Owls Extend Senior Day Success

The Lede: Tom Stewart guided a balanced Rice attack to scores on four of its first five possessions and Treshawn Chamberlain delivered a series of key defensive plays to lead the Owls to a 20-14 win over North Texas and allow the 11^th senior class in the last 12 years to end their careers at Rice Stadium as victors.

The Details: For the second consecutive week the Owls jumped out to an early lead, thanks in part to a pair of plays by Chamberlain. On the opening possession of the game, he stopped UNT's Tre Stiggers for no gain on second down and after an incompletion on third down, North Texas was forced to punt. Rice drove to the Mean Green 30 to set up a career-best, 48-yard field goal by Chris Barnes.

On the Mean Green's first play after the kickoff, Chamberlain picked off Mason Fine at the UNT 39. Three rushes by Charlie Booker moved the ball to the UNT 28 before Aston Walter reverted back to his days as a high school quarterback to complete a 27-yard pass to Jordan Myers at the North Texas one yard line. Walter dove over the line on the next play for his ninth touchdown of the year to extend the lead to 10-0.

The Owls stymied North Texas on their next possession, forcing another three-and-out, but the Mean Green looked poised to strike back after recovering a Rice fumble at the Owls 49. But on their first play from scrimmage, Naeem Smith knocked the ball free from Stiggers and Kenneth Orji recovered at the Rice 42. The Owls marched 50 yards in six plays, highlighted by a 24-yard run by Booker, to reach the Mean Green eight as the quarter ended. Booker opened the second stanza by covering the final eight yards for his first career touchdown as an Owl.

Barnes added a 21-yard field goal on the Owls next series and they continued to thwart the Mean Green offensive attack to post their first shutout of a first half since they led UTEP 10-0 in 2017. Rice held a 228-51 advantage in total yards at the half and held UNT to just a pair of first downs while holding the ball for over 22 minutes.

North Texas found its footing midway through the third quarter, covering 69 yards in just four plays to cut the lead to 20-7. After moving to within six with 7:32 to go, they looked to be in prime position to take the lead after recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return, but Chamberlain broke up Fine's fourth down pass in the end zone.

Rice took over at its 15 with 4:15 left in the game and after two plays resulted in a loss of a yard, Stewart connected with Brad Rozner on a 35-yard completion for a key first down. Two plays later, Nahshon Ellerbe sealed the win by blasting for another first down to convert a third and six and allow the Owls to run out the clock.

The Notes:
Team

Rice won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. It was the Owls' eighth win of the toss this year.

Rice improved to 2-9 overall and 2-5 in Conference USA.

Rice has won back-to-back games for the first time since 2016 when the Owls defeated Charlotte on the road and UTEP at home.

The win by the Owls snapped a three-game winning streak by North Texas in the series and evened the overall record to 5-5 (3-3 at Rice Stadium).

The win also snapped a 15-game losing streak for the Owls in the Western Division of Conference USA.

Rice has closed out 11 of the last 12 home schedules with a win, sending the respective senior classes out with a win. The Owls won nine consecutive home finales from 2008-2016 before North Texas defeated Rice 30-14 on Senior Day in 2017. The Owls are 54-50-2 all-time in home finales. (Note, the Owls did not play a home game in their first season of play in 1912)

Rice held North Texas without a score on its first offensive possession. It is the eighth game that Rice has held the opposition without a score on its first possession, the most since closing the 2014 season with 10 straight such games.

Rice scored on its first possession of the game for the fifth time in seven C-USA games.

Rice's 20-0 lead in the first half was their largest lead of the year and marked the first time they have shutout an opponent in the first half since they led 10-0 at UTEP on 9/9/17.

Rice held North Texas to its fewest points in the 10 games of the series and 19 points below their average this season.

The Owls also held the conference's second ranked offense to 211 yards below their season average of 449.6.

Individual

True freshman walk-on Isaac Klarkowski from Green Bay, Wisconsin, who had not taken any snaps in practice with the top offensive units, was called on to make his collegiate debut at center as a starter in relief of Shea Baker, who became ill on Friday. Klarkowski handled all of the Owls 71 offensive snaps.

Linebacker Garrett Grammer made his first career start.

Linebacker Blaze Alldredge led the Owls with seven tackles, including a sack of Mason Fine for a loss of five yards. The sack allowed him to pass Larry Izzo for the most TFL by a Rice linebacker in a season (18).

Antonio Montero recorded his first career sack and was credited with a career-high 2.5 TFL.

Austin Trammell finished the day with 7 receptions for 91 yards and moved up to seventh on the Rice career list with 122 receptions, passing Vance McDonald and Doug Cunningham. He leads the Owls with 56 receptions this year, which ranks ninth on the Rice single-season list.

Bradley Rozner caught five passes for 70 yards, including 35 on a key third down conversion late in the game. He leads the Owls with 751 yards receiving and needs 45 yards to move into the Rice single-season top 10.

Running back Charlie Booker scored his first career touchdown for the Owls and finished with 78 yards on the ground, his best total as an Owl.

Aston Walter, who was a quarterback in his high school career at Crosby, completed his first career pass on Senior Day, good for 27-yards to Jordan Myers to set up Walter's ninth touchdown of the year to give the Owls a 10-0 lead.

Chris Barnes' 48-yard field goal in the first quarter was the longest of his career and the longest by an Owl since Haden Tobola converted a 51- yarder at LSU in 2018.

Up Next: The Owls will look to close a season with three consecutive wins for the first time since 2013 when they travel to El Paso to take on UTEP on Saturday, November 30. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. (central).

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Team Stats

Tom Stewart

Aston Walter

Players Mentioned

Blaze Alldredge

Shea Baker

Chris Barnes

Charlie Booker

Treshawn Chamberlain

Nahshon Ellerbe

Garrett Grammer

Isaac Klarkowski

Antonio Montero

Jordan Myers

Kenneth Orji

Bradley Rozner

Naeem Smith

Tom Stewart

Haden Tobola

Austin Trammell

Aston Walter

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