Rice University
0-3
Texas Tech
3-0
Rice Falls 59-24 to Texas Tech
9/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 15, 2007
HOUSTON -- Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell set a career-high six touchdown passes to equal the top performance by a quarterback in Rice Stadium history as Texas Tech (3-0) withstood an early Rice (0-3) challenge to chalk up a 59-24 win in Houston on Saturday.
Harrell's six scoring strikes matched the output of current Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, who threw six for Texas A&M at Rice Stadium in 1981. He finished the day with 414 yards, hitting on 28 of 37 passes and throwing one interception. He combined with freshman Michael Crabtree for most of the damage. Crabtree finished the day with 11 catches for 244 yards and three touchdowns.
Tech jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead, scoring on their first two possessions, before the Owls offense found its footing. After a Clark Fangmeier 25-yard field goal got the Owls on the board, Rice's defense engineered a quick stop of Harrell to get the ball right back. The Owls's drive stalled at the Tech 13, but rather than try a second field goal, head coach David Bailiff elected to go for the score. Chase Clement found Toren Dixon over the middle and the sophomore from Baton Rouge charged his way into the end zone for his first career touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10.
Dixon finished the day with a career-best six catches for 64 yards.
Tech struck right back to make it 21-10, but Clement and the Owls answered right back as he found All American receiver Jarett Dillard deep down the middle for a 47-yard touchdown pass. It was Dillard's ninth career catch of more than 40 yards and his first TD catch of the year, ending a two-game scoring drought which matched the longest of his career. Dillard finished the day with six catches for 90 yards, leaving him five yards shy of becoming the third Rice receiver to reach 2,000 yards in career receiving.
Clement finished the day completing 20 of 37 passes for a season-high 212 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His two scoring strikes moved him into third on the Rice career chart with 28 TD passes.
Sophomore C.J. Ugowke rushed for 63 yards on 15 carries and scored his first career touchdown on an eight yard run in the fourth quarter.
The Owls will be on the road for the next three games, beginning with a trip to Austin next Saturday to meet the Texas Longhorns at 6 p.m.
Team Stats
TT 7, RICE 0
TT - Woods, Shannon 11 yd pass from Harrell, Graham (Trlica, Alex kick) 7 plays, 90 yards, TOP 2:53
TT 14, RICE 0
TT - Walker, Grant 38 yd pass from Harrell, Graham (Trlica, Alex kick) 7 plays, 91 yards, TOP 2:14
TT 14, RICE 3
RICE - FANGMEIER, C. 25 yd field goal 13 plays, 66 yards, TOP 3:23
TT 14, RICE 10
RICE - DIXON, Toren 13 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, C. kick) 13 plays, 65 yards, TOP 4:30
TT 21, RICE 10
TT - Woods, Shannon 2 yd run (Trlica, Alex kick), 6 plays, 62 yards, TOP 2:03
TT 21, RICE 17
RICE - DILLARD, Jarett 47 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, C. kick) 5 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:36
TT 28, RICE 17
TT - Crabtree, M. 74 yd pass from Harrell, Graham (Trlica, Alex kick) 3 plays, 76 yards, TOP 1:22
TT 35, RICE 17
TT - Morris, Eric 10 yd pass from Harrell, Graham (Trlica, Alex kick) 7 plays, 35 yards, TOP 3:00
TT 42, RICE 17
TT - Crabtree, M. 9 yd pass from Harrell, Graham (Trlica, Alex kick) 6 plays, 27 yards, TOP 1:55
TT 49, RICE 17
TT - Lewis, Kobey 1 yd run (Trlica, Alex kick), 5 plays, 30 yards, TOP 1:30
TT 56, RICE 17
TT - Crabtree, M. 25 yd pass from Harrell, Graham (Trlica, Alex kick) 3 plays, 46 yards, TOP 0:30
TT 56, RICE 24
RICE - UGOKWE, C.J. 7 yd run (FANGMEIER, C. kick), 9 plays, 82 yards, TOP 4:27
TT 59, RICE 24
TT - Trlica, Alex 39 yd field goal 12 plays, 58 yards, TOP 5:06
