99th Homecoming Features Familiar Foe

Game #10
What: Rice (1-8, 0-5 C-USA) vs. UTEP (0-8, 0-4 C-USA)
When: Saturday, November 3
Where: Houston, Texas
Stadium: Rice Stadium (47,000)
Television: ESPN3 Alex Del Bario (play-by-play), Patrick Creighton (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: Rice leads 14-7

O26, 1996     W       48-21 El Paso
N22, 1997     W       31-13 Houston
N13, 1999     L         30-29 Houston
N11, 2000     L         38-21 El Paso
N17, 2001     W       27-17 Houston
O19, 2002     L        38-35 El Paso
N22, 2003     W       45-14 Houston
N13, 2004 L        35-28 (2 OT) El Paso
O29, 2005 L    38-31 Houston
N4, 2006       W       37-31 El Paso
N3, 2007       W       56-48 Houston
N1, 2008       W       49-44 El Paso
N21, 2009     W       30-29 Houston
O9, 2010       L        44-24 El Paso
N11,2011       W       41-37 Houston
N 24, 2012    W       33-24 El Paso
O 26, 2013    W       45-7    Houston
N 21, 2014    W       31-13 Houston
N6, 2015       L         24-21 El Paso
N 19, 2016    W       44-24 Houston
S 9, 2017      W       31-14 El Paso

Series Notes

• This is the 22nd meeting between Rice and UTEP with Rice holding a 14-7 lead (9-2 in Houston, 5-5 in El Paso, 9-3 as members of C-USA).
• This is the 20th consecutive meeting between the two, Rice's longest active streak vs. any opponent. UTEP took five of the first nine, but the Owls have won six of the last seven and 10 of the last 12. Rice has won the last six at Rice Stadium.
• This will mark the fourth time Rice has hosted UTEP on Homecoming. UTEP won the initial meeting, 30-29 in 1999 as the Miners overcame a 29-17 deficit, scoring the winner with 1:22 left in the game. Rice won 56-48 in 2007 with a miraculous finish of its own (see below) and won the most recent Homecoming meeting 41-37 in 2011as Nick Fanuzzi threw for 405 yards and Rice amassed 671 yards of offense.
• In 2007, Chase Clement was responsible for eight touchdowns and earned a helmet sticker from ESPN after engineering an improbable 56-48 win over the Miners, leading the Owls to 28 points in the 4th quarter to overcome a 20-point deficit as well as seven turnovers.
• Jeremy Eddington's 97-yard kickoff return at the Sun Bowl in 2012 sealed a 33-24 win for the Owls, their most recent in El Paso. The win also capped a streak straight of five wins over the last six games to clinch a berth in the Armed Forces Bowl, the first of three consecutive bowl games.
• Rice has won the last six meetings between the two at Rice Stadium, including back-to-back games here in 2013-14 when the C-USA schedule reconfigured because of the addition of new teams.

Fox Earns National Honors
Jack Fox was named the Ray Guy Award National Punter of the Week for his efforts against North Texas. He averaged 47.3 on seven punts at North Texas, five of them inside the 20, one inside the 10 and also blasting a career-long effort of 76 yards. His blast was the longest punt by an Owl since 1990 and the sixth longest of the college football season. Fox is second in C-USA with a 45.7 yard average and leads the conference with 19 punts of 50 yards or longer and 22 punts inside the 20. His average ranks eighth nationally among all punters, but second among punters with at least 50 this season. His 19 punts of 50+ are a career high and his 22 inside the 20 are five shy of his best. Fox is one of two punters who have been recognized by the award four times this year as one of Ray's 8 by the Ray Guy Award. Each week during the season, the Augusta Sports Council releases a list of eight punters on Monday who are candidates for the awards punter of the week accolade. Fox was recognized for his efforts against Houston Hawai'i, UTSA and North Texas.

No Better Way to Start
Each of Rice's three starting quarterbacks this year led the Owls on a scoring drive on their first opportunities as a starter. Shawn Stankavage led a 14-play, 86-yard drive vs. Prairie View, Evan Marshman drove the Owls 75 yards in 12 plays at FIU and Wiley Green needed one fewer play to cover 75 yards for a touchdown last Saturday at North Texas. Green became the sixth different quarterback to start for Rice since the beginning of the 2017 season, which is the most for any FBS team over that time (Sam Glaesmann, Jackson Tyner, Miklo Smalls, Stankavage and Marshman are the others).

Reliable Target
Austin Trammel reached career-highs at North Texas with 10 receptions for 94 yards. He leads the Owls with 47 receptions and 478 yards. He is tied for 8th in C-USA with 5.7 receptions per game. Trammell's 47 receptions are the most by an Owl since current Denver Bronco Jordan Taylor had 54 in 2014 and are eight away from tying David Houser (1977) and Taylor (2013) for 9th on the Rice single season list.

Two More for the Road
Rice returns to the road the next two Saturdays for back-to-back games in Louisiana. The Owls take on LA Tech on November 10 and then LSU the following Saturday. The season wraps up at Rice Stadium on November 24 when Rice hosts Old Dominion.

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Players Mentioned

Jack Fox

Sam Glaesmann

Wiley Green

Evan Marshman

Miklo Smalls

Shawn Stankavage

Jackson Tyner

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