Rice University Athletics
Owls Host Miners for Homecoming 2007
11/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 2, 2007
GAME NINE: RICE VS. UTEP
KICKOFF: 2:00
RADIO: ESPN 97.5 THE TICKET
OWLS HOST UTEP IN HOMECOMING CLASH
The Rice Owls (1-7, 1-3 C-USA) return home to the state of Texas for the rest of 2007 season as they host UTEP (4-4, 2-2 C-USA) for Homecoming on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2:00. The Owls will travel to Dallas next week to meet SMU in the final road game of the year, then wrap up the season with home games against Tulane and Tulsa to close out the season.
50th REUNION OF 1957 SWC CHAMPS Hea dlines HOMECOMING
Among the many graduation classes who will gather in Houston this weekend and who will participate in activities surrounding the game, Homecoming 2007 will mark the 50th reunion of the Rice Owls 1957 Southwest Conference champions, who will gather for a formal reception in the R Room after Saturday's game. Their reunion will come 13 days shy of the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest games played at Rice Stadium. On November 16, 1957, Bear Bryant brought his top-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, including eventual Heisman Trophy winner John David Crow to Houston only to fall the Owls 7-6 in front of a sellout crowd of 72,000. Rice's King Hill scored the Owls touchdown and kicked the winning extra point in the second quarter. He later made several crucial defensive plays after the Aggies scored their lone touchdown, but failed on the PAT at the start of the 4th quarter. Texas A&M drove from their own one-yard line to inside the Rice 25 as time expired. Rice closed out the year with wins over TCU and Baylor, while A&M fell to Texas to give Rice the SWC title and a berth in the Cotton Bowl.
DILLARD CLOSES IN ON YARDAGE MARK
Jarett Dillard has moved to within two three yards of setting a school career record for receiving yards. Dillard, who already holds the career mark for touchdown receptions (33), has compiled 2,356 yards in his career. David Houser set the mark with 2,358 yards during his career on South Main. He ranks second on the Owls career reception list (166) and needs 21 more over the next four games to pass Eric Henley (186 from 1988-91) as the career leader.
NATIONAL COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAY
This Saturday is the fourth annual National College Football Day, commemorating the birth of college football 138 years ago when Rutgers and Princeton met in the first recorded game. The AT&T Cotton Bowl created the concept of a national day to recognize the birth of college football and members of the American Football Coaches Association, the Football Writers Association of America and the National Association of Division I-A Football Officials will be wearing commemorative lapel pins. This year the event is also designated as a fund raiser for the V Foundation.
C-USA--YEAR III
The Owls are 8-12 in their third year of league competition. Rice is 4-5 all-time at Rice Stadium in conference play and have won three of their last four at home.
OWLS AND MINERS
This is the 11th overall meeting between the two schools, and their third as members of Conference USA. They have split the first 10 games overall, with each school holding a 3-2 edge on its home field, however the road team has won the first two CUSA meetings between the schools. The Owls took a 37-31 victory last year in El Paso.
SENDEJO LEADS THE DEFENSE
Andrew Sendejo, an All C-USA Freshman honoree a year ago, has been credited with 28 tackles in the last two games, establishing a new career-high in each of his last two outings. Sendejo was credited with 10 stops against Memphis, but bettered that total in the first half against Marshall when he notched 12 tackles in the first half. The Canyon Lake native finished the game with 18, the most by an Owl since Jeff Vanover was credited with 18 against SMU in 2001. Sendejo has created seven of the Owls 19 turnovers this season (three interceptions, three forced fumbles, one pass deflection that was intercepted). He leads the Owls and is tied for the C-USA lead with three interceptions, the most for an Owl in a season since Terry Holley picked off three in 2004. The last Owl to pick off four in a season was Jason Hebert in 2001. Sendejo paces C-USA and is tied for fifth nationally with three forced fumbles and recovered a fourth. He's tied for third in the league with eight total passes defended (five breakups, three interceptions). He also leads the team with 69 tackles, which includes 44 solo stops.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY
Jarett Dillard has found the end zone seven times in the last six games, after being shut out in the first two contests of the season. His three TD catches against Memphis marked the fifth time in his career he has caught three in a game, matching the school record that had been done only twice before in Owls history. The three TD catches increased his school record career mark to 33, which ranks second among active NCAA receivers (Davone Bess of Hawaii has caught 38) and moved him into third on the Owls career scoring chart with 198 points. Robbie Beck is second with 210 points from 2000-03. After being held to a career-low 14 yards receiving at Southern Miss (a pair of seven- yard TDs), Dillard has caught 19 passes for 317 yards in the last three, including season highs with seven catches and 133 yards receiving against Houston.
THE OTHER STREAK
Jarett Dillard has caught at least two passes in each game of his career, a streak of 32 games. He is tied with Casey Flair of UNLV for the eighth longest streak among active NCAA receivers, but he is one of just three whose streak is based on catching more than one pass in each game of their college careers. Davone Bess (34) and Ryan Grice-Mullen (30) of Hawaii have also caught more than one pass in each game of their streaks. Dillard was held without a TD at Marshall since Nov. 12, 2005 against Tulane, a stretch of 13 C-USA games. The San Antonio native has scored a touchdown in 19 of the last 23 outings
THE RECORD CHASE CONTINUES
Chase Clement has already established Rice career marks for touchdown passes (40) and touchdowns produced (49) and has set new personal marks for season totals in attempts (278), completions (159) and yards (1,732). The Alamo Heights native also continues to move up on a number of school career and season lists. Clement threw for 281 yards against Marshall, his third straight game over better than 275 yards passing, to raise his career total to 4021 yards, just 19 yards from surpassing Donald Hollas for fourth on the career list. Clement is also just the second Rice passer to total over 4,000 yards in his junior year. Randy Hertel threw for 4,949 yards in his first three seasons for the Owls. Clement now has thrown for a careerhigh 1,732 yards in eight games this season, surpassing his total of 1.707 in eight games last year. His season total ranks fifth on the Rice season chart, and he needs just 84 yards to move past a pair of Donald Hollas seasons and into third. Tommy Kramer set the school mark with 3,317 in 1976, while Bruce Gadd is second with 2,064 in 1972. Clement's 29 completions matched his career- best, set at Army in 2006 and raised his career total to 365, fourth-best in school history. He needs just 27 to move past Mark Comalander into third. Clement has completed a career-best 159 passes this year (six better than he had last season), which ranks third on the Owls's single-season list, 12 away from passing Gadd and moving into second. Kramer holds the mark with 269 completions in 1976. Clement's 278 attempts this season are the sixth-best total in school history and two shy of moving past Randy Hertel's 1978 total for fifth. Clement now has produced 4,756 yards of total offense, good for sixth on the Rice career list. He is just 244 yards from becoming the third Owl to top 5,000 yards in total offense. Tommy Kramer holds the school mark with 6,336, while Hertel is second with 5,751. Clement's total of 1,954 yards this season ranks as the 9th best total in school single-season history and he needs 235 yards to surpass his 2006 total, which ranks four on the career list. In NCAA rankings, Clement ranks 19th among active passers with 40 career touchdown passes.
NEXT WEEK: PONNIES IN DALLAS
The Owls will make their final road trip of the 2007 season next week, as they travel up I-45 to Dallas to meet the SMU Ponnies next Saturday ast 2:00 p.m. The Owls will then return home for the final two games of the season, Tulane (November 17) and Tulsa 9November 24).
