Saturday, November 24
Houston, TX
12:00 p.m. CT
Rice University
2-11 , 1-7
27
vs
13
Old Dominion
4-8 , 2-6
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Old Dominion
3
3
7
0
13
Rice
6
7
7
7
27
Photo by: Maria Lysaker - Rice Athletics
Freshmen Send Seniors Out Victorious
11/24/2018 5:13:00 PM | Football
Rice 27, ODU 13
The Lead: Juma Otoviano turned Senior Day into a day for freshmen records, rushing for 224 yards and a pair of second-half long distance touchdowns to lead Rice to a 27-13 in over Old Dominion on Saturday at Rice Stadium.
The Details: Rice snapped an 11-game overall losing streak and a 14-game streak in conference action by holding C-USA's fourth best scoring offense (31.9) to 19 points below its season average. Otoviano, who was making his starting debut, sparked the offense by matching Chad Richardson, who ran for 224 vs. Colorado State in 1998, for the fifth-best rushing total in school history. The Monarchs reached the red zone twice in the first quarter, but the Rice defense held them to a pair of field goals. Touchdowns by Giovanni Gentosi and Wiley Green gave the Owls a 13-6 lead at halftime. ODU struck back to tie it at 13-13 late in the third, but Otoviano scored from 80 and 62 yards while Jack Fox continuously pinned the Monarchs deep in their own end the rest of the night.
The Turning Point: With 5:38 left in the third quarter, Rice took over at its own 36 after ODU knotted the score at 13-13. True freshman QB Wiley Green was injured while rushing for a first down on the second play from scrimmage and three plays later, the Monarchs forced a punt. Fox pinned them at the 11 and three plays netted ODU only five yards. ODU punted and Rice regained possession at its 22. Otoviano lost two yards on first down, then burst through the middle and sprinted 80 yards for the touchdown, putting the Owls ahead to stay with 51 seconds left.
The Notes:
Team
Individual
The Details: Rice snapped an 11-game overall losing streak and a 14-game streak in conference action by holding C-USA's fourth best scoring offense (31.9) to 19 points below its season average. Otoviano, who was making his starting debut, sparked the offense by matching Chad Richardson, who ran for 224 vs. Colorado State in 1998, for the fifth-best rushing total in school history. The Monarchs reached the red zone twice in the first quarter, but the Rice defense held them to a pair of field goals. Touchdowns by Giovanni Gentosi and Wiley Green gave the Owls a 13-6 lead at halftime. ODU struck back to tie it at 13-13 late in the third, but Otoviano scored from 80 and 62 yards while Jack Fox continuously pinned the Monarchs deep in their own end the rest of the night.
The Turning Point: With 5:38 left in the third quarter, Rice took over at its own 36 after ODU knotted the score at 13-13. True freshman QB Wiley Green was injured while rushing for a first down on the second play from scrimmage and three plays later, the Monarchs forced a punt. Fox pinned them at the 11 and three plays netted ODU only five yards. ODU punted and Rice regained possession at its 22. Otoviano lost two yards on first down, then burst through the middle and sprinted 80 yards for the touchdown, putting the Owls ahead to stay with 51 seconds left.
The Notes:
Team
- Rice won for the 10th time in the last 11 Senior Days.
- Rice's first quarter TD (Gentosi-1:44) was tied for the longest-scoring drive (yards-88) of the season.
- The Owls held their first lead (6-3) at the end of the opening quarter since Oct. 20 at FIU (7-3) and fourth time overall this season; and first halftime lead (13-6) since Sept. 1 against Houston.
- Rice snapped an 11-game losing streak overall and a 14-game skid in C-USA play. The Owls also ended a 7-game C-USA home losing streak.
- The Rice defense tied a season-high with three turnovers forced.
Individual
- CB Andrew Bird joined Otoviano in making his first career start. They became the eighth and ninth true freshmen to start this year for the Owls, along with three redshirt freshmen.
- Bird was credited with 8 tackles, one for a loss and broke up a pass.
- Otoviano's 80-yd TD run in the 3rd quarter was the longest rush by an Owl since Tyler Smith set the school record with a 97-yd TD run at Houston in 2011, and the longest play by the Owls this season.
- QB Wiley Green completed a 60-yd pass to TE Jordan Myers, a career-long for each.
- Rice had three plays of 60 yards or more after having just two on the season prior to today.
- TE Jordan Myers set a single-game career-high in receiving yardage (67).
- FB Giovanni Gentosi scored his first collegiate TD.
- DL Zach Abercrumbia recovered his 2nd fumble of the season (team lead).
- DB George Nyakwol recorded his 2nd career interception.
- LB Blaze Alldredge set a career-high with 13 tackles and became the first Owl to reach double digits in tackles in two games this year.
- DL Elijah Garcia notched his first career sack and also broke up one of five passes by the Owls.
- LB Antonio Montero notched the first interception of his career.
- P Jack Fox recorded 6 punts inside the 20-yd line (31 for season) and had 2 punts of 50+ yards (26 for the season) and established a single-season Rice record with 3,636 punt yards. He moved into 8th for career punts (212) in Rice history and his 9,207 career punting yards rank fourth in school history.
- Fox ended his stellar career with a school-record career average of 43.4 yards per punt.
Team Stats
ODU
RICE
Total Yards
389
371
Pass Yards
312
96
Rushing Yards
77
275
Penalty Yards
34
32
1st Downs
21
14
3rd Downs
5
2
4th Downs
0
2
TOP
29:11
30:49
1st Quarter
ODU 3, RICE 0
ODU - RICE, Nick 34 yd field goal 11 plays, 73 yards, TOP 4:13
ODU 3, RICE 6
RICE - GENTOSI, G. 6 yd run (FOX, Jack passfailed), 8 plays, 88 yards, TOP 4:07
2nd Quarter
ODU 6, RICE 6
ODU - RICE, Nick 26 yd field goal 12 plays, 66 yards, TOP 3:42
ODU 6, RICE 13
RICE - GREEN, Wiley 10 yd run (FOX, Jack kick), 2 plays, 14 yards, TOP 0:48
3rd Quarter
ODU 13, RICE 13
ODU - FULGHAM, Travis 2 yd pass from LARUSSA, Blake (RICE, Nick kick) 9 plays, 86 yards, TOP 3:33
ODU 13, RICE 20
RICE - OTOVIANO, Juma 80 yd run (FOX, Jack kick), 2 plays, 78 yards, TOP 0:51
4th Quarter
ODU 13, RICE 27
RICE - OTOVIANO, Juma 62 yd run (FOX, Jack kick), 1 plays, 62 yards, TOP 0:11
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
6
TD
0
YDS
96
INT
0
CMP
0
TD
0
YDS
0
INT
0
Players Mentioned
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RB
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