Football defeats archrival Houston to capture coveted Bayou Bucket
Meghan Hall
Issue date: 12/5/08 Section: Sports
Their sixth win tallied an official attendance of 35,534, the most at Rice Stadium in eight years, and was the tenth Rice victory in 32 games of the Bayou Bucket series.
The Rice offense fired all day long, and the Owls' 56 points were the most ever in a matchup against Houston. This was largely due to more heroic efforts from Clement, who threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns; he also ran for one more. However, happy fans also had to thank sophomore tight end James Casey, who was responsible for his own share of the scoring.
Casey rushed for Rice's the first touchdown of the game and then threw a touchdown pass to junior tight end Taylor Wardrow for the final score. Casey - who finished with 172 receiving yards, three throwing yards and 10 rushing yards - also caught three of Clement's touchdown passes.
"I am very thankful to have [Dillard] on the other side of me all the time," Casey said. "I probably couldn't do much if [Dillard] wasn't over there drawing so much coverage. Everything I do is because of him and how good of a player he is."
Casey had 12 receptions, enough for him to break the single-season C-USA record with 104. He was also named C-USA Offensive Player of the Week.
"Chase Clement, Jarett Dillard and James Casey - talk about guys just continuing to make plays when we need them," head coach David Bailiff said. "And the other teams know they're coming. They just keep making [plays], and just keep playing harder. The amazing thing, too, offensively and defensively, is that we get better each week. We're into week 12 and our football team continues to improve."
The scoring went back and forth at the beginning of this high-octane affair, which saw Houston finish with 634 total yards of offense and Rice with 591. The Owls began to pull away with a three-touchdown second quarter and took a 35-21 advantage into halftime. Rice let up slightly after building the rest of a convincing lead, scoring its last touchdown in the first four seconds of the fourth quarter before Houston came back to score two more touchdowns and close the final gap to seven points.
The Rice offense fired all day long, and the Owls' 56 points were the most ever in a matchup against Houston. This was largely due to more heroic efforts from Clement, who threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns; he also ran for one more. However, happy fans also had to thank sophomore tight end James Casey, who was responsible for his own share of the scoring.
Casey rushed for Rice's the first touchdown of the game and then threw a touchdown pass to junior tight end Taylor Wardrow for the final score. Casey - who finished with 172 receiving yards, three throwing yards and 10 rushing yards - also caught three of Clement's touchdown passes.
"I am very thankful to have [Dillard] on the other side of me all the time," Casey said. "I probably couldn't do much if [Dillard] wasn't over there drawing so much coverage. Everything I do is because of him and how good of a player he is."
Casey had 12 receptions, enough for him to break the single-season C-USA record with 104. He was also named C-USA Offensive Player of the Week.
"Chase Clement, Jarett Dillard and James Casey - talk about guys just continuing to make plays when we need them," head coach David Bailiff said. "And the other teams know they're coming. They just keep making [plays], and just keep playing harder. The amazing thing, too, offensively and defensively, is that we get better each week. We're into week 12 and our football team continues to improve."
The scoring went back and forth at the beginning of this high-octane affair, which saw Houston finish with 634 total yards of offense and Rice with 591. The Owls began to pull away with a three-touchdown second quarter and took a 35-21 advantage into halftime. Rice let up slightly after building the rest of a convincing lead, scoring its last touchdown in the first four seconds of the fourth quarter before Houston came back to score two more touchdowns and close the final gap to seven points.
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