Rice University Athletics
Owls Head North For Final 2007 Road Trip
11/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 9, 2007
GAME TEN
Rice (2-7, 2-3 C-USA) vs. SMU (1-8, 0-5 C-USA)
2:30 pm • Gerald J. Ford Stadium • Dallas, Texas
Video
Owls All Access
Radio
Rice Radio Network (ESPN 97.5 FM The Ticket)
Matt Musil • Play-by-Play; David Saltzman • Color Jorge Vargas • Sideline
NEXT UP: Rice returns to home to host Tulane at 2:00 next Saturday
OWLS HIT THE ROAD FOR THE FINAL TIME IN 2007
The Rice Owls (2-7, 2-3 C-USA) will put on their white road jerseys for the final time in 2007 on Saturday when they travel north to Dallas to meet SMU, with kickoff set for 2:00. The Owls will wrap up the season with home games against Tulane (Nov. 17) and Tulsa (Nov. 24) to close out the season.
C-USA - YEAR III
The Owls are 9-12 in their third year of league competition. Rice is 4-7 all-time on the road in conference play, with all the results coming in streaks. They opened conference road play by losing the first five, then won four straight before dropping the last two away from home. The Owls are 5-5 all-time at Rice Stadium in conference play and have won four of their last five at home.
OWLS AND MUSTANGS
This is the 85th meeting between Rice and SMU, the second longest series for the Owls against any opponent (the Owls have played Texas 90 times). Rice is 38-45-1 all-time against SMU, the most wins by the Owls against any school. Last year the two schools met with a bowl bid on the line, and Rice came away with a 31-27 victory. The Owls have won four of the last five in the series, but the Mustangs won the last meeting in Dallas, 27-7 in 2005. The two schools are 1-1 as members of C-USA.
WEEK NINE: RICE 56, UTEP 48
Chase Clement broke three school records while sparking a 28-point fourth quarter rally to lead Rice to a 56-48 Homecoming win over UTEP at Rice Stadium. Clement piled up 498 yards of total offense, threw for six touchdowns and ran for two more to account for all eight of the Owls scores. All three totals were school records, while his total touchdown output established a new C-USA record. Clement threw for a career-high 395 yards, just missing the school record, and ran for another 103 (his second career 100-yard rushing effort). Clement threw a pair of scores each to Jarett Dillard, Tommy Henderson and Toren Dixon. Dillard, who became the school's career leader in reception yardage with his first catch of the day, latched on to 10 more to match his career best, and finished with 169 yards receiving, his second best single-game effort. It was both Henderson's and Dixon's first career two-TD game. The Owls defense held Marcus Thomas of UTEP, the fourth leading rushing in C-USA coming into the game, to 51 yards rushing. Defensive tackle George Chukwu led a charge of 12 tackles for losses, picking up three of his own and blocking a PAT attempt. Cornerback Gary Anderson Jr. led the team with eight tackles and was credited with a school-record six pass breakups. Fellow corner Brandon King added four breakups of his own. Kicker Clark Fangmeier tied the school record by coverting eight PATs.
CLEMENT HONORED FOR RECORD DAY
Chase Clement picked up some national recognition in the wake of his record setting afternoon against UTEP. Clement was honored by ESPN's College Gameday Final hosts with one of helmet stickers, and he was one of players nominated for the AT&T All American Player of the Week honor.
THE CLEMENT FILE: CHASE FOR THE RECORDS
Chase Clement has already established Rice career marks for touchdown passes (46) and touchdowns produced (57) and has set new personal marks for season totals in attempts (336), completions (191) and yards (2,127). The Alamo Heights native also continues to move up on a number of school career and season lists. Clement threw for a career-high 395 yards against UTEP, his fourth straight game over better than 275 yards passing, to raise his career total to 4416 yards, just 395 yards from surpassing Mark Comalander for third on the career list. His 32 completions also were a career-high against the Miners and second-most in program only behind Joel Armstrong's 35 in the 2006 New Orleans Bowl against Troy. Clement has completed a career-best 191 passes this year, which ranks second on the Owls's single-season list, 79 away from Tommy Kramer's mark of 269 completions in 1976. Clement's 336 attempts this season are the third-best total in school history and 21 shy of moving past Randy Hertel's 1977 total for second. Clement's school-record 498 yards of total offense allowed him to become the first Owl to top 5,000 career yards in his junior season. He has now has produced 5,254 yards of total offense, good for third on the Rice career list. He is just 498 yards from passing Hertel (5,751) and moving into second. Clement's total of 2,452 yards this season ranks as the second, best total in school single-season history and he needs 820 yards in the final three games to break Kramer's season mark of 3,272.
