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Rice 56, SMU 27

Turn out the lights... The party is most assuredly over for the Ponies as SMU head coach June Junes and one of his players grimly watch as Andrew Sendejo streaks down the sideline for a 56-yard TD interception return (MA photo)

HOUSTON (Aug. 29) -- The oft-maligned Rice defense rose to new heights here Saturday night, fairly blowing a befuddled SMU Mustang team out of Rice Stadium, turning one of two recovered fumbles and three interceptions into touchdowns as the Owls cruised to a 56-27 win over the Ponies.

Chase Clement led the Rice offense to 30 first downs and 466 total offense on the evening, but that latter figure was deceptive, because, after the defense scored two TDs and set up two more chip-shot scores in the third quarter, it was "game over," and the offense went into shut-down mode the rest of the game.

What was downright shocking over the previous 30 minutes of football was the way in which the Owls achieved such a lopsided victory margin. They did so by way of a little old 56-7 run that the Flock staged after spotting the Mustangs a 13-0 first quarter lead.

"I'm so proud of this football team because of the way we started," a happy but quiet Rice head coach David Bailiff said afterwards. "Instead of pushing the panic button, we shifted gears."

Rice senior field marshall Chase Clement concurred. "We didn't panic," he said. "We just came back to the sidelines, took a deep breath and said, 'Let's just go out and run our offense.'"

On the night, Chase was 24-of-37 for 258 yards passing, adding 87 yards rushing on 13 carries. On the receiving end, Jarett Dillard caught seven passes for 89 yards, including scores from 21, 9 and 8 yards out. James Casey, Patrick Randolph and Corbin Smiter all caught a touchdown pass from Chase, as the Owls won their first season-opening conference game since beating the Houston Cougars in 2001.

Wow, has it been that long?

Home team did the running and shooting

Thor does his usual routine, dragging several Ponies with him en route to first-down yardage (MA photo)

Wait a minute -- we thought it was new SMU coach June Jones' run-and-shoot offense that was supposed to be putting up such gaudy numbers.   Instead, the inaugural edition of Two Million Dollar Man Productions came out onto the steamy Rice Stadium turf tentative, poorly conditioned, and just generally playing like they wanted their mommies to come take them away from those mean ol' South Main bullies.

Or at least that's the way they looked after all but the last minute of the first quarter.

In fact, it took the Owls about a quarter of the game to get to where they could rub the sleep out of their eyes.

For it was the Owls who initially came out flat, bobbling away an ill-advised punt return after holding the Ponies on their initial possession. That set up SMU at the Rice 26 a couple minutes deep into the game. And as is so often the case, in instances of such opportunistic turnovers, the Mustangs scored on their very next play from scrimmage, frosh QB Bo Levi Mitchell hitting Aldrich Robinson on a 26-yard crossing pattern for the first score of the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Owls cranked up and got as far as the SMU 41 yard line before stalling out. Then came a brief comedy of errors that had gray-haired Owls in the stands wheezing for a brief moment.

Rice lined up  in punting formation, but an SMU lineman jumped offsides. The additional five yards of real estate gained persuaded Rice offensive coaches to trot out the field-goal team, but immediately, the Owls, perhaps dealing with their unfamiliarity with the new 40-second clock, suffered a delay penalty themselves.

So from the 36, back out it came to the SMU 41, and, never mind -- send back out the punting team. Out came freshman punter Kyle Martens once again, who promptly punted the ball 39 yards to the SMU two yard line.

Backed up to his own goal line, June Jones decided to have his QB heave three long downfield passes, all of which were defended quite well, thank you, by the Rice secondary. An ensuing 55- yard Tad Morstead punt set the Owls back to their own 43, however.

From there, the Rice offense cranked up once more, getting a key nine-yard rush from freshman Shane Turner on second and two at midfield. But after Chase was caught in the backfield for a six-yard loss, starting at the SMU 23, Clark Fangmeier and narrowly missed his field-goal attempt from 46 yards out, and the Owls frustratingly still had not dented the scoreboard.

SMU promptly came back and stuffed the ball right down the Owls’ throats, traveling 71 yards in seven plays, the last 19 of which came on an inside screen from Mitchell to Bradley Haynes, who ran in untouched from 19 yards out. It didn't seem all that consequential at the time, but Morstead's PAT attempt failed when it hit the right upright.  Still, the Ponies had themselves a two-touchdown lead and appeared to be on fire.

At that point, more than a few Owl fans in the stands could have been thinking they might be witnessing a reprise of last year's opening-game debacle loss to Nicholls State, but the guys on the field were having none of that.

The turning point – a little Distributive Education

Corbin Smiter comes up with key reception along the sideline to ignite Owl scoring drive (MA photo)

On the ensuing drive, Chase Clement came out and promptly distributed passes to four different receivers, to-wit:  James Casey, Toren Dixon, Corbin Smiter and Jarett Dillard. Those catches moved the ball smartly down the field, and on first and goal from the SMU seven, Chase faked right and threw left to a wide open Thor, who trotted in for Rice's first score of the young season.

