Bucket List VII
10/15/2010 3:09:00 PM | General, Blog
With the latest edition of the Bayou Bucket set for this Saturday at Rice Stadium, the R Blog will spend this week looking back at some of the Owls' memorable moments in the series with the Cougars since it began in 1971.
In our seventh installment, we take a look at a game that proved to be a memorable way for the Owls to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of Rice Stadium.
September 2, 2000
Rice 30, Houston 27 (OT)
Rice Stadium
A crowd of better than 40,000 was on hand to celebrate Rice Stadium's 50th birthday, and Rice and Houston combined to give them a game worthy of such a milestone event as Rice pulled out a 30-27 win in overtime.
The two teams were so evenly matched that they were tied at halftime, but Houston took the lead late in the third quarter on a pass from Jason McKinley to Brian Robinson. The lead appeared destined to hold up until fate dealt the Owls a series of face cards on special teams.
First, the Cougars fumbled a punt at midfield with just over six minutes left, and the Owls drove down field to tie the score on a 1-yard run by Robbie Beck with 2:42 left in the game and 52 seconds later, they would take the lead.
After a Brandon Green sack pinned them deep, the Cougars were forced to punt and Jeff Vanover broke through to block the kick and then fall on the ball in the end zone to give the Owls an improbable 24-17 lead with just 1:50 left.
However, the heroics were hardly over at this point.
The Cougars righted themselves and after a long kickoff return set them up at midfield, they needed only six plays to tie the game up with 39 seconds remaining to force overtime.
In the extra session, Rice forced Houston to kick a field goal and then moved to the Cougar eight. On third down, Houston was flagged for pass interference in the end zone, setting up Rice with a first and goal at the one.
But Houston refused to yield that final yard without a fight, taking the series all the way to a fourth down before Beck blasted over to give the Owls a walk-off win and allow them to re-take possession of the Bayou Bucket.