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Rice 38, Western Michigan 14

Rice gets its first bowl win since '54, first 10-win season since '49; Owls win going away after jumping out to 38-0 lead; Reliant Stadium a sea of blue; Chase, JD go out with a flourish

THOR SOARS -- Rice's James Casey made his share of improbable catches against Western Michigan, much to the frustration of his opponents, such as the guy who's flat on his back, grasping at thin air (Mark Anderson photo)

NOT A CHANCE -- As Brian Raines comes in low, Chance Talbert leaps high to force hurry on WMU quarterback's throw, which went incomplete on fourth down try:  Owl's ball! (PTH photo)

HOUSTON (Dec. 31) -- When Rice quarterback Chase Clement slashed 26 yards downfield and across the goal for Rice’s first Texas Bowl score, a resounding cheer – the likes of which have not been heard in years – welled up among the blue-clad Owl fans filling the home two-thirds of Reliant Stadium.

It was a joyful noise that echoed through labyrinths of time. It harkened back to Rice’s win over Texas in 1994; it wafted its way through years and years of football misfortune and misery. In an instant, it traversed the decades and descended upon a teeming Rice Stadium, deep in the past, some time in the early days of its existence, where it melded with the noise of a packed crowd of 72,000 onlookers – seemingly the whole city of Houston, there to cheer on its champion Owl team over a vaunted foe.

Those were the Glory Days of Rice football, and with Chase’s first touchdown, and with the 31 consecutive points that the Owls put on the scoreboard after the first seven, time itself warped back to such times, and in so doing, relegated five decades of Rice football irrelevancy to the dust bin of history.

It’s well-documented elsewhere that the Owls’ 38-14 romp in the park over Western Michigan gave the Institute Boys their first bowl win since 1954, and the resulting 10-3 record comprised the most wins for a Rice team since 1949. Being able to shovel dirt in the face of long-extant bugaboos is gratifying.

But the overriding sense that arose from this magnificent cap to a magical season was that, these, too, are once again Rice’s Glory Days; that no longer shall old grads hang their heads in shame or disgust over Rice gridiron fortunes; that no more shall Rice be considered everyone’s favorite Homecoming opponent; that Rice football is alive, and thriving, and vibrant – something that the Rice community, and the greater Houston populace, may support with pride.

Lugubrious thoughts, and turgid prose, perhaps. But in fact, nothing is too elaborate in the attempt to explain what this crop of Rice seniors, what Chase Clement, and Jarett Dillard, and James Casey, and Brian Raines, and all the rest, did to effectuate the Restoration of Rice’s football fortunes.

In such a sense, this game, played before 58,880 onlookers -- the fourth-largest crowd in Houston bowl game history and the second-largest in Texas Bowl history -- was no different from the six straight Rice victories that came in the weeks preceding it.

DB's concerns about rustiness turned out to be of no consequence

STEADY AS SHE GOES --  C. J. Ugokwe carried 17 times for 54 hard-fought yards against WMU  (PTH photo)

But Rice head coach David Bailiff said afterwards he wasn’t sure but that the four-plus weeks between VC (Victory over Coogs) Day and the Texas Bowl might have had its deleterious effects.

"I was really worried going into it that we would not have the stamina after 31 days off, especially the offensive line– and that our timing would be somewhat off," he said. "But once we started the game, I thought we were very efficient. We made some mistakes that were really more on the coaching staff. Those delay of games, those were on us, those weren't on Chase . Once we got that going again, you know, I thought we really did a nice job of communicating from the sideline to Chase."

"Defensively, by far that's the best this defense has played in my time here. That's great that they did it in a bowl game. It was a good time to really I thought we were physical, chased the football well. You know, most of those yards were late when we had already substituted. And just proud of that defense and proud of that defensive staff. Offensively, Chase, Dillard and James, they just continue to amaze. Even after 31 days off, they are amazing how they can still work together."

And work together they did, from the opening kickoff. Rice’s first two offensive plays accounted for 23 yards, nine of them coming on a quick out from Clement to Casey, and the other 14 on a trap down the middle by CJ Ugokwe. But when the Owls faced first and 10 at the Western Michigan 44, a trick play gone awry appeared to derail the Owls’ first offensive effort. It was the halfback pass by former high school quarterback Jeremy Goodson, but the play was well defended. A subsequent Clement keeper and a quick out to Toren Dixon failed to produce first down yardage, and Rice had to punt out on its first possession of the game.

