First Meeting with Huskies Closes Non-Conference Schedule

Game #6
Who: Rice (3-2, 1-1 AAC) vs. UConn (0-5)
When: Saturday 4:00 p.m. CT
Where: Houston, Texas
Stadium: Rice Stadium
Television: ESPN+ Shawn Kenney (PXP); LaDarrin McLane (Analyst); Smacker Miles (sidelines)
Where to Find the Game: ESPN+
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst), Jason Metko (sidelines)
Audio Streaming: RiceOwls.com, Rice Game Day App, Varsity Network
Live Stats: Sidearm.com
Digital Game Program: Game 6 Rice vs. UConn
Series Information: First Meeting

Full Game Notes

Series Notes
• This will be the first meeting between the schools in football.
•The last UConn team to visit the Rice campus was the UConn men's basketball team who used Fox Gym for practices during their run to the NCAA championship when Rice served as a co-host for the Men's Final Four.
• The Huskies also played at Rice in 2004, defeating the Owls 92-83 on 1/2/04 at Autry Court.
• Huskies head coach Jim Mora made his collegiate coaching debut at Rice Stadium on 8/30/12, defeating the Owls 49-24.
• Current Houston Texans kicker Ka'imi Fairburn was a freshman at UCLA and made his debut for the Bruins against the Owls and saw linebacker Cameron Nwosu set an NCAA record by blocking three of his first-half PATs.
• Current Owls offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo was in his first year of collegiate coaching with the Bruins that year, coaching the tight ends.
• Rice radio play-by-play man JP Heath made his Owls' football debut that night as well.

Happiness at Home
Rice has opened the home schedule with three straight wins for the second consecutive season and will be looking to win the first four at home in a season for first time since 2008, when the Owls went on to a perfect 6-0 mark on their way to a 10-3 season. The last time Rice won four consecutive home games at any point in a season was 2014 when the Owls won their last four after opening the home schedule with a loss to ODU. The Owls will be looking to go 3-1 in their non-conference schedule for the first time since 2001.

JT's Best Start
JT Daniels has thrown for 1, 469 yards and 13 touchdowns in the first five games, his highest total through five games in his career. His previous best was 1,257 in the first five games of his freshman year at USC in 2018.
Also notable:

His 13 TD passes are one shy of this career-high set at USC in 2018.
Daniels' five consecutive starts at QB are the most by an Owl since Tyler Stehling started the first 10 games in 2016.
Daniels' 434 yards vs. USF are the third most in school history and his 409 yards of total offense at USF were the eighth-best total in school history.
Rice has had seven games when a quarterback has thrown for 400+ yards and Daniels is the first Rice quarterback to top 400 yards twice in the same season. Chase Clement had one in 2007 and another in 2008.
He bettered his longest career completion in consecutive games with a 70-yard TD to Kobie Campbell vs. TSU and an 80-yard TD to Dean Connors at USF.
Daniels leads the AAC in yards, yards per game, and passing touchdowns and is second in passing efficiency while he is tied for 11th nationally in passing TDs 12th in yards, and 14th in yards per game. • Daniels' 434 yards were the third most in school history.

First Year Production
More than half the Owls AAC-leading 22 touchdowns have been scored by either true or redshirt freshmen (8 by true freshmen, four by redshirt freshmen). True freshman RB Daelen Alexander leads the team and is second in the conference with six TDs and 38 points. Redshirt freshmen wide receivers Rawson MacNeill and Braylen Walker have two each, while quarterback Chase Jenkins and wide reciever Landon Ransom-Goelz, who were two of the group of four freshmen who were the first early admits at Rice, each scored their first touchdowns vs. ECU.

Making Them Count
Chris Conti's first career interception led to Rice's first touchdown on Saturday vs. ECU, giving the Owls touchdowns on all five turnovers they have forced this season while allowing only 10 on six turnovers. Rice scored 48 points off 18 turnovers in 13 games last year while opponents scored 101 points on 32 Owls' turnovers.

Pressurized
Rice was credited with 31 combined total pressures by PFF against ECU (20 hurries, 8 hits and three sacks). Myron Morrison, Josh Pearcy, De'Braylon Carroll and Jordan Campbell were each credited with five total pressues. Carroll, Campbell and Pearcy were each credited with four hurries. Morrison's five total pressures (three hurries and two QB hits) came on 12 pass rushes, while Campbell's four hurries and one hit came on 24 rushes. Morrison leads the team with 14 total pressures, nine hurries and four QB hits.

Up Next
The Owls will be off next Saturday and return to action on Thursday, October 19 when they travel to Tulsa.

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