
Donnie Avery piled up 346 yards receiving on 13 receptions, setting school and conference records. But it was the rushing of Andre Aldridge, who ran for 111 of his 205 yards in the fourth quarter, that proved to be the Owls undoing. He scored on runs of 33 and 50 yards in the final three minutes to give the Cougars the win, and allow them to take home the Bayou Bucket trophy for a third straight year.
The Owls return home next Saturday to face the Memphis Tigers at Rice Stadium. Kickoff for the Families Weekend game is set for 2:00.
