Rice Thrashes East Carolina, 62-38

Nov. 20, 2010

HOUSTON - Like a tennis player at the peak of their game, the Rice Owls started fast and held serve repeatedly, amassing their greatest offensive output in nearly three years on their way to a 62-38 win over East Carolina at Rice Stadium on Saturday.

The Owls (3-8) hardly resembled the team that came into the day ranked 10th in C-USA Total Offense, piling up 639 total yards, the fourth-best total in school history and their best since the end of the 2007 season, while the Owls defense produced three turnovers and held the Pirates to just 10 second-half points to pick up the win.

"First and foremost, I am so proud of this football team for hanging together," Rice head coach David Bailiff said. "This season has been tough, but they have come over here every day with the attitude that we are going to get better and get it turned around. When times are tough all you can do is keep working through the tough times. That is what we did as a team. Their attitude and effort allowed us to go out and win a big ballgame. I think you see an offense that is absolutely coming alive. We rushed for over 400 yards and we had some good passing yards," he added. Quarterback Taylor McHargue, who won the competition for the starting job when the Owls opened the season, but was injured in the second game, made a spectacular return to action, throwing for 220 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 93 yards and a fourth score. Officially the Owls did not start McHargue, as true freshman Jeremy Eddington took the opening snaps as the Owls came out in their Wildcat formation.

All Eddington did was rush for 143 yards and tie a school record with four rushing touchdowns, as well as complete a pass for nine more. All told, the pair combined for 465 of the Owls 639 yards on the day.

"I am very proud of (QB) Taylor McHargue coming in." Bailiff said. "He played two snaps at SMU before reinjuring that shoulder, but the way he responded was very nice. When there wasn't somebody open it was good to see him scramble and pick up some yards. That is a trait that we have to have for a quarterback to be successful and I think he did a great job operating the offense tonight.

"The unique thing with Jeremy is that it is like you have to prepare for two offenses," Bailiff noted. "You're running the wildcat with Jeremy and he threw the ball. It wasn't great but it keeps them off balance. Then you put McHargue in who can do all that and throw the football. It presents a challenge with all the different play variations that we can run. It has worked well for us. We started doing that back in the UTEP. As he (Jeremy Eddington) has learned more, we've been able to give him more. He's really comfortable with what he is doing. He's one of those young men who loves football. Whatever the result of the run, he gets up with a smile and is ready to play the next play."

Rice started fast, forcing an ECU punt on its opening possession and then smartly moving down the field on a 12-play, 74 yard drive capped by a two-yard run by Eddington. The drive took 5:24, but the Owls would not need nearly that much time on the day, scoring on their next four possessions in no more than 2:55.

The Pirates answered the Owls opening score by covering 65 yards in three plays to knot the game at 7-7, but the offense answered right back with a six play, 81-yard drive in just 2:25, highlighted by a 44-yard burst by Sam McGuffie. McHargue lofted a pass to Van McDonald in the end zone and the sophomore receiver kept his feet in bounds to grab his seventh TD pass of the season and give the Owls a lead they would never relinquish.

After the Owls defense forced a punt, McHargue and McDonald connected for 39 yards to set up a short run by Eddington to stretch the margin to 21-7 at the start of the second quarter. ECU then drove to the Rice 13, but the threat was quelled when Travis Bradshaw picked off Dominique Davis' pass at the six. Two plays later, Eddington broke through the middle and was off to the races on an 88-yard TD run. The jaunt was the second longest by an Owl in the 60-year history of Rice Stadium, and matched the fourth-longest in school history. The PAT was blocked, leaving the Owls with a 27-7 lead.

That lead shrank to 27-14 on ECU's next possession, but the Owls capped their fifth straight scoring drive when McHargue found Pierre Beasley alone down the right side of the field for a 30-yard scoring strike. ECU answered back to cut the lead again to 34-21 and the Owls appeared to be ready to extend the lead just before halftime, but an exchange between Eddington and McGuffie was bobbled and Matt Milner of ECU grabbed the loose ball and returned it deep into Rice territory.

Three plays later, the Pirates cut it to 34-28 and Bailiff knew that despite all the success of the offense, the Owls defense would play an major role if the Owls would win their fifth consecutive home conference game in the month of November.

One telling stat proved to be the production of each team on third down. The Owls converted on 10 of 16 third downs, but more telling was the fact that those 16 attempts accounted for 262 yards and two touchdowns. On the defensive side, ECU was held to just 24 yards on its 11 third-down attempts, a key reason they were only able to convert three of those 11 plays.

In the second half, the Owls defense held ECU, which was averaging 38.2 points and 444 yards per game, to just 10 points and 136 total yards.

"They did score 27 points in the fourth quarter on UAB," Bailiff noted. "They are a football team that every time you pulled away, we never felt comfortable enough to take our foot off the accelerator.

Hopefully we have our swagger back. All you can do is keep working. Working on the fundamentals and techniques. I think that we kept with our fundamentals and kept working the techniques this week. It led to some turnovers. I thought (CB) Philip Gaines played a big time game."

McGuffie cut back into the middle to score from 17 yards on the Owls opening drive of the second half, and the defense forced the Pirates to settle for a field goal on their first possession. McGuffie and McHargue then combined on an electrifying play on the Owls following series, hooking up on a 64-yard TD pass as McGuffie broke deep while McHargue scrambled away from pressure.

The Owls defense then added their own stamp on the days' proceedings as John Gioffre led a charge that stopped Davis short on a fourth-down sneak at the ECU 32. Seven plays later, Eddington added another score to push the margin to 55-31.

A Paul Porras interception led to the Owls final score of the day, and when the clock finally ran out, the Owls had a win over a team that earlier in the year had been ranked in the top 25 and came into the game in contention to represent the East in the C-USA title game. The Owls will wrap up their campaign next Saturday when they host UAB on Senior Day, looking to continue to build on the offensive momentum that has kicked into high gear the last several weeks.

"Uniquely enough, you could look back to Tulsa," Bailiff said. "You look at the points we should have had if we had executed in the red zone. We thought we left 21-28 points on the field in that game. I think last week against Tulane you saw the personality being born. You now see an offense that believes in itself and believes it can win. It was a long time coming, but I'm really proud of these kids," he concluded.

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Pierre Beasley

Travis Bradshaw

Jeremy Eddington

John Gioffre

Sam McGuffie

Taylor McHargue

Paul Porras

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