Western Michigan immediately began to chip away at the Rice defense. On second and 10 from the Owl 38, WMU wideout Juan Nunez slipped behind his coverage, but saw Tim Heller’s pass fall through his outstretched fingers as he twisted his torso to make the catch. Two plays later, WMU’s freshman placekicker John Potter badly missed a 51 yard field goal attempt, and the Owls got the ball back at their own 34 yard line.

After the Flock picked up an initial first down when James Casey ran for 3 yards out of the Thor package, a false start penalty set them back to first and 15. Next play, however, Chase Clement scrambled for 13 yards to the Western Michigan 47. C. J. Ugokwe ran for six to pick up a first down, and then on first and 10, Western Michigan defender Louis Delmas was flagged for a personal foul; the infraction was ruled as "hitting a defenseless receiver." Delmas, in fact, played well and cleanly, and drew congratulations from numerous Owl players after the game.

The foul put the Owls at the Western Michigan 26 yard line, and on the first play, Chase spotted a hole in the defensive alignment, audibled, streaked downfield, and slashed across the goal 26 yards later. Thus, the aforementioned big roar, and the Owls led, 7-0.

Casey and Dillard get untracked, and Owls pile on the points

CAN THIS BE PATENTED? --  Jarett Dillard leaps high to haul in pass and get his foot down inbounds; you can see where the first-down marker is (PTH photo)

Western Michigan went three and out on its next possession, and that set up the Owls for their next scoring drive. Starting from their 35, Rice got it going when Chase hit James Casey 29 yards downfield for a spectacular catch in double coverage. Next play, Chase hit Jarett Dillard on the out route for 16 more, and that put the Owls within field-goal range.

On third down, the fade pattern to JD in the end zone fell just incomplete, however, and Rice had to settle for a 30 yard field goal from Clark Fangmeier, to make it 13-0, Owls with seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Once again, the Broncos went three and out, in no small part thanks to a solid stop of running back Brandon West for a one-yard gain by Todd Mohr.

After the ensuing punt, Rice had to start from its own 22, thanks to a holding penalty on the runback. But that didn’t seem to matter, as the Owls quickly moved downfield, chewing up first downs as they went.

A personal foul call and a pass interference infraction aided the Rice cause on this drive – both were blatant, by the way. Even so, the Owls faced third and goal from the Bronco six after an atypical delay of game penalty on the Rice offense. Chase spotted Toren Dixon briefly open in the end zone, however, and threaded the needle to him for another six, which put the Owls up 17-0 midway in the second quarter.

The Broncos managed but  a single first down on their next possession, and   when quarterback Tim Hiller tried to push the envelope on third and 15, Andrew Sendejo made a spectacular interception of his deep  pattern at the Rice 41.

The Owls were pushed back to their 26 on the play, though, when Sendejo was hit with a personal foul penalty.  Apparently Andrew’s infraction involved blowing a kiss to the crowd after making the interception.

From that point, the Owls slowly inched downfield, mixing the pass and run. Key plays on this drive were an 11 yard scramble by Chase on third and seven, and a pass to Jeramy Goodson coming out of the backfield for eight yards and a first down at the WMU 45.

From there, on third and ten, Chase dropped back and fired deep in the general direction of the goal posts. Both James Casey and Jarett Dillard were in the vicinity where the ball was coming down – speculation at the time was that the ball was intended for Jarett, and after the game, Chase confirmed it. But Thor was there too, and he got to the ball first, hauling it in right in front of JD and slashing into the end zone for a 45 yard touchdown reception.

On the interview dais after the game, Thor got in some good natured ribbing of his teammates. "I think it was intended for Jarett– Chase said -- but I saw it and I went and got it and I took it away from Jarett," Casey dead-panned. "But, he's had plenty so I'm sure he doesn't mind."

That made it 24-0 with just under three minutes to go in the half. WMU, desperately trying to avoid going into the halftime locker room with a goose egg on the scoreboard, started with good field position from their 40 when Rice’s kickoff went out of bounds just before it made it to the end zone. Western Michigan advanced as far as the Rice 34, fighting the clock, until Chris Jones picked off Hiller’s desperation pass on third and ten from that point.

