Rice v Vanderbilt Game Notes

Sept. 13, 2008

Tonight's game against Vanderbilt was the fourth meeting on the gridiron in the series but first in the state of Tennessee. It also was one week shy of the 33rd anniversary of the last game between the two schools (Sept. 20, 1975), a 9-6 Vanderbilt victory.

The game opened a home-and-home series with Vanderbilt. The Commodores return to Rice Stadium on Sept. 26, 2009.

Both programs are closely associated with Hall of Fame coach Jess Neely. He played for the Commodores from 1920-22 where he was one of three teammates who went on to earn berths in the College Football Hall of Fame as coaches (Red Sanders and Wallace Wade). Neely came to Rice in 1940 and became the most successful football coach in school history, posting a 144-124-10 mark en route to seven bowl berths. He left Rice after the 1966 season to become Athletic Director at his alma mater until he retired in 1971.

This was Rice's second-straight game in the state of Tennessee. The only other time in program history that the Owls played consecutive games in a state other than Texas was during the 1938 season (Oct. 8 - at LSU and Oct. 15 - at Tulane).

Rice game captains for the Vanderbilt were QB Chase Clement, OL Jimmy Miller, DB Bencil Smith and DB Andrew Sendejo.

Rice falls to 84-54-9 all-time against current members of the Southeastern Conference. Of the 146 meetings, 67 games were against former Southwest Conference rival Arkansas. The last time the Owls faced a SEC school was in 1995, a 52-7 loss to LSU at Tiger Stadium.

Rice had a pair of first-time starters in OL Jake Hicks and DE Kramer Lucio. On defense, DE Victor Brooks, LB Robert Calhoun and LB Terrance Garmon made their first starts of the season. Players making their Owl debuts included LB Ronnie Lillard and DL John Gioffre.

QB Chase Clement moved his streak to 13 consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass.

With his seven completions in the first quarter, Clement passed Randy Hertel (1977-80) for the top mark in school history. He now has 592 career completions. Clement's 39 passing attempts allowed him to become the third Owl to surpass 1,000 career attempts. The senior signal caller is 19 attempts shy of moving past Tommy Kramer (1973-76) for second place in program history.

Wide receiver Jarett Dillard extended his streak to 39 consecutive games with at least two receptions. He also hauled in his 37th career touchdown pass from Clement on a 26-yard scoring strike in the first quarter to give Rice a 7-0 edge. The Clement-Dillard duo is two scoring strikes away from equaling an NCAA record held by Tim Rattay and Troy Edwards of Louisiana Tech.

Dillard finished the game with seven catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown reception was Dillard's 45th of his career. He is two scores away from tying Darius Watts of Marshall for second place in the NCAA record book. It also marked the San Antonio native's 10th career 100-yard receiving game and first of the 2008 season.

Reigning C-USA Offensive Player of the Week James Casey pushed his streaks to nine consecutive games with at least five receptions and 12 straight games with a catch. The Azle native notched his third career game with double-digit receptions, finishing with a career-best 12 receptions for 115 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 six of its last eight games. The Owls had three players (Joel Armstrong, C.J Ugokwe and James Casey) register over 100 receiving yards against Tulsa (Nov. 24) last season.

WR Patrick Randolph matched a career-best with three catches for 39 yards, while RB C.J. Ugokwe fell one yard shy of his career-best. Ugokwe finished with 63 yards on 13 carries. He racked up 64 yards against Nicholls State (Sept. 1) in the 2007 season opener.

Late in the second quarter, the Owls converted a fourth-and-goal into a touchdown on a two-yard rush by Casey. It marked the first time in 2008 that the Owls elected to go for a fourth-down conversion. Rice was 8-of-18 on fourth down last season. The Owls ended the game 2-of-3 on fourth down.

DB Andrew Sendejo finished with a team-leading 13 tackles for the second consecutive game. He had three double-figure tackle games in 2007.

The Rice offense had its streak of 14 consecutive halves with points come to a close. The Owls were held scoreless during the first half at Marshall (Oct. 27) last season.

The Owls had a streak of six straight games scoring 30+ points which dated back to the 2007 season come to an end with the 38-21 loss at Vanderbilt.

Rice is scheduled to take on nationally-ranked Texas next weekend in Austin. The Owls are slated to make their third television appearance in 2008. Kickoff is set for 6pm on Fox Sports Net.

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