That produced something of a sigh of relief in the west stands, on the theory that a 13-and-seven deficit at the end of the first quarter was nothing insurmountable. But once again, the veteran Owlie Birds had some more quick tricks up their sleeves.

After picking up an initial first down, the SMU frosh quarterback was harassed in the pocket by Rice's Scott Solomon, who plowed into him just as he attempted to switch the ball from one hand to the other. Scott grabbed the resulting fumble and the Owls were in business at the SMU 35 with scant seconds to go in the first quarter.

Chase Clement went for the kill immediately. Sending Patrick Randolph on a post pattern, Chase checked off at the line of scrimmage, faked the throw to JD, and then laid in a perfect strike to the speedy sophomore receiver, who'd streaked into the middle of the end zone and sandwiched himself between two defenders.

So within a span of 52 seconds, the son of well-liked former Rice defensive coach Paul Randolph had himself his first career touchdown, and the Owls had turned a 13-0 deficit to a 14-13 lead.

Having acquired such sudden advantage, opening the second quarter, the Rice defense came out as aggressively and animated as one might recall in recent memory. Particularly noteworthy was a huge hit that Cameron Thompson put on SMU's DeMyron Martin for a pass reception which wound up losing four yards, turning a second-and-10 into third-and-14.

Rice got good field position at its own 42 on the following possession, and the Feathered Flock methodically moved the ball 58 yards in 11 plays to tack on another score, Chase hitting Jarett Dillard on a fade pattern in the end zone from 21 yards out.

Still, it looked like a ball game, especially when SMU's J. Henderson managed to get the ensuing kickoff return 37 yards out to near midfield. But after yielding an initial first down, from there, an aroused Rice defense rose to the occasion once more.

The hero of the moment was Cheta Ozougwu, who sacked Bo Levi for a 12-yard loss on third and five from the Rice 31. From the 43, Morstead -- he of the booming leg -- couldn't help but punt the ball into the end zone, and all that did was give the Owls the opportunity to stage their first full-blown textbook drive of the night.

The Pony defenders came on strong, but on second and 10 from the 20, Chase rolled to the home sideline, and just before he was forced out of bounds, managed to tomahawk a pass downfield to Corbin Smiter, who made the catch and deftly stayed inbounds for a 23-yard gain.

Then from midfield, Chase scrambled twice in a row, the first time for 25 yards, and the second time for 11 more. However, on second down at the Pony 10, the wheels almost came off. When Pat Randolph was overwhelmed by two would-be tacklers on a quick-out, he was stripped of the ball by SMU's Brian McCann, who had an excellent game defensively for the Mustangs. But Patrick alertly managed to grab back possession of the football, and the Owls still had life.

It was third and seven at the SMU 12, when Chase found Corbin Smiter once again -- this time wide open at the two. He laid the ball into the lanky receiver's breadbasket and Corbin at last had his first touchdown of his Rice career.

That made it 28-13, Rice, and it seemed as if, suddenly, the relative humidity had dropped down to a much more comfortable level. At least that was so on the home sideline, but for the visitors, the Houston steam heat had to have proven suddenly even more unbearable.

Rice threatened one more time before the half, and looked as if they would extend the two touchdown lead even further, as Chase scrambled for a 29 yard gain or to the SMU 7 yard line with the clock ticking down.

However, an Owl blocker who was at least 10 yards out of the play made one of those blocks, which probably wouldn't have been a penalty last year, but under the new rules, apparently was.  The 10 yard infraction sat Rice back to the SMU 17, and that took away the Owls’ momentum, at least for the moment.

As the half ended, Clark Fangmeier pushed a 43 yard field goal attempt wide left. Still, what one quarter before had been a two-touchdown deficit was now a two-touchdown Rice lead, which made for a very relaxing halftime intermission.

Amazing what a simple four-TD turnaround will do for morale

Moreover, the Owls were receiving the kickoff to start the second half, and, hey, SMU hadn't stopped the Rice offensive juggernaut since well before sunset.

In the event, however,  the Rice backup deep man elected to run the kickoff out from two yards deep in the end zone, despite having fielded the ball as he faded toward the end line. A hard hit by SMU's John Inwiisi at the Owl 26 caused a fumble, which was recovered by the Ponies' Tim Crosby.

On second and 10 from the Rice 22, Mitchell tossed an end-zone fade, which appeared to be grabbed by SMU's Emannuel Sanders as he sailed prone just before falling out of bounds. The instant replay, however, apparently showed otherwise, and the play was ruled an incomplete pass.

So it looked that the needless turnover might have wound up costing the Owls perhaps only three points, or even none, instead of seven. But on the next play, Mitchell once again hit his favorite receiver, Aldrich Robinson, on a crossing pattern, wide open at the goal line.

So, one minute deep into the third quarter, the Owls led only 28-20 despite having dramatically outplayed SMU, and despite the lopsided statistical edge favoring the home team.