Chris appeared to have nothing but real estate in front of him when he made the pick, but went down on his knees to make the interception. As a consequence, Western Michigan escaped with "only"a 24-0 deficit at halftime – and that, with the chance to come out and get back in the game with a long touchdown drive on the first series of the third quarter.

Broncos took second half kickoff, promptly fizzled

Instead, however, the Broncos to the second half kickoff and meekly went thre--and-out, as Chance Talbert nailed Brandon West for scant yardage on first down, and then Hiller misfired on two pass attempts in the general direction of Jose Nunez in the attempt to pick up first down yardage.

After the Owls scored on four straight possessions in the first half, the ensuing Rice drive faltered for the first time since their opening possession. Punting away on fourth and seven from the Rice 49, Kyle Martens hit a beautiful spiral that angled down 47 yards to the WMU four yard line, where Spencer Julian, for some reason, decided to try and field it and go for the runback. He got nowhere, as he was nailed by Chris Jones at the Bronco five yard line.

First play, Brandon West  picked up 12 yards on the trap play out to the WMU 17, but the Bronco drive went no further, as Chance Talbert nailed West after a short gain on a pass reception coming out of the backfield, and then Travis Bradshaw downed West again, off tackle.

On the ensuing punt, the Owls took over at their 36, and, this time, for really the only time in the second half, they opened the throttle. The Broncos left Toren Dixon in single coverage, and Chase kept exploiting that, hitting him on three straight plays for gains of 7, 6 and 20 yards to the Western Michigan 31.

After the game, Jarett Dillard spoke out in praise of Toren’s effort. "I know the key to today's game was a guy not sitting up here offensively– it was Toren Dixon," JD said. "He played a phenomenal game, probably his best game I've seen him play as he played beside me. His key fourth down catches and his key third-down converters are what really kept this offense going. James (Casey) played a good game and I played a good game, but Toren Dixon was probably the receiver that was the X factor that they didn't account for that stepped up to the plate."

An offside penalty on the WMU defense gave the Owls short yardage for the first at the 26, where Chase hit Toren Dixon once again for six yards to the Bronco 19. On first and 10, Chase scrambled for 6 yards more. Then came the coup de grace.

First, Chase threw an overhand lateral to Jarett Dillard, and then circled around the right flat. Heading the opposite direction, suddenly JD pulled up, reared and aimed a perfect strike back to his quarterback, who hauled in the ball completely in the clear at the Western Michigan 10 yard line, whereupon he just trotted across the goal. Frankly, it was a thing of beauty, and it gave the Owls an insurmountable 3-0 lead with 6:33 left in the third quarter.

"It was awesome," Chase Clement recounted afterwards. " You usually don't get two chances at that. He (JD) kind of screwed up the first one, and you usually don't get two opportunities at that. But it was fun to catch one from him. He was over there saying how he should be playing quarterback and remembering his days back at Sam Houston."

Once again, the demoralized Broncos went nowhere on their ensuing possession, thanks to stout defense by Chris Jones, Chris Ptaszek, Terrance Garmon and Chris Jammer, all of whom had big-hit tackles. On the ensuing punt, the Owls gained possession at their own 32, but it was time to turn conservative, here in the waning moments of the third quarter with a 31-0 lead.

With seconds remaining in the third, Western Michigan got good field position when Spencer Julian returned a Kyle Martens punt 17 yards to the Rice 44. From there, E. J. Biggers connected on a halfback pass to Louis Delmas for 20 yards to the Rice 24. Three more rushes got the Broncos as far as the Owl 16, but on fourth and one, Hiler attempted to get the first down through the air on a sideline route to his receiver Ledbetter, but it was deftly broken up by Andrew Sendejo, and the Owls had held.

'Secondary' Owl receivers wreaked their own bit of havoc

This time, Chase began to dinkthe ball downfield to his secondary receivers, clearly intending to keep the clock running as much as possible. In the event, Toren Dixon and Corben Smiter combined for multiple receptions that helped advance the ball as far as the Western Michigan 18.

