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November 17, 2006 > Sports > Football wins fourth straight game

Football wins fourth straight game

Team can move closer to bowl bid with homecoming game

By Nathan Bledsoe | Thresher Editorial Staff

The football team kept its bowl game aspirations alive by extending its winning streak to four games with a 41-38 double-overtime victory over defending Conference USA champions Tulsa Saturday. Sophomore receiver Jarett Dillard caught a 25-yard game-winning touchdown pass, his second of the year. Tomorrow at 2 p.m. is the team’s homecoming showdown with East Carolina University.

If Rice (5-5, 4-2 C-USA) is able to win both of its last two games — the other a home game against Southern Methodist University (5-5, 3-3) Nov. 25 — they will almost certainly earn one of C-USA’s five bowl berths. The Owls have not made a bowl game since the 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl, when they lost 33-7 to the Kansas Jayhawks.

Before aiming for the postseason, however, Rice must first defeat East Carolina (6-4, 5-2), which needs to wwin one of its final two conference games to secure its Eastern division title.

“It’s going to be a really hard game because [ECU has] a lot of momentum going with them,” Dillard said. “They’re playing for a [chance to go to the conference] championship game … and a bowl game. They have a lot to lose and so do we.”

East Carolina’s success this season is largely due to their defense, a unit that has only surrendered an average of 21.2 points per game this season — third in C-USA. The Pirates have forced 23 turnovers this season to give them a plus-four turnover margin. The Owls, on the other hand, lead the conference with a turnover margin of plus-eleven, tied for fifth in the nation, but they also give up an average of nearly 35 points a game.

Offensively, East Carolina’s success has come primarily through the passing game, behind senior quarterback James Pinkney’s 2,355 passing yards and 8 touchdowns. Aundre Allison leads the Pirate receivers with 6.25 receptions and 71.6 yards per game, good enough for fourth in the conference in both categories.

In recent weeks, the Rice defense has given up a lot of yardage but has forced timely turnovers and held opponents in the red zone. This season, the Pirates have only converted half of their red zone trips into touchdowns — something that Rice must exploit to win on Saturday.

Redshirt senior linebacker Marcus Rucker — who recorded career highs of 13 tackles and 2 sacks against Tulsa — said the Owls are not taking ECU lightly.

“This week, it’s not going to be anything easy — ECU’s a great team,” he said. “We’ve been watching film on them, [and we] know that we have go into this game and prepare the same way we do every week, if not even harder.”

Offensively, Rice must continue to demonstrate the balance that has made them so difficult to defend during their winning streak. Offensive coordinator Major Applewhite’s unit has taken advantage of mismatches all over the field, and has been helped by steady play from the offensive line. Had sophomore quarterback Chase Clement not missed three games early in the season, his 282.9 yards per game of total offense would rank seventh nationally. To qualify for national rankings, a player must play in 75 percent of his team’s games.

Rice played opportunistic football in their victory over Tulsa — the defense forced four turnovers to offset the 568 yards of total offense it surrendered. The offensive trio of Dillard, Clement and senior running back Quinton Smith again paced the Owls offensively. Dillard caught 8 passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns, bringing his NCAA-leading total to 16 receiving touchdowns on the season. The scores — two of which were in overtime — extended his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown reception to 12. This streak is the longest in the nation and tied for the third longest in NCAA history.

Clement blazed the Tulsa defense — ranked second in the conference — for 209 yards and 3 scores in the air, and added another 69 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Smith amassed 60 yards on 12 carries.

Dillard’s touchdowns came on receptions of 65, 11 and 25 yards, with the last sealing the double-overtime victory. After surrendering a touchdown to the Golden Hurricane in the first overtime, the defense was able to hold Tulsa to a field goal in the second overtime, setting up Dillard’s game winner.

“They went in there and scored, and we immediately knew we’d have to go back out there [on defense],” Rucker said. “We went over to the sideline for about 30 seconds and said, ‘hey guys, let’s get it going. We know our offense is going to score. If we hold these guys to a field goal, this game is over.’”

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