Rice vs. Tulane Game Notes
10/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 25, 2008
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- Rice returned to the Louisiana Superdome for the first time since appearing in the 2006 New Orleans Bowl. The Owls are now 5-4 in the building. Rice holds a 16-14-1 edge in its series with Tulane and snapped a two-game losing streak to the Green Wave with the 42-17 victory.
- Rice captains for the Tulane game were QB Chase Clement, WR Jarett Dillard, LB Terrance Garmon and DL Todd Mohr. The Owls won the toss and elected to receive to begin the game.
- Rice cornerback Joseph Leary made his first start for the Owls since the Marshall game of the 2007 season. Leary played for the first time a week earlier (against Southern Miss) after missing the Owls' first six games due to a hamstring injury.
- Rice engineered a 16-play, 94-yard touchdown drive which consumed 8:48 of the first quarter (Owls' second series of the game), culminating with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Chase Clement to James Casey. It was the longest Rice drive since the 2006 East Carolina game (Nov. 18) when the Owls went 98 yards on 16 plays. Also in 2006, Rice put together an 8:49 drive against Army (17 plays, 80 yards).
- Following the Owls' first scoring drive of the game, Rice place kicker Clark Fangmeier broke the school record for point-after tries when he drilled his first PAT of the game with 2:58 to play in the first quarter. Fangmeier was 6-for-6 in the game and now has 124 career PATs, breaking the mark he shared with Brennan Landry (2002-05).
- Rice would go on to score 21 points in a 2:44 span of the first quarter. Clement capped a 4-play, 60-yard rive that consumed 1:26 of the quarter with a nine-yard touchdown run. Following a Rice fumble recovery by Brandon Tolbert on the ensuing kickoff, the Owls needed just one play - a 17-yard strike from Clement to Casey - to add to the lead.
- The previous week against Southern Miss, Rice struck for back-to-back touchdowns in a span of 24 seconds during the third quarter. The Owls' second and third scores of the Tulane game were 14 seconds apart.
- Junior linebacker Terrance Garmon set up the Owls' fourth touchdown and first of the second quarter when he intercepted a Kevin Moore pass. Garmon's pick was his second of the season and fourth of his career.
- Fellow junior linebacker Robert Calhoun was credited with his first career interception with 2:10 to play in the first half. Calhoun's pick at the Rice 17 stopped a Green Wave drive that began at the Tulane two.
- Defensive back Willie Garley had two sacks for 22 lost yards. The sophomore more than doubled his season total. He entered the game with 1.5 sacks. In addition to the two sacks, Garley finished the day with eight tackles.
- Chris Jones' 55-yard touchdown return of a Scott Solomon blocked field goal with two seconds remaining in the first half helped Rice keep Tulane scoreless in the first half and ran the Owls' lead to 35-0. The first-half shutout was a first since the Owls held Houston scoreless in the 2004 season opener.
- Solomon's block was the Owls' fourth of the season. Defensive lineman Chris Ptaszek has two on the year while Travis Bradshaw has one.
- Bradshaw registered his second straight double-digit tackle game, finishing with 12 total stops (9 unassisted, 3 assists) against Tulane. Last week against Southern Miss Bradshaw had 11 total tackles.
- After Tulane cut the Owls' lead to 35-10, Rice put together a six-play, 83-yard drive which included a 45-yard run by James Casey (career long) and was capped by an eight-yard touchdown run by C.J. Ugokwe to up the Owls' lead to 42-10. With the run, Ugokwe went over the 100-yard rushing mark for the first time in his career. The junior from Plano finished the day with 18 carries for 111 yards.
- With 11:11 to play in the game and the Owls leading 42-10, Brian Stacy capped a goal-line stand when he had the first hit on tailback Nathan Austin to stop the Green Wave runner for no gain on fourth down from the Tulane one. Stacy was credited with an assisted tackle along with Travis Bradshaw. The stop was Stacy's first career tackle.
- Rice finished the Tulane game with 398 total yards of offense - 230 rushing and 168 passing. The last time Rice rushed for more yards than it passed for in a game came in the 2007 season opener against Nicholls State. Rice had 117 yards rushing and 101 yards passing against NSU. It was the most rushing yardage by a Rice team since the Owls grounded out 238 yards against UTEP in 2006.
Jarett Dillard
- Jarett Dillard has now caught at least two passes in all 44 of his career games. The San Antonio native finished the Tulane game with four receptions for 41 yards.
- Dillard moved from third to second in Conference USA all-time receiving yards. He passed Louisville's Arnold Jackson (3,670 yards - 1997-2000) and the senior now has 3,683 yards, second in Conference USA history. He needs just 88 yards to pass Houston's Vincent Marshall for first on the career chart.
Chase Clement
- Rice senior quarterback Chase Clement completed 20-25 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. He also had eight rushing attempts for 57 yards and two more scores. With four total touchdowns, Clement raised his career total to 99. He is third on the Conference USA all-time list. Tulsa's Paul Smith had a record 109 during his career (2005-07).
- Clement also ran his streak of touchdown passes in a game to 18 consecutive contests and 22 consecutive conference games.
- James Casey caught six passes for 51 yards and two touchdowns. The game was the 14th straight dating back to the Houston game of 2007 that the sophomore has recorded five or more receptions. Casey now has 113 career receptions and now ranks fifth all-time at Rice in receptions.
- Rice plays its final road game of the 2008 season next Saturday when the Owls travel to UTEP. Kickoff is slated for 7:05
Players Mentioned
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