Rice Destroys Houston and Finishes 9-3

[50's PONY]

For the first time since 2004, Rice has the Bayou Bucket.

Riding the arm of quarterback Chase Clement and the playmaking ability of tight end James Casey, the Owls dominated Houston in a 56-42 win before a crowd of 35,534 today at Rice Stadium.

Rice (9-3, 7-1 Conference USA) won its sixth consecutive game, snapped a three-game losing streak to the Cougars and moved into a tie with Tulsa (10-2, 7-1) for first place in the C-USA West Division. Tulsa held on to defeat Marshall 38-35 earlier in the day and will advance to next week’s C-USA championship game because of its 63-28 win over Rice on Oct. 4.

Still, Rice has to like recording its first nine-win season since 1953.

The Cougars (7-5, 6-2), who beat Tulsa on Nov. 15, needed only to beat Rice to advance to its second C-USA title game in three seasons.

Thanks largely to Clement and Casey, the Cougars never had a chance.

Clement threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for a score. Casey caught 12 passes for 172 yards and three touchdowns, ran for a touchdown and threw for a score. Saturday marked the second time this season that Casey had thrown, rushed for and caught a touchdown in one game.

Cougars quarterback Case Keenum threw for 483 yards and five touchdowns. Wideout L.J. Castile had three touchdown receptions, but the Cougrs couldn’t stop the Owls from marching over their defense.

Rice took a 35-21 lead into the locker room at halftime and came out firing at the start of the second half.

Clement threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Casey to put the Owls ahead 42-21 with 11:34 left in the third quarter. Keenum found Castile on a 22-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 42-28, but Rice would put the game away soon after that.

Clement hit Toren Dixon for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Owls a 49-28 lead with 5:39 remaining in the third quarter.

Keenum quickly moved the Cougars in a position to cut the deficit to 14, marching them to the Rice 9-yard line in three plays, including a 43-yard pass to Kierrie Johnson. The Owls however, kept the Cougars out of the end zone on four consecutive plays, forcing a turnover on downs.

The Owls took over at their 4, and Clement led them on a smooth, nine-play, 96-yard drive that ended with Casey’s 3-yard touchdown to Taylor Wardlow that put Rice ahead 56-28 at the start of the fourth quarter.

That was all fans needed to see as most of them began filing out of the stadium.

The Owls gave the fans a fireworks show for the ages in the first half.

Clement threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another in the first half to help the Owls take a 35-21 lead into the locker room.

The teams battled to a 14-14 tie at the start of the second quarter before Rice started to pull away with 21 unanswered points.

Clement took advantage of a breakdown in the Cougars’ secondary to hit Wardlow for a 53-yard touchdown pass with 13:41 left in the first half.

The Cougars tried to respond, but Keenum was intercepted by Owls linebacker Brian Raines, who returned the pick 24 yards to give Rice a first-and-10 at the Houston 11-yard line.

Three plays later, Clement found Casey in the back of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown that put the Owls ahead 28-14.

Keenum put the Cougars in position to pull within seven by moving them to the Rice 23 in just three plays on the ensuing drive. Keenum, however, was sacked, and the Cougars failed to pick up a first down on the next two plays. The drive stalled when Jordan Mannisto missed a 41-yard field goal attempt.

Clement took swift advantage, orchestrating a 10-play, 76-yard drive that was capped with a 23-yard pass to Casey that gave the Owls a 21-point lead with 5:26 left before halftime.

The Cougars, however, cut the deficit to 14 on Keenum’s 3-yard touchdown toss to Johnson with just over a minute before halftime.

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[LakeHighlandsPony]

Bailiff should be Coach Of The Year and June should give his salary to this guy.

[Hoop Fan]

way to go Rice. We are now looking up at you as our example. tcu is out of sight.

[MrMustang1965]

Bailiff should be Coach Of The Year.

Former coach at Div. 1-AA Texas State University. Unbelievable.

[Charleston Pony]

let's just hope Rice & Houston can both win bowl games...CUSA needs to compete with someone outside of our own conference.

[J.T.supporta]

So who gets to host the cusa championship

[Stallion]

Tulsa

[bagice]

So who gets to host the cusa championship

Rice is considered C-USA west Co-Champs with Tulsa, Tulsa gets to go to the championship game because of the head to head tie breaker.

Great season for Rice, they tore through a mediocre to poor C-USA schedule and ended conference play at 7-1. C-USA was really down this year, and it was there for the taking....too bad we had our worst team since the death penalty.

Grats to Rice and good luck to them in their bowl game.

[FordtoTolbert]

How much jack is Rice paying him?

[Stallion]

I think about $400,000

[FordtoTolbert]

...sounds like a hell of a deal...

[Peruna88]

$400,000 / 9 wins = $44,444.44 per win.

$2,000,000 / 1 win = . . .

[Tipoff96]

Rice will probably lock Bailiff up ASAP with a pay increase/contract extension. You all know how quickly coaches run through C-USA - stepping stone conference for a bigger, better paying job. I understand JJ's comments about the rebuilding process taking time. Didn't take Rice long. 9-3 this year; 3-9 last year. Why can't that be SMU for a change??

[J.T.supporta]

So who gets to host the cusa championship

Rice is considered C-USA west Co-Champs with Tulsa, Tulsa gets to go to the championship game because of the head to head tie breaker.

Great season for Rice, they tore through a mediocre to poor C-USA schedule and ended conference play at 7-1. C-USA was really down this year, and it was there for the taking....too bad we had our worst team since the death penalty.

Grats to Rice and good luck to them in their bowl game.

thats right, thanks for reminding me. i heard all week if Rice wins they play for the championship but i now remember that TU had to lose

[beamout2000]

Bailiff should be Coach Of The Year.

Former coach at Div. 1-AA Texas State University. Unbelievable.

Sorry Mr. Mustang. I said before you guys played Rice that Bailiff would surprise a lot of people. He did. Not sure how they set up for next season however losing some major pieces on their offense but Bailiff is a good coach. I wish we could have kept him.