There on third and six, Chase went after his old reliable, hitting Jarett Dillard on the fade route, wherein JD hauled in the ball in his usual inimitable fashion, feet barely inbounds, acrobatically, for an 18 yard touchdown reception, which will go down in history as the 59^th and last touchdown pass ever thrown by Chase Clement to Jarett Dillard – the most prolific pass and catch duo in college football history.

At that point, the Owls held a 38-0 lead with just under 10 minutes to go in the game. It was time to take the foot off the pedal and get some fresh players into the game. Coach Bailiff and his staff did just that, and the strategy allowed Western Michigan to pick up a couple of late scores to make the final a bit more respectable 38-14. It was easy to see on the sideline, however, that Owl coaches had mixed emotions about that approach. Clearly, being of the old-school nature, they were not going to keep up the offensive pressure, and they were going to begin to play their backups, with a 38-0 lead. However, the prospect of a shutout in a bowl game was extremely tantalizing.

Western Michigan did score after Hiller hit Simmons for 41 yards to the Rice 11. From there, however, it took the Broncos six plays, plus benefit of a dubious pass interference penalty, to manage the push the ball to push the ball across. On fourth and goal from the two, Hiller managed to find his receiver Kirk Elsworth in the corner of the end zone, and that broke the shutout with 6:30 left in the game.

Western Michigan did pick up one more score with only seconds remaining in the contest, after a 33 yard completion from Hiller to Nunez set them up at the Rice 13 with inside a minute left. Spencer Julian picked up make the last 13 yards on an out pattern in the end zone with 25 seconds left on the clock.

By that time, Rice head coach David Bailiff had long since gotten his gator aide bath.

Cubit philosophical; Owls beaming from ear to ear

WMU head coach Bill Cubit, who’d just been given a five-year contract extension before the game, was philsophical afterwards. "I hope the post-game food is good," he quipped. "They're really good. I think after the first series I felt pretty good and unfortunately we just mis-judged the ball. Then they got on a roll."

"I think the (QB Chase) Clement kid, they got exactly what they need. Clement, (TE James) Casey and (WR Jarett) Dillard are all really good players. We had some chances. We just didn't capitalize on offense. Then we get behind the eight ball and then all of the sudden they just come after you and just overpower us."

Contrasted from the somber mood presented by the WMU interview crew, Coach Bailiff and the Owl interviewees – Chase Clement, James Casey, Brian Raines, Andrew Sendejo and Jarett Dillard – were gleeful; nary a head was hung because of the end of the reign of some of Rice’s greatest football heroes. Not a tear was shed.

Chase Clement was somewhat introspective – but always with a big grin on his face. "Coming in with the way that Rice was and looking at the way that we're leaving it's amazing how much this place has changed," he noted. " Hopefully that can be the standard now for Rice Football. Coming in and being 3-8, then 1-10 and just the way that the program was, it's been fun to see the transformation and go out the way we did. You can't write that any better."

Senior defensive leader Brian Raines, who just might be as popular a player as ever donned the blue and gray – the word ‘beloved’ is not misapplied when describing the regard of Brian by his teammates, fellow students, and fans – was equally philosphical, while sporting even a wider grin.

"Rice is a different place," he said. "We have to do things a little different at Rice, but this program, from where it started when I first got here, from going 1-11 to 10 wins, being 10-3 now, it's an unbelievable feeling."

We’ll let the Most Popular Owl of All sum up this game, and close out our reports on Rice’s 13-game march back to Glory Days.

"To be a part of history, I can't tell you how happy we are," Braines told reporters plus a few gatehred bigwigs. "You see the guys running around, all the smiles on their faces. We came out here, we worked hard all the time for the bowl prep and came out here and got it done. It just means so much to us. We talked about just being 1-0, not worrying about the 10 wins, but we came out tonight, we're 1-0 and now we can talk about having 10 wins and winning the Texas Bowl."

"To go out with ten wins, to be here at Rice and do something that hasn't been done in decades here is unbelievable," Brian went on, beaming from stem to stern. "We have so many emotions running through us right now, we're happy, we're sad, we want to cry, it's indescribable. We're unbelievably excited."

--PTH

Lagniappe -- TEXAS BOWL GAME NOTES

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