DILLARD SETS YARDAGE MARK
Jarett Dillard broke the Rice career record for receiving yardage with his first catch against UTEP and finished the game with 169 yards, the second-best day in his career. Dillard, who already holds the career mark for touchdown receptions (35), now has compiled 2,524 yards in his career. He ranks second on the Owls career reception list (177) and needs 10 more over the next three games to pass Eric Henley (186 from 1988-91) as the career leader.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY
Jarett Dillard has found the end zone nine times in the last seven games, after being shut out in the first two contests of the season. His nine TD's match the second-best season total in Rice history. Kenneth Roy caught nine in 1976 and held the school season record until Dillard caught 21 last season. Dillard's 35 career touchdown receptions rank second among active receivers (Davone Bess of Hawai`i has 38) and in a three-way tie for 14th all-time in NCAA history. Dillard is tied with Eugene Baker of Kent State, Trevor Insley of Nevada and Roydell Williams of Tulane and Roy Williams of Texas are tied for 12th with 36, while Bess is tied with Clarkston Hines of Duke and Marcus Harris of Wyoming in a tie for ninth with 38. 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.). His two scores against UTEP moved him into a tie with Robbie Beck for second on the Owls career scoring chart with 210 points. Trevor Cobb holds the record with 260 points. After being held to a career-low 14 yards receiving at Southern Miss (a pair of seven-yard TDs), Dillard has caught 30 passes for 486 yards in the last four, including season highs with 11 catches and 169 yards receiving against UTEP. He has caught a touchdown in 14 of his last 15 conference games and in 20 of his last 24 overall.
THE OTHER STREAK
Jarett Dillard has caught at least two passes in each game of his career, a streak of 33 games, the second-longest streak of its kind. Davone Bess of Hawai`i has caught at least two passes in all 34 games of his career. Overall, Dillard has the eighth longest streak among active NCAA receivers.
SENDEJO LEADS THE DEFENSE
Andrew Sendejo, an All C-USA Freshman honoree a year ago, has been credited with 34 tackles in the last three games. He headlines the defense with 75 tackles, including 50 solo stops. Sendejo was credited with 10 tackles against Memphis, but bettered that total in the first half against Marshall when he notched 12 stops 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 20 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 is tied for first in C-USA and is tied for 11th nationally with three forced fumbles and recovered a fourth. He's also notched nine total passes defended (six breakups, three interceptions).
BREAKING UP
Gary Anderson Jr. broke up a school record six passes against UTEP and has 13 this season, the most by an Owl according the statistics available. Season statistics for pass breakups are not consistently available prior to 1980, but the highest recorded total for pass breakups since that time was 12, most recently by Patrick Dendy in 2001. Anderson's total leads C-USA and is tied for seventh nationally. Brandon King was credited with four break ups against UTEP now has 10 for the year, which ranks third in the conference and is tied for 20th nationally. The last time the Owls had a pair of defensive backs with more than 10 breakups in a season was in 1994 when Warrick Franklin was credited with 12 and Bobby Dixon with 10. The Owls were credited with a total of 12 against UTEP.
BOOKEND YEARLINGS
Scott Solomon and Cheta Ozougwu have started the last three games at the defensive end spots. The freshmen pair has responded for a combined for 29 tackles over that stretch. On the season, Solomon (six starts) and Ozougwu (five starts), are the top two tacklers among the defensive linemen. Solomon has been credited with 34 stops and is second on the team with seven tackles for loss. The San Antonio native also is third with 2.5 sacks, despite missing half of the Texas game and all of the Southern Miss game with an injury. Ozougwu has tallied 30 tackles despite getting a late start to the season after missing the Nicholls State and Baylor games to an injury.
FANGMEIER KEEPS ROLLING
Clark Fangmeier tied a school record by converting eight PATs against UTEP, matching Derek Crabtree, who kicked eight against Tulsa in 2001. Fangmeier's eight PATs pushed his season total to 33 this year, two shy of his freshman total and seven shy of the school record of 39 set by Scott Grimes in 1997. Fangmeier has converted his first 68 attempts at Rice, the longest streak by an Owl to start their career, and the most by a Rice kicker in his first two seasons. Brennan Landry, the Owls career leader with 118 PATs, converted 65 in his first two years. Fangmeier's streak is the eighth longest active streak in the NCAA.
