There were other notable individual heroes in this come-from-behind epic, but what was most evident was the resolute, opportunistic team play on both sides of the ball, the defense at the beginning and the end; the offense throughout the second half.

The Chase Clement-led offensive unit received a huge hand up from Mr. Reliable, James Casey, who hauled in 11 passes for 208 yards – a school record – including 120 of them in the pivotal fourth quarter surge which saw the Feathered Flock roll up 29 points in that 15-minute period, also a modern team record.

As the game clock ticked down, Thor, just for instance, hauled in a 47-yard bomb from Chase which moved the ball from the Rice 11 yard line to the Memphis 35, rocking the already beleaguered Tiger defense and setting the table for the Owl field general’s nine-yard dash into the end zone four plays later.

That brought the Owls to within two, 35-33, with 1:15 left. Of course, it necessitated a two-point try which Chase promptly assigned to his quiet Strong Man, flipping the ball to him as he slipped free eight yards deep in the end zone.

It took such an effort from the Mighty Casey to ignite the Owl offense, which sputtered   in the first half, save for an opening-possession drive that resulted in a 24-yard Clark Fangmeier field goal and a 3-0 Rice lead which lasted until mid-way in the second quarter.

Memphis’ defensive strategy involved rushing three and smothering the Rice receiving corps right off the line of scrimmage. The coverage was tighter than Rice head coach David Bailiff’s waist band with his clipboard midriff accessory -- and, oh, by the way, as a filigree, the Bengals were wont to get in a little cheapie whenever arriving late to the scene of the tackle.

The gambit appeared to work well in the first half, as the Owls failed to muster any sustained offense after the first field-goal drive. As the second quarter clock ticked down, Chase Clement could be seen and heard gathering aside the whole Rice offensive eleven away from their coaches and engaging in a bit of, shall we say, excoriation.

"Well, I was just telling them that this was not our game; that this was not the way Rice Owl football is played, and I told them that we weren’t showing a thing of what we were capable of," the Rice signal caller told us afterwards.

Yeah, Doc, but it was the WAY you said it that was bound to so impress anyone within earshot. What was that expression you used again to describe their play? It started with "bull"-something, that much was clear...

The dressing-down session obviously worked wonders, because in the second half, the Owl offense punted but once  en route to rolling up 39 points on the scoreboard.

The Rice defense, in its first four times on the field, forced three puts and a failed field goal attempt before finally showing susceptibility to the big play, as Tiger quarterback Arkelon Hall connected with his favorite wideout, Maurice Jones, for a 45 - yard touchdown pass on a post pattern in which the lanky UM receiver simply outran his coverage.

The resulting Memphis lead was maintained until from 9:54 of the second quarter until Chris Jammer crossed the goal line on his interception return with 11 seconds remaining in the game.

Memphis’ next TD was set up by a shanked punt rendered under a heavy rush – in other words, it was another special-teams breakdown in execution. That put the Bengals in business at the Rice 32. The Owl defense did wind up allowing a subsequent touchdown, but forced Memphis to run nine plays and burn 5:13 on the clock to get to the end zone, then scoring from ten yards out on an Arsenio, pardon, Arkelon Hall pass to Ernest Williams.

With 2:44 left on the first-half clock, Rice immediately roared back as far as the Memphis 35, but at that point the penalty bugaboo set back the Flock, really for the first time in this young season. After Chase’s scramble for 11 yards and a first down was nullified by a holding penalty and followed up by a false start, the Rice offense faced second and very long, whereupon Chase’s downfield pass was intercepted by UM’s Brian Patterson. 

Things began to go from bad to worse, then, when Memphis rapidly began advancing the ball as the clock ticked down. UM Coach Tommy West clearly was bent on administering the coup de grace to a Rice defense that had played aggressively and opportunistically, but at that point simply had been on the field too long.

By the end of the game, the stat sheet said the Owl defenders had given up a grand total of 523 yards, 150 of them on the ground. But that figure doesn’t accurately communicate just how hard the Institute defenders played in this game –at least for the first 20 minutes and the last ten.

But with virtually zero offensive production for the duration of the first half – and now with two starting linebackers, Brian Raines and Vernon James, both on the bench nursing injuries – the Owl defenders finally began to wilt. And the UM coach wanted to take advantage of it.

Thus he eschewed the field goal as the first half clock ticked down. He received a bonus of dubious merit when time was added back onto the clock after a press box official’s review of a play that went out of bounds at the lip of the Rice cup.

After Chase's second quarter pep talk, the Owls came out for third quarter showing a definite change in attitude and determination. Still, it was necessary to find a spark to ignite the offense, and that spark turned out to be James Casey.

The Owls commenced the second half with a couple of nifty scrambles by Chase Clement, sandwiched around a key third-down reception by Jarett Dillard. One the Flock reached goal-to-go, however, Thor basically took over, taking the snap and bulling his way across the goal from seven yards out.

Rice drove the ball 60 yards on its next series, the key play being a 30 yard alley-oop to Thor at the Memphis 23. From there, on third and six from the Memphis 19, Chase hit Toren Dixon in the corner of the end zone. From about 10 feet away, the catch looked good (our field photo men will sign an affidavit to such effect), but the officials ruled that the Rice receiver was not in full possession of the ball as he sailed across the end line.

So Clark Fangmeier came in to nail a 36-yard field goal, and the Owls were within one, 14-13.

But the Owl defense suffered a momentary swoon -- and again, this being with several key defenders on the bench nursing injuries. Just like that, Memphis had sandwiched two quick touchdown drives around a one-play Rice possession that resulted in the only other Owl turnover of the game.

Chase went for broke on first down, but the pass attempt was just enough underthrown for UM defensive back Marcus Grandberry to sky high with Jarett Dillard a jump ball that the taller Memphis defender was able to wrest from the Rice ace receiver. And how often has that happened before? JD was sanguine: "Never," he said.

Still, down 15, the Owl offense resolutely hitched it up and got going. Jarett   hauled in a key, 23-yard reception at the Memphis 35, and another for a first down on third and four at the UM 29.  Thor added a ten-yard reception for another first down, and then Chase dashed in from the eight, to make it 28-20.

But that's when Arkelon responded with  the 39-yarder to Maurice Jones who, as he ran it in, appeared to reflect the attitude that his score was a game-clincher for the home team.

The UM drive covered 69 yards in six plays, so what did the Owls do in response? They rambled 69 yards in five plays to make it a one-score deficit once again.

The big play of the drive was a 41-yard pass from Clement to Casey, which Thor dived to haul in and almost managed to twist his torso inbounds to score, but he was ruled out of bounds at the Memphis five yard line. Never mind, though, as one play later, Chase found JD open in the end zone, and it was 35-27.

With that eight-point lead and just over six minues left on the scoreboard clock, Memphis elected to play it conservatively and try and milk some time off the 40-second clock. And when Arkelon hit a five-yard quick out for the first down at the Memphis 36 with just over four minutes to go, the strategy appeared to be succeeding.

But that's when the Owl defense rose to the occasion once more. Terrance Garmon and Andrew Sendejo combined to stuff two straight plays for scant yardage, and then on third down, Arsenio overthrew Maurice Jones as he faced a heavy rush.

Still, Rice prospects remained gloomy, indeed, when backup quarterback Will Hudgens boomed an Aussie-rules-style punt which bounced and rolled most of its 60-yard path to the Rice 6.