Owls Outlast Pirates to Win AAC Home Debut

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Nov 29

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Houston: JT Daniels threw for 232 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Rice stymied East Carolina's last three drives with fourth down stops to give Rice a win in its inaugural home game in the American Athletic Conference, 24-17 at Rice Stadium on Saturday.

The Details: Daniels-who had been limited all week due to a lower-body injury sustained last week at USF-and the Owls (3-2; 1-1) were limited to just 90 yards in the first half, but took a 10-9 lead into the locker room, thanks to the Rice defense which held the Pirates (1-4, 0-1) to three field goals on four trips inside the red zone. The defense opened the second half by denying ECU at the one-yard line with the first of four, fourth-down stops. Daniels moved the Owls out of the shadow of their own goalposts after the goal-line stand to flip the field and one possession later, marched Rice 53 yards in seven plays to a score. True freshman QB Chase Jenkins scored on a four-yard run to push the margin to 17-9, but ECU answered with a 17-play, 80-yard march to finally reach the end zone. The Pirates then converted the two-point conversion to tie the game with 8:24 remaining. Daniels swiftly retook the lead for Rice, moving the Owls 75 yards in four plays. He was 3-3 for 70 yards, the last 44 to true freshman Landon Ransom-Goelz, who along with Jenkins was among four freshmen who entered Rice last January. That left it to the Owls' defense to fend off the Pirates' final threats. Co-captain Josh Pearcy dropped ECU's Chase Sowell two yards short of the line to gain on fourth down with 3:32 left. Daveon Hook broke up an Alex Finn fourth-down pass with 2:17 remaining and Chike Anigbogu sacked Finn on fourth down with 24 seconds left to seal the victory.

Up Next: Rice steps back out of conference for the final time in the 2023 regular season when they host UConn next Saturday at 4 p.m. at Rice Stadium.
NOTES

All three touchdowns for Rice were scored by freshman (redshirt freshman Rawson MacNeill and true freshmen Chase Jenkins and Landon Rawson-Goelz).
Rice improved to 3-2 on the year and 1-1 in the American Athletic Conference.
This was the fifth meeting between Rice and East Carolina and the first since 2010.
Rice is 3-2 in the series and 3-0 at home.
The 17 points allowed tied the fewest allowed in the series.
It is also the fewest points allowed in a conference home game since allowing 14 to North Texas on Nov. 23, 2019.
Rice moves to 2-2 in conference home debuts. It also won its home debut in the WAC, a 35-17 victory on Oct. 19, 1996.
The Owls held ECU to just 2-of-6 on fourth down, improving their mark to 5-of-14 on the year.

Individual

OL Miguel Cedeno made his first career start.
QB JT Daniels' two TD passes gives him 13 touchdowns on the year and 58 in his career.
His 13 touchdown passes move him into 10^th-place in a season in school history.
WR Rawson MacNeill caught four passes for 51 yards and a touchdown.
WR Landon Ransom-Goelz had two catches for 54 yards and his first career touchdown reception.
TE Boden Groen set career-highs with five catches for 49 yards.
S Marcus Williams led all players with a career-high nine tackles.
DE Coleman Coco had a season-high eight tackles.
LB Chris Conti had seven tackles and recorded his first career interception in the first quarter.
S Gabriel Taylor recorded his first career sack in the second quarter.

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