Rice at UH

[ExScoop]

Rice leading 10-7 in the first quarter

[ExScoop]

Rice 17-7 still first quarter

[Old Tiger]

Is the 4-9" RB playing for Rice?

[SHSBulldog00]

Rice 17-7 still first quarter

This is a shock to me Houston only 7 points.

[ExScoop]

UH up 24-20, 2nd qtr-This is going to be a high scoring game

[ExScoop]

UH up 31-20, still 2nd qtr

[ExScoop]

UH up 38-20, Halftime
Cougars score 31 unaswerd points

[ExScoop]

UH up 59-27, 3rd Qtr

[ExScoop]

Cougars win 73-34, Keenan 9 TD passes almost 600 passing yards I bet almost 15,00 total yards between the two teams

[ExScoop]

From Houston Chronicle

First came the rain for the Rice Owls. Then came the drought.

Any momentum was short-lived Thursday night as No. 18 Houston rallied from a first-quarter deficit to pummel the Owls 73-34 at Robertson Stadium.

After allowing a 100-yard return by Tyron Carrier on the opening kickoff, the Owls scored 17 straight points and benefited from three UH turnovers in a driving rainstorm.

The rain soon ended. So did the Owls' chances.

Houston quarterback Case Keenum carved up the Owls' defense with surgical precision, throwing for nine touchdowns on the Cougars' next 11 drives. By the time the Owls scored again midway through the third quarter, UH led 52-20 and was on its way to tying the record for most points in the 38-game history of the Bayou Bucket.

"The rain slowed down," Rice linebacker Justin Allen said. "I wish it would have rained all game. It stopped and they got things cranked up and it was no looking back for them."

With their quarterback plans kept secret all week, the Owls came out in a wildcat formation - featuring running backs Turner Petersen and Tyler Smith - that kept UH off-balance in the first quarter.

Reluctant to commit to the wildcat for long stretches this season as opposing defenses focused on stopping it, the Owls went almost exclusively out of the formation in the first quarter. The reason?

"They kept their safeties high and corners out," Rice coach David Bailiff said.

Rice showed the ability to throw out of the formation with Petersen completing an 8-yard pass, but the inability to pass the ball - they had six completions between quarterbacks Taylor McHargue and Nick Fanuzzi the rest of the game - hurt the Owls.

For the game, Rice rushed for a season-high 359 yards, with Smith (170) and Petersen (140) setting career-highs.

In the decisive second quarter, the Cougars had three touchdowns, a field goal and 254 yards of total offense. Rice had 55 yards, was held to a field goal and had three three-plays-and-out possessions and another to end the first half.

"Once they got rolling it was kind of hard to stop," Allen said. "They seemed to get the long ball all night. It was something we couldn't get corrected."

Bailiff said the Owls got four-man pressure on Keenum in the first quarter.

"We just couldn't maintain it," he said.

Smith provided the Owls' only second-half highlights with a pair of long touchdowns – a 67-yard catch and 97-yard run that set a school and Conference USA record.

By then, the UH flood had wiped out any chance at the upset.