Army vs. Rice Game Notes
11/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 8, 2008
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- This afternoon's contest against ARMY was the fourth meeting in the series. The series began 50 years to the day at Rice Stadium where the third-ranked Black Knights emerged with a 14-7 victory as Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins scored a touchdown with 51 seconds left. With the victory, the Owls hold a 2-1-1 series edge winning the last two games in the series.
- Rice game captains for the ARMY game were QB Chase Clement, WR Jarett Dilllard, DB Andrew Sendejo and DB Carl Taylor. Rice won the toss and elected to receive.
- Rice eclipsed its scoring record for a season and now has racked up 408 points this season. The previous mark was 377 points held by 2007 season.
- Four of Rice's five touchdown drives covered at least 75 yards. The Owls have notched 21 drives this season of 75 yards or more. 10 of those 21 drives have come in Rice's last two games.
- QB Chase Clement rushed for a career-long 61-yard touchdown in the first quarter. His previous career-long run was a 59-yard scamper against East Carolina during the 2006 season. The 61-yard TD run also was the longest run for the Owls since a 69-yard TD run by Quinton Smith at UCF in 2006.
- With 471 yards of total offense, Clement became the first Rice player and seventh player in C USA history to surpass 10,000 career yards. The Alamo Heights product currently has 10,340 yards and moved past UAB's Darrell Hackney (2002-05) and East Carolina's David Garrard (1998-2001) for sixth place on the C-USA list.
- Clement connected with WR Jarett Dillard for a pair of scoring strikes in the second quarter. The duo struck for 80-yards to put Clement over 10,000 career yards. It also matched Clement's longest career touchdown pass, an 80-yarder to Quinton Smith on a screen pass against Houston during the 2006 season.
- Clement's second touchdown to Dillard, a 10-yard pass, allowed the senior signal caller to surpass Houston's Kevin Kolb (2003-06) for the top spot for TD passes on the C-USA career list. He added a 54-yard TD pass to WR Corbin Smiter in the tird quarter and has thrown 87 career touchdown passes.
- Clement is now responsible for 109 career touchdowns (87 pass, 22 rush) and ties Tulsa's Paul Smith (2005-07) for first place on the C-USA list. In his two career outings, Clement has accounted for nine career touchdowns against ARMY.
- Clement finished with 384 passing yards on 21-of-28 and three touchdowns. He has thrown for over 300 yards in four of his last five games. The Owls improve to 6-4 when Clement throws for more than 300 yards.
- Clement surpassed Louisville's Dave Ragone (1999-2002) and Houston's Jason McKinley (1997-2000) for 9th place on the C-USA career passing yards list. He now has 8,782 passing yards and 247 yards away from eclipsing East Carolina's David Garrard (1998-2001) for the No. 8 spot.
- With his 87 rushing yards on nine carries, Clement became the 19th Owl to reach 1,500 rushing yards and became the first player in C-USA history to throw for more than 8,000 yards and rush for more than 1,500 yards.
- WR Jarett Dillard has caught at least two passes in all 46 career appearances. He hauled in a pair of touchdown receptions during the second quarter, including a career-best 80-yard connection from Clement. The two touchdowns extended the Rice pair NCAA record to 48 career connections.
- Dillard also moved his NCAA record to 57 career touchdown receptions. He is now three scores away from tying Memphis' DeAngelo Williams (2002-05) for the overall C-USA touchdown record.
- Dillard finished with 144 yards on four receptions. He vaulted past Louisiana Tech's Chad Mackey (1993-96), Texas' Roy Williams (2000-03), Marshall's Josh Davis (2001-04) and Hawai`i's Jason Rivers (2003-04, 2006-07) for 13th place on all-time NCAA receiving list. He is three yards shy of Oregon State's Mike Hass for the No. 12 slot.
- Dillard now has 3,921 receiving yards on 274 catches. He moved into second place surpassing Houston's Vincent Marshall (2003-06) on the C-USA receptions list and is 26 catches away from equalling Louisville's Arnold Jackson (1997-2000) for the top spot.
- Dillard added his sixth 100-yard receiving game this season and 15th of his career. The San Antonio native also became the 13th player in NCAA history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
- WR James Casey joined Dillard and surpassed 1,000 receiving yards on the season. It's the 28th time in NCAA history that two receivers from the same team have notched over 1,000 yards in the same season.
- With his six receptions for 62 yards, Casey has recorded at least five receptions in 16 straight games dating back to the Houston game last season. The Azle native moved past Eric Henley (1988-91) for second place for receptions during a single-season. He is six catches away from Jarett Dillard's program record set during the 2006 season.
- Casey now has 131 career receptions and is 21 catches shy of equaling David Houser (1974, 76-78) for third place.
- Casey had his personal streak of four straight games with a touchdown come to a close.
- WR Corbin Smiter registered a career-best 104 yards on four catches. Smiter is the fourth different Rice receiver to record over 100 yards in a game. It's his second straight game that Smiter set a career-high for receiving yards.
- WR Toren Dixon has caught a pass in 22 consecutive games. He finished with four receptions for 61 yards.
- Dating back to the Houston game last season, the Rice offense has had at least one player record a 100-yard receiving game in 11 of its last 14 games.
- P Kyle Martens hung his 10th punt of the season inside the 20-yard line during the third quarter.
- PK Clark Fangmeier added five PATs which allowed him to pass East Carolina's Kevin Miller (1999-2002) and Tulane's Seth Marler (1999-2002). He now has 136 career PATs and is in fourth place on the C-USA list.
- Fangmeier also banged home a season-long 46-yard field goal in the first quarter. He moves into fifth place on Rice career field goal list passing Alan Pringle (1973-74).
- DB Andrew Sendejo tallied his fourth double-digit tackling effort of the season. He made 10 tackles, including eight solo stops.
- DB Travis Bradshaw matched his career-best with 12 tackles. He racked up 12 tackles against Southern Miss and Tulane earlier this season.
- DT Chris Ptsazek made a critical sack on third down during Army's final drive in the fourth quarter. He also strung together a career-best eight tackles after entering today's game with 15 tackles.
- LB Willie Garley matched his career-best with eight tackes. He totaled eight tackles at Tulane earlier this season.
- LB Ryan Craig racked up a career-high five tackles.
- LB Matt Nordstrom made his first career-tackle on special teams during the second quarter.
- DB Joseph Leary forced a fumble and recovered two fumbles in the first half.
- Army RB Collin Mooney rushed for 207 yards on 26 carries. He is the first player since Houston's Anthony Alridge (2007) to rush for 200 yards against Rice.
- The Owls continue its three-game homestand and returns to Conference USA action against Marshall on November 22nd. Kickoff against the Thundering Herd is slated for 2:00 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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