Game Eight: Rice Faces FIU

Game #8
What: Rice (1-6, 0-3 C-USA) vs. FIU (4-2, 2-0 C-USA)
When: Saturday, October 20, 2018
Time: 6:30 p.m. CT
Where: Miami, FL
Stadium: Ricardo Silva Stadium (20,000)
Television: ESPN+ ($) A.J. Ricketts (play-by-play), Kenny Kelly (analyst)
Where to Find the Game: WatchESPN
Rice Radio: SportsMap 94.1 FM. JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst). Matt Pedersen (sidelines)
Audio Streaming: Stretch Internet, Rice Game Day App, TuneIn app
Live Stats: RiceOwls.com
Series Information: Tied 1-1
2014: Rice 31, FIU 17 Recap Photo Gallery
2017: FIU 13, Rice 7 Recap Photo Gallery

Series Notes

This is the third meeting in the series with the schools having split the first two, each winning at the other's home field.
Rice took a 31-17 decision in the initial meeting in Miami in 2014 while the Panthers held on for a 13-7 win at Rice Stadium last year.
Zach Patt earned the Bronco Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week after registering five sacks in the Owls win in 2014.
Rice saw its hopes for a late rally last year end at the FIU nine yard line when Jackson Tyner's pass was knocked down as time expired.
This will be the Owls sixth game in South Florida and Rice is 4-1 all-time in games played in the area, having played five different teams in the previous games.
Rice defeated No. 8 Tennessee 8-0 in the 1947 Orange Bowl in its first game in South Florida... The Owls defeated Florida 10-0 in a game played at Orange Bowl Stadium in 1960... Rice dropped a 38-3 decision to No. 16 Miami at the Orange Bowl in 1984 and defeated FIU in 2014 and FAU 27-26 in 2015 in the Owls most recent trips to the Sunshine State. The Owls were 1-1 in two games with UCF in Orlando.

Youthful Look to the Lineup
Offensive tackle Jake Syptak made his starting debut on Saturday vs. UAB and he was one of four true freshmen to start against the Blazers (linebackers Antonio Montero and Treshawn Chamberlain and safety Prudy Calderon). Calderon led the Owls with six tackles as well as his first interception and eight of top nine tacklers last Saturday were either sophomores or freshmen.

Marshman Milestone
Redshirt freshman Evan Marshman is slated to make the start at quarterback for the Owls on Saturday and should he do so, he will be the first walk-on to start at quarterback since at least 1985 (available information does not include starters before 1985). After making his playing debut on special teams early in the season, Marshman made his debut at quarterback midway through the second quarter vs. UAB after Shawn Stankavage was injured.

Fox Continues to Shine
Ray Guy candidate Jack Fox edged ahead of FIU's Stone Wilson for the C-USA lead after a record-setting workload last weekend. He set a C-USA record by amassing 588 punting yards on 12 punts which tied both the conference and school records. He had a pair of punts of 60 yards or better, including a career-best 70 yard effort and had six of at least 50 yards. His 588 yards are the most in the nation this year and the most in a game since Michael Cintron of Rutgers had 603 yards on 16 punts vs. Michigan on 10/6/16... Hugh Keeney punted 13 times for Rice in the 1947 Orange Bowl win over Tennessee, but bowl stats were not included in school records or included in official NCAA stats at that time. Fox leads C-USA with a 45.7 yard average (Wilson is second at 45.6) and with 16 punts of 50 yards or longer. He ranks 9th nationally with a 45.7 average and his effort on Saturday increased his career average to 43.1, edging him in front of Kyle Martens' school career mark of 43.0. Fox's16 punts of 50+ are one shy of his career high of 17 set last year.

See you at Homecoming
Rice returns to Rice Stadium on November 3 to celebrate Homecoming when the Owls host UTEP.

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Prudy Calderon

Treshawn Chamberlain

Jack Fox

Evan Marshman

Antonio Montero

Shawn Stankavage

Jake Syptak

Jackson Tyner

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