Football wins sixth straight, becomes bowl eligible
The Rice University football team (6-3, 4-1 C-USA) defeated the University of Texas, San Antonio on Saturday 17-7 in front of a homecoming crowd of 19,464, giving the Owls their sixth straight victory and granting them bowl eligibility.
Junior quarterback Driphus Jackson scored the first and only touchdown of the first quarter on the first offensive drive of the game, scoring on a nine yard touchdown run, Jackson’s first rushing score of the season. The Owls added a field goal from senior James Farrimond early in the second half, giving Rice a 10-0 lead. With just seven seconds left in the first half, UTSA was on the two-yard line with one timeout remaining. The Rice defense stopped UTSA on the goal line as time expired, giving Rice the 10-0 lead entering halftime.
The second half continued the low scoring output of the first half until Jackson found redshirt senior wide receiver Mario Hull in the back of the endzone, bringing the score to 17-0 Rice with only a few minutes remaining in the third quarter. Although UTSA scored a touchdown with 9:36 left in the game, Rice held on for the 17-7 victory.
Jackson led the team offensively, completing 18 of 28 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown and one interception. Jackson also recorded 48 yards rushing and one touchdown on the ground. The junior has now completed 130 of 222 passes on the year, recording 1861 yards passing and 15 touchdowns with four interceptions.
Sophomore running back Jowan Davis rushed for over 100 yards for the third time this season, rushing for 121 yards on 25 carries. Davis now has 748 yards rushing on the season, good for sixth in Conference USA. Senior wide receiver Jordan Taylor caught nine passes for 92 yards in the game, and now has 530 yards receiving on the year despite missing the first four games due to injury.
The win marks Rice’s sixth straight victory this season and its tenth consecutive homecoming victory. With the win, Rice is now bowl eligible for the third consecutive season, a school record. The Owls have now also won the most games in a three-year span in school history, winning 23 since the start of the 2012 campaign.
Rice will next face undefeated Marshall University (9-0, 5-0 C-USA), who is currently the Associated Press No. 21 ranked team in the nation. Marshall owns sole possession of first place in the Conference USA East Division and will look to earn their tenth victory of the season against the Owls. Marshall’s nationally second-ranked scoring offense is led by junior running back Devon Johnson, who has recorded 1203 yards on 137 attempts, giving him the nation’s fourth-best 8.8 yards per carry average.
Marshall’s offense is also headed by senior quarterback Rakeem Cato, who has 2316 yards passing and 22 touchdowns on the year. Marshall has the seventh-ranked rushing offense in the country at 295 yards per game, the second-ranked scoring offense at 47.8 points per game and the sixth-ranked scoring defense, surrendering just 16.6 points per game to opponents.
Rice’s game against Marshall will kick off at 1:30 p.m. in Huntington, West Virginia and will be broadcasted nationally on Fox Sports Network.
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