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Rice runs over Boise State
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Houston, Texas – The Rice Owls rushed for a school record 430 yards en route to a 45-14 win over Boise State at Rice Stadium in Houston in front of 14,630 fans Saturday night.
Rice (4-1 overall, 2-1 WAC) jumped to a 28-0 lead in the first half before Boise State (2-3, 1-1) could get on the board late in the second quarter. The Broncos finally found the end zone when Ryan Dinwiddie found David Mikell on a 20-yard screen pass for a touchdown. The Broncos trailed 28-7 at the half.
Rice didn’t waste anytime building on the lead. The Owls drove 63 yards on their first possession of the second half before settling for a 31-yard Brandon Skeen field goal and a 31-8 lead.
After a penalty pinned Boise State deep in their own territory on the ensuing kickoff, disaster struck for the Broncos. Junior tailback Brock Forsey fumbled a pitch from Dinwiddie and the Owls recovered it on the Broncos 3-yard line. Two plays later, Robbie Beck all but wrapped up the game with a one-yard touchdown run giving the Owls a commanding 38-7 lead.
Rice would build the lead to 45-7 on a six-yard Clint Hatfield touchdown run before Boise State finished the scoring when freshman Donny Heck scored his first career touchdown on an eight-yard run.
“They throttled us,” Boise State coach Dan Hawkins said. “They really got after us in every phase of the game. We turned the ball over which didn’t help ourselves; we didn’t score on the goal line, which didn’t help ourselves. We just couldn’t stop them, they really got after us on offense.”
The turning point may have come early in the game when Boise State failed to score on four plays from inside the Rice three-yard line.
With Rice leading 7-0 following a Leroy Bradley one-yard touchdown run, the Owls stuffed Forsey on three consecutive run attempts up the middle. Then on fourth down, Dinwiddie couldn’t connect with tight end Jeb Putzier and the Owls took over on their own three-yard line.
Things went from bad to worse for Boise State. The Owls took the ball and marched 97 yards in 17 plays for a touchdown. Sean White capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to put Rice up 14-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, Rice recovered a Forsey fumble on the Bronco 26-yard line. The Owls didn’t waste any time scoring. Quarterback Kyle Herm scored his first of two touchdowns two plays later on a 14-yard run to put Rice up 21-0. Herm gave the Bronco defense fits all night rushing 21 times for 125 yards.
In all, three Owls quarterbacks (Herm, Greg Henderson, Joe Moore) racked up 234 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 36 carries.
Following the first Herm touchdown, Boise State shot itself in the foot again. On the first play of the next possession, Dinwiddie threw an interception giving the ball back to Rice on the Owls 48-yard line. Once again, the Owls took advantage marching 52 yards on nine plays taking a 28-0 lead on a three-yard touchdown by Herm.
Herm highlighted an Owl rushing attack that not only set a school record for yards and carries with 82, but also set a Boise State record for most rushing attempts by an opponent. The 430 yards were the second most ever by a Bronco opponent, only trailing Idaho’s 440 rushing yards in 1975.
Dinwiddie put together the second 300-yard passing night of his career. The Bronco sophomore completed 19-of-30 passes for 342 yards and a touchdown. Lou Fanucchi and Brock Forsey each went over the 100-yard mark in receiving, with Fanucchi catching six passes for 131 yards and Forsey grabbing five for 101 yards.
On the ground, the Broncos could only muster 36 yards on 21 carries. Forsey led the Boise State with 26 yards on 11 carries.
Injury report: Bronco defensive tackle Tony Altieri left the game in the second half on a stretcher. Initial reports said the injury was a sprained neck and Altieri was scheduled to remain in Houston overnight.
Bronco Sports Information