Football breaks losing streak with 34-24 victory over SMU Mustangs

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by John Fredland

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The defense is unable to hold the lead, and the Owls end up failing to win a game that they appeared to have won.

Last Saturday against Southern Methodist University, the defense surrendered a pair of touchdowns to let the Mustangs back into the game. A turnover allowed SMU to take the lead, and the Owl offense appeared to be going nowhere midway through the fourth quarter.

Rice broke from this pattern in dramatic fashion.

Quarterback Chad Nelson hit tight end Adryall Askew with a 53-yard touchdown pass with 8:47 to play.

The surprise scoring strike put the Owls in the lead while the defense proceeded to corral the Mustangs the rest of the way, allowing Rice to secure a 34-24 win.

The Owls (2-5-1 overall, 1-3 in the Southwest Conference) were relieved to record a win after so many near misses.

"It's a great reward for all of our guys, who have been fighting so well but falling short," Head Coach Ken Hatfield said.

Askew's reception was only the second of his four-year career at Rice. The completion was one of only five in the game for the Owls, who ran the ball 75 times -- one short of the school record -- for 326 yards.

Askew caught the ball near the 40-yard line, picked up a block from running back Yoncy Edmonds and crossed the goal line to give Rice a 28-24 lead.

"Both Adryall and Yoncy are seniors, and that's encouraging when you have two seniors making a play like that," Hatfield said.

The Owl defense, which had allowed the Mustangs to keep the game close with several big passing plays, stopped SMU on their next two possessions.

Rice capitalized with two Mike Ruff field goals, which sealed its seventh-straight victory against SMU.

"It wasn't so much SMU beating the crap out of us early, it was just that they hit some big passes for scores," defensive lineman Brynton Goynes said. "We knew our offense was doing a good job and that the defense needed to step and make some plays."

Big passing plays -- a 64-yard touchdown pass off a halfback option from Kelsey Adams to James Whitmore and a 46-yard completion from quarterback Derek Canine to Vaughn Dickerson -- allowed SMU to keep close.

"We did what we wanted to -- stop their running game," Hatfield said. "But they had more success passing than I thought they'd have." Nelson, starting in place of the injured Josh LaRocca, gained 120 yards on 30 carries.

Fullback Jamey Whitlock picked up 71 yards on 15 carries, and halfback Michael Perry added 60 yards on 12 carries.

Whitlock noted a key to the team's success was the blocking.

"A lot of people took pride today in their blocking, and that's why we moved the ball," he said. "Anyone can move the ball behind good blocking."

Staying almost exclusively on the ground, Rice drove for three touchdowns in the first half.

Spencer George's one-yard run with 6:50 to play in the half gave the Owls a 21-10 advantage.

Canine's bomb to Dickerson on SMU's next drive set up an eight-yard scoring pass from Canine to Moore that cut the gap to 21-17.

After the Mustangs recovered Nelson's fumble at the Owl 27 on Rice's first possession of the second half, Canine hit Whitmore with a 24-yard touchdown pass for a 24-21 SMU lead.

The Owl offense then stagnated, until Nelson and Askew preformed their fourth-quarter heroics.

Rice is off until Thursday, when they host Texas A&M University at 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

The Aggies, who were predicted by some to win the national championship, have struggled. They have lost to the University of Colorado and Texas Tech University.

"We would like to win, especially on national television against a team that had been picked to be number one," Hatfield said.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the November 3, 1995 issue.

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