Rice Game Notes
9/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 3, 2011
Texas Game l September 3, 2011
Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium l Austin, Texas
General Notes
- Rice captains for the season opener were four seniors - DB Chris Jammer, P Kyle Martens, RB Tyler Smith and DE Scott Solomon. Texas won the coin toss. The Owls received to begin the game.
- Temperature at kickoff was 100 degrees - fitting for the start of the Owls' 100th season of football.
- Rice had two players make their first career starts for the Owls. Junior defensive end Jared Williams and sophomore linebacker Cameron Nwosu started for the first time in their careers on defense. All 11 offensive starters in the opener against Texas had previous starting experience.
- Attendance for the Rice/Texas game was announced at 101,624 - a sellout. It was the highest attended season opener in Rice history and just the second time the Owls have played in front of a 100k crowd. The record for attendance to see a Rice game is 109,778 played against Michigan (Sept. 9, 2000). The previous record-attendance mark for an opener was 93,479 against Ohio State (Sept. 7, 1996).
- Rice had a decad players make their debuts for Rice in the opener against Texas - Bryce Callahan, Nico Carlson, Drew Carroll, Jaylon Finner, Andre Gauthreaux, Malcolm Hill, Mario Hull, Zach Patt, Kyle Prater and Josh Skinner.
Offense
- Sam McGuffie, who came off for the bench for the first time in his career (he started all 12 games last year), completed his first pass as an Owl, a 15-yarder to Vance McDonald for a first down.
- Taylor McHargue completed 14-of-29 passes for 79 yards. He established new career highs for both completions and attempts, breaking former marks of 13 and 22 set in last season's final game against UAB.
- Led by Tyler Smith's 67 yards on 10 carries, Rice had five running backs carry the ball against Texas. Jeremy Eddington, Sam McGuffie, Turner Petersen and Charles Ross all had rushing attempts against the Longhorns.
Defense
- On the Longhorns' first series of the second half, Brian Stacey posted his first career quarterback sack. The second-down setback was followed by another QB sack, credited to Phillip Gaines for a loss of 14. The Owls would take over near midfield following a UT punt and drive 46 yards for their third field goal of the game and narrow the Longhorns' lead to 13-9 early in the third quarter.
- Gaines' sack was the second of junior cornerback's career.
Special Teams
- Rice has now scored first in the last three meetings of its series with Texas, all on field goals. Sophomore place kicker Chris Boswell has had the last two, both 42-yarders.
- Boswell only attempted one field goal in the last six games of the 2010 season. The 42-yarder against Texas was his first since the UTEP game (a 28-yarder on Oct. 8, 2010).
- Boswell added a 49-yard field goal with 56 seconds to play in the first half and a 26-yarder with 9:07 to play in the third to give him 14 for his career. He moved to eighth on the Rice career chart, tying Darrell Richardson (1991-92).
- Boswell's second field goal, a 49-yarder with 56 seconds to play in the first half gives him 13 for his career and moves him into a three-way tie for ninth on the Rice career list with Joel Baxter (1981-82) and Mike Ruff (1994-96).
- Boswell's three field goals were the Keller native's most since drilling four in the second game of the 2010 season against North Texas.
- With his first field goal, Boswell became the first player to score in the history of the Longhorn Network.
Players Mentioned
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DT
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OL
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CB
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LB
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