Rice University
4-3 , 3-1
Southern Miss
2-5 , 0-3
Owls Drop Eagles In Shootout
10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 18, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | AP Gallery 
Chase Clement threw for 444 yards and tied his C-USA record with six touchdown passes and three Rice receivers topped 100 yards to lead the Owls to a 45-40 win over Southern Miss at Rice Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The win was the Owls third straight at home and their third in four tries in C-USA competition this season.
Jarett Dillard caught three of Clement's six touchdown passes to raise their NCAA record for career touchdown passes by a duo to 45 and his own NCAA career mark for touchdown receptions to 54. He finished the day with seven catches for 141 yards, his fifth consecutive game with more than 100 yards receiving.
James Casey grabbed seven for 113 yards and Toren Dixon added seven catches for 118 yards to give the Owls three receivers over the century mark for the first time since the final game of the 2007 season.
Dillard and Clement connected for the first time on the Owls first drive of the day, a 17-yard scoring strike with 10:11 left in the first quarter. They teamed up again at the start of the third quarter on a 51-yard combination, Dillard's longest since he caught a 65-yard TD pass at Tulsa in 2006. Dixon added a 28-yarder less than a minute later after Rice recovered an USM fumble to give the Owls a 31-12 lead early in the third.
But Southern Miss' proved to have a potent passing combination of their own as Austin Davis threw for a career-high 461 yards and four touchdowns and receiver DeAndre Brown caught 12 for 221 yards and four touchdowns, tying the C-USA single-game record, to lead USM back.
Davis and Brown's final scoring connection, from 17 yards out, closed the gap to 45-40 with just 17 seconds left, but Casey pulled down USM's onside kick attempt to ice the win for the Owls.
Clark Fangmeier converted all six of his PATs on the day to tie Brennan Landry for the school career record with 118. Travis Bradshaw, making his first career start in place of an injured Andrew Sendejo, was credited with a career-best 11 tackles while forcing a fumble, breaking up a pair of passes and blocking the Golden Eagles first PAT attempt.
The Owls will be back on the road for their next two games before returning to Rice Stadium for the final three games of the regular season. They will travel to New Orleans next Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest with Tulane.
Team Stats
USM 0, RICE 7
RICE - DILLARD, Jarett 17 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, Clar kick) 8 plays, 56 yards, TOP 2:46
USM 6, RICE 7
USM - HARRISON, Tory 6 yd run (BAREFOOT, Britt kickblocked), 5 plays, 84 yards, TOP 1:47
USM 6, RICE 10
RICE - FANGMEIER, Clar 36 yd field goal 9 plays, 61 yards, TOP 3:54
USM 6, RICE 17
RICE - CASEY, James 26 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, Clar kick) 4 plays, 40 yards, TOP 1:21
USM 12, RICE 17
USM - BROWN, DeAndre 8 yd pass from DAVIS, Austin (DAVIS, Austin rushfailed) 7 plays, 69 yards, TOP 1:05
USM 12, RICE 24
RICE - DILLARD, Jarett 51 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, Clar kick) 5 plays, 69 yards, TOP 2:36
USM 12, RICE 31
RICE - DIXON, Toren 28 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, Clar kick) 1 plays, 28 yards, TOP 0:06
USM 19, RICE 31
USM - FLETCHER, D. 3 yd run (BAREFOOT, Britt kick), 9 plays, 55 yards, TOP 3:23
USM 26, RICE 31
USM - BROWN, DeAndre 16 yd pass from DAVIS, Austin (BAREFOOT, Britt kick) 5 plays, 74 yards, TOP 0:40
USM 26, RICE 38
RICE - DILLARD, Jarett 44 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, Clar kick) 8 plays, 76 yards, TOP 2:57
USM 26, RICE 45
RICE - CASEY, James 26 yd pass from CLEMENT, Chase (FANGMEIER, Clar kick) 4 plays, 69 yards, TOP 1:57
USM 33, RICE 45
USM - BROWN, DeAndre 42 yd pass from DAVIS, Austin (BAREFOOT, Britt kick) 12 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:32
USM 40, RICE 45
USM - BROWN, DeAndre 17 yd pass from DAVIS, Austin (BAREFOOT, Britt kick) 8 plays, 65 yards, TOP 1:20
