Schedule

Rankings

Ranking Movement

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Harris	Not released				NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
BCS	Not released							NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

SMU

The game kicked off Rice's 97th season of football. Rice began down 13-0, but two scores, both Chase Clement

Chase Clement

Chase Austin Clement is a professional American football quarterback for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League. He played college football for Rice.-College career:...

 touchdown passes, within 52-seconds put the Owls up by one point to close the first quarter. Clement threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter as well, to Jarett Dillard

Jarett Dillard

Jarett Juma Porter Dillard is an American football wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football for Rice. He is also the cousin of Rutherford's LeRon Dillard.-College career:...

 (21 yards) and Corbin Smiter (12 yards), to take a 28-13 lead into halftime. After a Mustang touchdown pass, Rice exploded for four scores, two Clement passes, a James Casey

James Casey

James Byron Casey is an American football tight end for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Texans in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Rice.-Baseball career:Casey was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the seventh round of...

 run, and an interception returned 55 yards for a score by Andrew Sendejo

Andrew Sendejo

Andrew Victor Sendejo is an American football safety for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was signed by the Sacramento Mountain Lions as a street free agent in 2010...

. Logan Turner would throw a touchdown for SMU with 2:10 remaining in the contest.

Clement's six touchdown passes and Dillard's three receiving TDs both tied career highs in Rice's highest offensive output in a season opener in their history.

Memphis

The Owls were behind the Tigers by fifteen, 35-20, with 8:33 to play. The comeback began when James Casey snared a 41-yard pass from Chase Clement, setting up a 5-yard hook up with Jarett Dillard on the ensuing play, cutting the Memphis lead to 35-27 with 6:22 remaining. Rice began their comeback. After a quick stop, the Owls were looking to score again, taking over at their own six. Clement would sprint in from the nine four plays later. Casey would haul in the two-point conversion

Two-point conversion

In American and Canadian football, a two-point conversion is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point convert immediately after it scores a touchdown...

 that knotted the game at 35-35.

Memphis would drive to the Rice 38, until the third-and-one slant was intercepted by Chris Jammer, who broke a tackle and scored with eleven seconds left giving Rice the 42-35 win.

Dillard became the all-time leader in total points and touchdowns during the game, with Clement passing Tommy Kramer on the Rice all-time passing list. James Casey set career highs with 11 receptions and 208 yards, which passed David Houser for the Owl's single-game receiving yardage record.

Vanderbilt

The Vanderbilt game marked the first time the Owls traveled to Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 to play the Commodores, although the two programs had met three times before.

Texas

Rice began the game with a Clark Fangmeier field goal

Field goal (football)

A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...

, but it would be all Texas after that. Colt McCoy

Colt McCoy

Daniel "Colt" McCoy is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Browns in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft...

 would run in a score before tossing two touchdowns to Jordan Shipley

Jordan Shipley

Jordan Shipley is an American football player who currently plays wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League . He was drafted by Cincinnati in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft...

. Texas also added a field goal to their lead, making it 24-3. The lone Owls touchdown came in the third quarter, a Clement to Dillard hook up of fifteen yards. McCoy would strike again, with a 46-yard completion to Chris Ogbonnaya

Chris Ogbonnaya

Chris Ogbonnaya is an American football running back for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft...

 for a score. Back-up Longhorn signal-caller John Chiles added a rushing touchdown, as did Cody Johnson, to put the final at 52-10.

Colt McCoy

Colt McCoy

Daniel "Colt" McCoy is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Browns in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft...

 of Texas threw four touchdown passes, and led the Longhorns in rushing, as Texas rolled over Rice. McCoy also took the all-time passing touchdown record at Texas. Andrew Sendejo recorded 13+ tackles for the third consecutive game. His 17 stops against the Longhorns also fell one short of a career mark. Jarett Dillard had 158 yards receiving to lead the Owls. Clement also had his second career punt

Punt (football)

In some codes of football, a punt is a play in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it touches the ground. A punt is in contrast to a drop kick, in which the ball touches the ground before being kicked....

 downed inside the twenty.

North Texas

Rice set a record for most points by a Rice team since 1916, when the Owls defeated SMU 146-3. Quarterback Chase Clement and receiver Jarett Dillard combined to set a record, becoming the most productive duo in NCAA history, eclipsing Tim Rattay

Tim Rattay

Timothy F. Rattay [] is a former professional American football quarterback who played in the National Football League and United Football League. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL Draft...

 and Troy Edwards

Troy Edwards

Troy Edwards , is a professional American football player who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1st round of the 1999 NFL Draft. A wide receiver from Louisiana Tech University, Edwards led the nation in receiving during his senior year in college with 140 receptions for 1,996 yards and...

 at Louisiana Tech

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football program represents Louisiana Tech University in Western Athletic Conference. The team currently competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Since the Bulldogs first season in 1901, Louisiana Tech has compiled an all-time record of 554 wins, 422...

. Rice took advantage of North Texas mistakes, recovering three muffed punts, picking off three passes (two returned for touchdowns), and blocking a pair of kicks.

Rice opened the scoring with a 50-yard pass from Chase Clement to Toren Dixon. The Mean Green

North Texas Mean Green

North Texas Mean Green is the team name used for both men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that play for the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas....

 responded with a 71-yard drive capped with a one yard score by Cam Montgomery, but the extra point

Extra Point

Extra Point is a twice-daily, two-minute segment on ESPN Radio that covers generic sports-related topical news and opinion. The AM edition airs Monday through Saturday at various times between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET, and the PM edition airs Monday through Friday between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET...

 was blocked. Clement came back with a touchdown pass to Jarett Dillard, giving the Owls a 14-6 lead. Rice would score another touchdown before the close of the first quarter, a 25-yard scamper by Clement. Cam Montgomery again scored in the first period for North Texas.
Rice's Jeramy Goodson threw a touchdown pass to Dillard, and North Texas replied with a Giovanni Vizza passing touchdown to push the score to 28-20. Chase Clement then added a rushing touchdown, followed by a Marcus Knox rushing score to give the Owls a 22 point lead. Dillard and Clement hooked up for two scores within four minutes, giving the Owls a 56-20 lead and the two players a place in history.

After halftime, Clement would hit Patrick Randolph for a six-yard touchdown, and two North Texas interceptions would be returned for touchdowns by Rice, first by Arnaud Gascon-Nadon, then by Christopher Douglas. Neither team would score in the fourth quarter, leaving the Owls a 77-20 victory. Clark Fangmeier set a school record by converting eleven extra points in the contest.

Tulsa

Southern Miss

Tulane

UTEP

Army, Homecoming

Marshall

Houston

Western Michigan, Texas Bowl

See also

• 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season
  2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season
  The 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on August 28, 2008, progressing through the regular season and bowl season, and concluded with the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in Miami Gardens, Florida on January 8, 2009, where the #2...
  
  
• Rice Owls
  Rice Owls
  The Rice University athletic teams are known as the Rice Owls. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest.Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics and is part of Conference USA. Rice was a member of the Southwest Conference until its breakup in 1996. Rice then joined the Western Athletic...
  
  
• Rice Owls football
  Rice Owls football
  The Rice Owls football team represents Rice University in NCAA Division I college football. The Owls have competed in Conference USA's Western Division since 2005. Rice Stadium, built in 1950, hosts the Owls' home football games.-Venue:...
  
  
• Conference USA
  Conference USA
  Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...