If you'd taken a survey of the Old Grads at the point, the resulting expectation likely would have been that this game was going to go down to the wire -- with whomever scoring last, coming up the winner.

But it was at that point that the Owls put together that the darndest 12 minutes of football that Institute fans have been privileged to witness in a long, long time.

The Owl offense, in fact, responded with basic, smash-mouth football, primarily staying on the ground for 74 yards in 11 plays, to promptly go back up 35-20. Rice advanced from its own 26 to the SMU nine by way of either running plays for passes to backs coming out of the backfield.

So naturally on first and goal from that point, it was time for Chase to dial Mr. Dillard's number again, and he did so, hitting JD for from 9 yards out for his second TD reception of the night.

That brightened the mood considerably on the right sideline, and the Owl defense came back out in well-animated fashion.

On first down, the rookie SMU quarterback forced the ball 30 yards down the field, but Brandon King, determined to atone for his earlier muffed punt, played center field and made the pickoff at the Rice 45. He lit out the opposite direction, threading through at least half a dozen SMU players, crisscrossing from the home sideline toward the student section, and looked as if he were going to score before he was finally pushed out of bounds just a couple of feet shy of the goal line.

"I was trying hard," a bashful, grinning BK said afterwards. "I should've dove in -- but I'm glad I at least got the team in a position to score."

Yep, that's right, as James Casey promptly bulled over from one yard out, and suddenly it was 42-20, and the Owls were on a roll.

For the Ponies, it was deja vu all over again on the next possession, as, after two incompletions, on third down Mitchell thought he had his receiver, but Andrew Sendejo played the ball perfectly and made the interception on the run at the Rice 44. Andrew quickly picked up a seam and streaked in from 56 yards out, untouched. That made it 49-20, and a lot of fun was being had by all in Blue and Gray.

The Ponies managed in an actual first down on their next possession, but had to punt out when Brandon King nailed Colt Beasley for a loss of a yard after his reception coming out of the backfield. Once again, the SMU punter Morstead got off a boomer, this one traveling 57 yards to the Rice six.

You wanna play field position? Let’s play field position

But that just made the Flock have some fun playing the field position game. Already, with some five minutes left in the third quarter, Rice offensive masterminds decided to take the air out of the ball.  The result:  Four straight James Casey runs yielded up two first downs.

Then again, one of the reasons why the Owls stayed on the ground at that point was that Chase Clement was presently in the Rice dressing room, getting some liquids and salt in him to counteract cramping. The interlude was only momentary, much to South Main's collective relief.

But John Thomas Shepherd came in and calmly moved the team down the field, at least far enough to give Kyle Martens room to punt the ball away inside the SMU 30.

SMU's Mitchell managed a pass completion to Aldrich Robinson, but he was met at the Pony 40 by Max Anyam's massive hit. Robinson coughed up the ball, and it squirted to the turf, where it slithered, tantalizingly, for a split second.

At that point, Andrew Sendejo figured ,what the heck, scooped it up, and immediately made a beeline for the far goal-line pylon. He was stopped eight yards short by SMU's Mitch Enright, but that simply prolonged Peruna's misery, as on the next play, Chase hit Jarett Dillard on a down-and-in pattern, as JD went eleven-foot-five to haul in the touchdown pass beneath the south goal posts.

The third quarter thus ended with the Owls up an amazing 56-20, and, realistically, from that point on, the Owls could have played name-your-score, as about 60 SMU Mustangs on the east sideline felt in desperate need of a cool shower and some air conditioning.

The Ponies tried another QB, but then returned Bo Levi to action. He moved his team sporadically, until Brandon King made yet another pass interception. This one was an act of thievery that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid would've been proud of, as BK appeared to be covering his man soft and safely, but then suddenly looped back upfield to step in front of the SMU receiver and pick his pocket.

The theft happened right in front of the Rice bench, and drew BK some big hoo-raws from his teammates as he joined them on the bench.

From there, the Rice offense milked the 40-second clock to take as much time off the scoreboard as possible, engaging in a ponderous 40-plus-yards drive that finally stalled at the SMU 37.

It was fourth and three at that point, and it would have been easy enough to send in Thor off the bench to dive for the first down yardage, thus keeping the drive alive, and adding insult to the Ponies' multifarious injuries.

But instead, Chase Clement got a chance to try out his quick- kicking skills, as he dropped back two and punted the ball out of bounds at the SMU 12.

The Ponies subsequently did mail in a touchdown drive during garbage time, but that made the 56-27 final score deceptively closer than the game actually turned out to be.

"We're one-and-0," Coach Bailiff summed up. " It was a conference win. One hundred and forty more and we catch up with Jess Neely. Since I've come to Houston I've had four great days and nine really crummy ones. We've got to get some more better days -- just like today."

"We played a full game tonight," said Jarett Dillard, flush with the satisfaction of having pulled in yet three more career touchdown passes. "I think, actually, that this was the first full game that I have been a part of since I've been at Rice."

"We shut them down and finished."

--Paul T. Hlavinka

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