Owls Race Past Tigers, 69-7

Calendar

Football

vs North Texas

Nov 22

6:30 p.m.

Rice Stadium

Football

at South Florida

Nov 29

TBA

Tampa, FL

The Lede: Dean Connors ran for 113 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries to lead Rice to a 69-6 win over Texas Southern at Rice Stadium on Saturday night.

The Details: Owls (1-1) wasted little time in taking control of the game, scoring on their first two drives of the night and scored on nine of 11 possessions, and added a defensive touchdown as well on their way to the second-largest margin of victory and third-most points in school history. Connors opened the scoring with a five-yard run on the opening drive of the game and added a second scoring dash of five yards near the end of the second quarter. He dashed 71 yards for his third score in the first play of the third quarter to push the lead to 45-0 and call it a night. The 71-yard score was the longest rushing touchdown of his career and pushed him over the 100-yard mark for the third time in his career. Quarterback E.J. Warner followed Connor's first TD run with a pair of scoring passes, a four-yard connection with Braylen Walker on the Owls' second possession of the night, and then a 34-yard catch and run by Matt Sykes, who found the end zone for the first time as an Owl. The defense got into the act 49 seconds later as Tyson Flowers picked off his first career pass and weaved his way 34 yards to his first career touchdown. Enock Gota followed with the first of his two field goals, the first of his career, to end the first half and followed with a 44-yarder after Connors long-distance jaunt. Freshman Taji Atkins the took over the ball-carrying duties from Connor and scored the first two touchdowns of his career and finished with 91 yards on 11 carries. Coleman Bennett close the scoring for the Owls with a 22-yard run before Texas Southern ended the Owls' bid for their first home shutout since 1995 when they moved 75 yards over the last 6:35 to score with 14 seconds remaining. Rice rolled up 533 yards, the most in a game since they piled up 620 vs. TSU in 2021 while holding the Tigers to 87, six shy of the school record of 81 against Southwestern in 1946.
Up Next: Rice and Houston will face off for the 46^th time in history and the 43^rd for the Bayou Bucket next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at TDECU Stadium.

The Notes:
Team
• Rice's 69 points are the third most in school history and the most since scoring 77 against North Texas on Sept. 27, 2008.
• Rice's 38 first-half points are the most since scoring 42 against Texas Southern on Sept. 16, 2023.
• The 62-point margin of victory was the second largest in school history and largest since a 146-3 win over SMU on Nov. 17, 1916.
• The 11 tackles for loss are the most since also having 11 versus FIU on Sept. 23, 2017.
• With four sacks, Rice has 11 sacks through two games, the most since recording 14 in the opener two weeks of the 2004 season.
• OL Chad Lindberg made his first career start.
• LS Colby Connell, QB Drew Devillier, TE James Falk, S LaVonte Johnson, LB Cooper King, OL Luke Needham, and LB Chali Taylor saw their first career action.

Individual
• Connors' 113 yards moved him past 1,000 in his career (1,064) while his three touchdowns improved his career total to 11.
• His 71-yard run was Rice's longest since Juma Otoviano had an 80-yarder against Old Dominion on Nov. 24, 2018.
• Sykes' 34-yard scoring play was a career-long and first touchdown catch since 2022 against Colorado, while playing for UCLA.
• Walker tied a career-high with four receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown.
• Warner's two touchdown passes increased his career total to 44.
• Flowers' pick-six was the Owls' first interception return for a touchdown since Gabriel Taylor against McNeese State on Sept. 10, 2022.
• Gota converted all eight of his PATs to match the second-most in a game by an Owl, and he added his first two field goals to score a career-best 14 points.
• With two punt returns, Sean Fresch now has 42 in his career, passing Bruce Henley (1971-73) and LaDouphyous McCalla (1994-98) for sixth in school history.
• Blaise Tita and Chibby Nwajuaku tied for the team lead with five tackles each and Tita led the Owls with a career-best 1.5 sacks.

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E.J. Warner

Drew Devillier

Players Mentioned

Taji Atkins

Coleman Bennett

Colby Connell

Dean Connors

Drew Devillier

James Falk

Tyson Flowers

Sean Fresch

Enock Gota

LaVonte Johnson

Cooper King

Chad Lindberg

Luke Needham

Chibby Nwajuaku

Juma Otoviano

Matt Sykes

Gabriel Taylor

Chali Taylor

Blaise Tita

Braylen Walker

E.J. Warner

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