Saturday, November 4
Houston, Texas
6:30 PM
Rice University
31
vs
36
SMU
Photo by: Maria Lysaker - Rice Athletics
Homecoming Hopes Dashed by Mustangs
11/5/2023 12:38:00 AM | Football
Rice falls 36-31
Houston-Rice saw its hopes for a dramatic rally fall just short as SMU held off a surge by an undermanned Owls team to escape with a 36-31 win and the Mayor's Cup on Saturday night.
The Details-The Owls entered the game against the AAC's top-scoring offense minus three starters (Josh Pearcy, Chris Conti and Jonathan Jean and the Mustangs rolled up 204 yards and 14 points in the opening quarter. Despite being held to -1 yards in the first quarter, the Owls entered the second down just 14-7 thanks to their special teams. Rice held SMU on downs on its first possession, and forced a punt on the second, which was blocked by Peyton Stevenson and scooped up by Chike Anigbogu for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Owls their only lead of the night. The touchdown return off a blocked punt was the first for Rice since 2012 when Sam McGuffie recovered a punt he'd blocked and ran it into the end zone. Rice found some offensive momentum to open the second quarter, driving 69 yards in nine plays to knot the game at 14-14 when JT Daniels teamed with Luke McCaffrey on four-yard scoring play. The Mustangs answered with 10 points of their own to lead 24-14 with 1:59 left, but Quinton Jackson and the Rice special teams struck again, as he returned the SMU kickoff 44 yards, which combined with a personal foul on the play, set Rice up at the SMU 39. Four plays later, Daniels and Dean Connors combined on a 14-yard touchdown to send Rice to the locker room trailing only by three points and set to receive the second-half kickoff. But when they came out for the second half, they were without Daniels, who was ruled out of the game by the Rice medical staff. True freshman Chase Jenkins took over the controls and found himself and his teammates trailing by 12 with 3:05 left in the third. Jenkins rallied the troops, leading a pair of scoring drives thanks to to close to 33-31. He connected with Rawson MacNeill on a 37-yard completion to set up a one-yard touchdown by Connors, and then Connors burst free on a 57-yard run to set up a Tim Horn 32-yard field goal. But a 51-yard SMU field goal ended a drive that used up nearly five of the remaining eight minutes of the final quarter, and a late interception ended the Owls' hopes of a win.
Up Next -The Owls will hit the road for their next two games, beginning with a trip west on I-10 to take on UTSA next Saturday at 6:30.
Team Notes
The Details-The Owls entered the game against the AAC's top-scoring offense minus three starters (Josh Pearcy, Chris Conti and Jonathan Jean and the Mustangs rolled up 204 yards and 14 points in the opening quarter. Despite being held to -1 yards in the first quarter, the Owls entered the second down just 14-7 thanks to their special teams. Rice held SMU on downs on its first possession, and forced a punt on the second, which was blocked by Peyton Stevenson and scooped up by Chike Anigbogu for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Owls their only lead of the night. The touchdown return off a blocked punt was the first for Rice since 2012 when Sam McGuffie recovered a punt he'd blocked and ran it into the end zone. Rice found some offensive momentum to open the second quarter, driving 69 yards in nine plays to knot the game at 14-14 when JT Daniels teamed with Luke McCaffrey on four-yard scoring play. The Mustangs answered with 10 points of their own to lead 24-14 with 1:59 left, but Quinton Jackson and the Rice special teams struck again, as he returned the SMU kickoff 44 yards, which combined with a personal foul on the play, set Rice up at the SMU 39. Four plays later, Daniels and Dean Connors combined on a 14-yard touchdown to send Rice to the locker room trailing only by three points and set to receive the second-half kickoff. But when they came out for the second half, they were without Daniels, who was ruled out of the game by the Rice medical staff. True freshman Chase Jenkins took over the controls and found himself and his teammates trailing by 12 with 3:05 left in the third. Jenkins rallied the troops, leading a pair of scoring drives thanks to to close to 33-31. He connected with Rawson MacNeill on a 37-yard completion to set up a one-yard touchdown by Connors, and then Connors burst free on a 57-yard run to set up a Tim Horn 32-yard field goal. But a 51-yard SMU field goal ended a drive that used up nearly five of the remaining eight minutes of the final quarter, and a late interception ended the Owls' hopes of a win.
Up Next -The Owls will hit the road for their next two games, beginning with a trip west on I-10 to take on UTSA next Saturday at 6:30.
Team Notes
- Facing the nation's fifth-ranked scoring defense at 14 points per game, the Owls joined TCU as the only teams to score over 30 points against the Mustangs.
- SMU had allowed only 14 touchdowns in eight games before the Owls scored four.
- The Owls fell to 47-53-3 all-time in Homecoming games.
- S Tyson Flowers and Rush End Van Heitmann made their first career starts and Flowers led the Owls with eight tackles and three pass breakups.
- QB JT Daniels was 8-of-15 for 81 yards and two touchdowns to increase his career-high total to 21 this season.
- His 21 touchdowns this year tied Tommy Kramer (1976), Michael Calhoun (1981) and Chase Clement (2006) for fourth-place on Rice's season list, while his 22 total touchdowns tied Calhoun (1981) and Taylor McHargue (2013) for the seventh-most in a season.
- QB Chase Jenkins was 10-of-16 for 85 yards through the air and added 14 on the ground.
- With four receptions, WR Luke McCaffrey became the 16th player in school history with 100 receptions.
- McCaffrey's four-yard touchdown was his ninth receiving touchdown of the year, tying Kenneth Roy (1976) for sixth-place on the Owls' season list.
- It was also the 15th in his career, becoming the ninth player with at least 15 receiving touchdowns, tying for sixth-place with Roy (1973-76), Vance McDonald (2009-12) and Bradley Rozner (2019-22).
- RB Dean Connors ran seven times for 77 yards and a touchdown and his 57-yard run was a career-long.
- He also tied a career-high with seven receptions for 33 yards and a touchdown.
- It was also the longest run of the year and the longest since Cameron Montgomery's 57-yard rush against Southern Miss on Dec. 17, 2022.
- WR Rawson MacNeill's had a pair of 30+ yard receptions.
- KR Quinton Jackson's 44-yard kick return was the longest kickoff return since Juma Otoviano's 50-yarder on Oct. 23, 2021 at UAB.
- S Peyton Stevenson blocked a punt in the first quarter. It was his second blocked kick. He also blocked a PAT against Connecticut on Oct. 7.
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