Owls Look to Extend Streak in Season Finale

Game #12
What: Rice (2-9/2-5) vs. UTEP (1-10/0-7)
When: Saturday, November 30
Where: El Paso, Texas
Stadium: Sun Bowl Stadium 51,100)
Television: NFL Network (Andy Morgan, play-by-play; Trevor Vittatoe, analyst)
Where to Find the Game: WatchESPN
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst)
Audio Streaming: Stretch Internet, Rice Game Day App, TuneIn app
Live Stats: RiceOwls.com
Series Information: This is the 23^rd meeting, Rice leads the series 14-8 overall while the teams have spilt the 10 previous meetings at the Sun Bowl.

Series History
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          35-28^2ot           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
S9, 2017         W         31-14               El Paso
N3, 2018         L          34-26               Houston

Series Notes
• Rice is 10-4 vs. the Miners (4-2 in El Paso) since joining C-USA and the 10 wins overall and four wins at the Sun Bowl since 2005 are the Owls' best vs. C-USA opponents.
• This is the 21st consecutive meeting between the two, Rice's longest active streak vs. any opponent.
• This is the fourth time the teams have closed their regular seasons by facing each other.
• Jeremy Eddington's 97-yard kickoff return at the Sun Bowl in the final regular season game of 2012 sealed a 33-24 win for the Owls. The win also capped a streak of five wins over the last six games to clinch a berth in the Armed Forces Bowl.
• The Owls won 31-14 in El Paso in 2017 one week after they were finally able to return to Houston due to Hurricane Harvey. They had opened the 2017 season by facing Stanford (and Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren) in Sydney, Australia and then spent most of the following week in Ft. Worth until returning home at the end of the week.
• Chase Clement was responsible for 8 touchdowns and earned a helmet sticker from ESPN after engineering an improbable 56-48 win over the Miners in 2007, leading the Owls to 28 points in the 4th quarter to overcome a 20-point deficit.

Closing Strong
Rice will be looking to end the 2019 season with three consecutive wins for the time since the Owls wrapped the 2013 regular season with four straight wins. The last time the Owls concluded a full season (regular and postseason) with at least three wins was in 2012, when they won their last four in the regular season and capped the year with a win over Air Force in the 2012 Armed Forces Bowl. The last time Rice won its final two conference road games was also in 2012 as they wrapped the road schedule with wins at Tulane and UTEP. Rice concluded its 70th season at Rice Stadium with a win over North Texas, the 11th time in the last 12 years the Owls seniors have won in their final appearance at home.

First Impressions
JC transfer Brad Rozner has made an immediate impact this season. His 52 receptions are the most by a first-year Owl since Larry Davis had 54 in 1967, while his 751 yards are the most since 1951 when football statistics first appeared in Rice media guides. He needs five reception and 45 yards to move into the Rice single-season top ten in each category. He posted back-to-back 100 yard receiving days in his first two games at Rice Stadium (103 vs. Wake Forest, 100 vs. Baylor).. He is the first Rice receiver to top the century mark in receiving yards twice in the first four games of the season since Jarett Dillard and James Casey each did it in 2008. Casey had 208 yards at Memphis and 115 at Vanderbilt while Dillard had 105 at Vanderbilt and 158 at Texas. Rozner added a third 100-yard receiving day at UTSA and 130 at Middle Tennessee to become the first Rice receiver with four days over 100 since Jordan Taylor had four in 2014. All five of his touchdown receptions have come on the road.

Blaze in the Backfield
Linebacker Blaze Alldredge was added to the Nagurski Trophy Watch List after his standout performance over the first six games of 2019. He has reached double figures in tackles twice this year, including matching his career-high with 13 tackles vs. LA Tech. He was credited with one TFL vs. North Texas thanks to his fourth sack of the season to increase his total to 18 (5th in the nation and 2nd in C-USA). Has 13 solo TFL and shared 10 others… 23 plays for loss are tied for third nationally... His total set a school record for Rice linebackers (Larry Izzo had 17 in 1995 and rank fourth on the Rice single-season list. Alldredge has at least one TFL in each of the last 10 games. In his last 13 games dating back to last season, Alldredge has amassed 119 tackles, including 19 for loss.

Century Marks
The Owls have had four games each with a 100-yard rusher (Aston Walter-3, Nahson Elerbee-1) and 100-yard receiver (Brad Rozer-3, Austin Trammell-1). The last time the Owls had at least four of each was in 2014 with four rushing (Jowan Davis-3, Darik Dillard-1) and six receiving (Jordan Taylor-4, Mario Hull-1, Dennis Parks-1). The four 100-yard rushing efforts match the total from last year (Emmanuel Eskpa-2, Ausitn Walter and Juma Otoviano-1), giving the Owls eight 100-rushing days in Mike Bloomgren's first 22 games. The last time the Owls had more than four 100-yard rushing games was in 2013 when they had a total of eight (Charles Ross-7, Jowan Davis-1).

For the Defense
Rice ranks sixth in total defense in C-USA in conference games (379.5 per game), despite facing two of the top four offenses in the league through the first six C-USA games (1. LA Tech, 4. Southern Miss). LA Tech is averaging 457.3 but was held to 294 by the Owls and Southern Miss (428.6) gained 364. Rice is allowing 148.6 rushing yards per game and 28.1 points per game through the first 10 games. Their rushing total is their best since 2014 when they gave up 152.5 per game on the ground while the scoring average is the best since they allowed 24.4 per game in 2013. Rice held consecutive C-USA opponents to under 21 points for the first time since 2017 when the Owls held UTEP to 14, FIU to 13 and UTSA to 20.

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