Rice Falls in AAC Debut to South Florida

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vs Florida Atlantic

Oct 4

6 PM

Rice Stadium

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at UTSA

Oct 11

TBA

San Antonio, TX

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vs UCONN

Oct 25

TBA

Rice Stadium

Football

vs Memphis

Oct 31

6 PM

Rice Stadium

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vs UAB

Nov 8

TBA

Rice Stadium

Football

vs North Texas

Nov 22

TBA

Rice Stadium

Football

at South Florida

Nov 29

TBA

Tampa, FL

TAMPA – Rice and South Florida traded leads throughout the first three quarters, but the Bulls prevailed to spoil Rice's debut in the AAC 42-29 Saturday afternoon at Raymond James Stadium.

Luke McCaffrey had a career day, with 199 receiving yards while surpassing 1,000 career receiving yards at Rice. JT Daniels finished with a career-high 432 yards with three touchdowns.

The Details

Q1: After the Owls were forced to punt on the opening possession, South Florida drove down the field for a field goal, taking an early 3-0 lead. Rice responded with Daniels finding McCaffrey for 47 yards to set up the Owls deep in South Florida territory. Three plays later, the Owls were faced with fourth and a long one yard at the USF three-yard line. Daniels found a wide open Daelen Alexander to give the Owls a 7-3 lead.

Q2: After being stopped on second and third down, USF had to settle for a 40-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 7-6. After trading drives, South Florida drove down the field capping the drive with a 26-yard touchdown rush to go back in front 13-7 with 1:29 left in the half. On the following Rice drive, Daniels found Boden Groen for a 20-yard gain putting Rice at the USF 37-yard line. Faced with a fourth and four, Daniels hit McCaffrey for 17 yards to move the sticks and found McCaffrey again on the next play for another 12 yards. On first and goal from the two, Daniels found Dean Connors to put Rice back on top 14-13 with 15 seconds left in the half.

Q3: South Florida quickly opened the second half with a touchdown, set up by a 51-yard pass on the opening play, giving the Bulls a 20-14 lead. Following a Rice punt, USF drove down the field once again, having first and goal at the Rice two-yard line after a penalty. The following play saw the Bulls fumble into the end zone and Marcus Williams was there to recover the ball. The very next play Daniels connected on an 80-yard touchdown pass to Connors to put Rice back on top 21-20. Later in the quarter, the Bulls fired right back with a 49-yard touchdown pass to go up 27-21 with just over two minutes left in the quarter.

Q4: South Florida pulled away in the fourth, with back-to-back touchdown drives to take a 42-21 lead with 8:45 left in the game. The Owls cut into the deficit with AJ Padgett finding Rawson MacNeill for a nine-yard touchdown, and McCaffrey adding a two-point conversion, making it 42-29 USF. The Bulls recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock for the win.

Up Next:
The Owls will return home next Saturday to face East Carolina for Rice Stadium's AAC debut. That game will be at 6:00 p.m. CT and streamed on ESPN+.

Notes:

QB JT Daniels was 27-of-40 for 432 yards and three touchdowns.
His 80-yard touchdown pass to Dean Connors was the longest completion of his career
It's also the longest scoring pass from Rice since Driphus Jackson and Jordan Taylor connected on an 88-yard pass on 10/25/14
Daniels threw for a career-high in yardage with 432 yards. His previous high was 401 yards vs Mississippi State in 2020 and Houston this year.
His 432 yards are the third most total passing yards in a single game for Rice and the most since Chase Clement's 444 vs. Southern Miss in 2008.
QB AJ Padgett was 7-of-10 for 59 yards and a touchdown.
He threw his first touchdown pass of the season and sixth of his career.
RB Daelen Alexander three-yard touchdown reception from JT Daniels was his first career reception.
This is his sixth touchdown this season (first receiving)
RB Dean Connors finished with six catches for 98 yards with two touchdowns.
He caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from Daniels, the longest reception of his career.
This was the first multi-touchdown game of his career.
WR Luke McCaffrey surpassed 1,000 career receiving yards at Rice, finishing with 199 yards.
A 13-yard reception late in the first half put him over 1,000 yards at Rice in his 15th game (second fewest in school history)
His 199 yards marks a career high, with his previous being 171 yards (10/22/22 at Louisiana Tech).
His 199 yards are the second most receiving yards in a single game, trailing only James Casey's 208 yards at Memphis in 2008.
This is his first game of the season with 100+ receiving yards and fourth of his career.
WR Rawson MacNeil finished with six receptions for 73 yards (career high) and a touchdown.
He had multiple receptions in a game for the first time in his career.
His fourth-quarter touchdown was the first of his career.
SS Jonathan Jean set a single-game high for tackles with seven. His best prior to today was four.
S Plae Wyatt second quarter sack was the first of his career.
Set a career high in single-game tackles with 10 (previous was eight at Texas).
LB Chris Conti tied his career high with 11 tackles, his third career double-digit tackle game.
LB Myron Morrison also set a season-high with 11 tackles, his second career game with 10 or more.

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JT Daniels

AJ Padgett

Players Mentioned

Daelen Alexander

Dean Connors

Chris Conti

JT Daniels

Boden Groen

Jonathan Jean

Rawson MacNeill

Luke McCaffrey

Myron Morrison

AJ Padgett

Marcus Williams

Plae Wyatt

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