Rice University
3-8 , 3-4
Tulane
4-7 , 3-4
Tulane tops Rice, 45-31
11/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 17, 2007
Chase Clement threw for four touchdowns and broke the Rice season record for total offense, but Tulane's Matt Forte scored five times and surpassed 2,000 yards rushing for the season to lead Tulane past Rice 45-31 Saturday.
Clement threw for 345 yards and rushed for another 26 to push his season total offense total to 3,311 yards, besting the old mark of 3,272 by Tommy Kramer in 1976. He also moved past 6,000 career yards of total offense, finishing the day with 6,103 yards.
He needs just 234 yards to break the school career mark of 6,336 by Tommy Kramer. His 345 yards passing pushed him over 5,000 career yards (5,125), which is third on the Owls career list. He raised his season total to 2,839 yards, second only to Kramer's 1976 total of 3,317.
Forte, the nation's leading with 2,007 yards, is the first back in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) with 2,000 in a season since California's J.J. Arrington in 2004.
Forte tied his Conference USA record with the five touchdowns. He scored that many Sept. 22 against Southeastern Louisiana.
Tulane (4-7, 3-4 Conference USA) has won two straight after losing five of six games. Rice (3-8, 3-4), which staged late rallies to beat Texas-El Paso and SMU, saw its two-game winning streak end.
After Rice toook a 7-3 lead on a Clement touchdown toss to Jarett Dillard, Forte scored back-to-back touchdowns on runs of 46 and 1 yards to give the Green Wave a 17-7 halftime lead.
Forte, who had 39 carries, the most against the Owls since LaDainian Tomlinson toted the ball 41 times for an even 200 yards in 2000, scored three times in the second half. His 13-yard TD run midway through the fourth put the Green Wave ahead 38-17.
Dillard caught a pair of TD passes to raise his career total to 39, matching Davone Bess of Hawaii for the most by an active receiver, and tying Bess, Braylon Edwards of Greg Williams for eighth on the NCAA career list. James Casey also caught a pair of TD passes from Clement, including a 61-yarder which was the longest play of the season by an Owl. He finished with a career-best 113 yards on seven catches.
The Owls will close out the season next Saturday when they host Tulsa, with kickoff set for 2:00 at Rice Stadium
Team Stats
TLN 3, RICE 0
TLN - THEVENOT, Ross 38 yd field goal 12 plays, 51 yards, TOP 5:21
TLN 3, RICE 7
RICE - DILLARD, Jarett 13 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, C. kick) 9 plays, 57 yards, TOP 4:25
TLN 10, RICE 7
TLN - FORTE, Matt 46 yd run (THEVENOT, Ross kick), 6 plays, 68 yards, TOP 1:44
TLN 17, RICE 7
TLN - FORTE, Matt 1 yd run (THEVENOT, Ross kick), 6 plays, 53 yards, TOP 1:22
TLN 24, RICE 7
TLN - FORTE, Matt 5 yd run (THEVENOT, Ross kick), 6 plays, 72 yards, TOP 2:25
TLN 24, RICE 14
RICE - DILLARD, Jarett 6 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, C. kick) 9 plays, 66 yards, TOP 2:38
TLN 31, RICE 14
TLN - FORTE, Matt 1 yd run (THEVENOT, Ross kick), 8 plays, 62 yards, TOP 4:11
TLN 31, RICE 17
RICE - FANGMEIER, C. 30 yd field goal 6 plays, 38 yards, TOP 0:52
TLN 38, RICE 17
TLN - FORTE, Matt 13 yd run (THEVENOT, Ross kick), 7 plays, 41 yards, TOP 2:54
TLN 38, RICE 24
RICE - CASEY, James 61 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, C. kick) 1 plays, 61 yards, TOP 0:14
TLN 45, RICE 24
TLN - TUYO, Ade 1 yd run (THEVENOT, Ross kick), 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:40
TLN 45, RICE 31
RICE - CASEY, James 6 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, C. kick) 9 plays, 66 yards, TOP 1:42
