Sept. 29, 2012

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GAME NOTES
• With the 35-14 Conference USA win over Rice, Houston moves to 384-339-15 all-time, 1-3 overall and 1-0 in league play this year. The Cougars now lead the all-time series between the two teams, 28-11, and have won the last two Bayou Bucket meetings. 

• Houston improved to 33-16-1 in conference openers and 12-5 overall in Conference USA openers with the win. The Cougars have also won the last three C-USA openers and six of their last seven. 

• Houston recorded back-to-back wins over Rice (2011-12) for the first time since accomplishing that feat during the 2006-07 seasons. 

• With the win, Houston head coach Tony Levine notched his first regular season victory of his career. 

• Today’s game marked the eighth straight game against Rice where the Cougars have scored at least 31 points, dating back to a 35-18 win at Robertson Stadium on Nov. 26, 2005. Houston is now 6-2 over Rice in those eight games. 

• Attendance for today’s game was 32,718, ranking ninth all-time in the Bayou Bucket series.  

• With Larry McDuffey’s touchdown catch from David Piland at the 9:01 mark in the first quarter, Houston tallied its first lead of 2012 with a 7-0 advantage.

• The 47-yard touchdown run by Charles Sims, the third scoring play of the day for Houston, marked the 10th time this season that the Cougars have had a scoring drive under two minutes. Houston finished with three scoring drives under two minutes in today’s win. 

• Houston’s defense shut out Rice in the first half (Houston up 14-0) for the first time in the last seven games. Last shutout in an opening half came in a win against SMU on Nov. 19, 2011.

• Houston’s defense also held Rice to 120 total yards in the first half, which was the fewest yards allowed in a half this season by the Cougars and the lowest since holding Penn State to 115 yards through two quarters on Jan. 2, 2012 in the TicketCity Bowl. 

• Houston’s defense forced Rice into 10 punts, the most of the season. The previous high this season prior to today’s game was seven against Louisiana Tech on Sept. 8, 2012. 

• Houston improved to 4-0 all-time when running back Charles Sims records 100+ rushing yards. Today, Sims rushed for 158 yards.  

David Piland
• Sophomore quarterback David Piland threw for his sixth career 300+ yard game and second of the year. He finished the day with 361 yards. 

• This was the first win for Piland in his career when throwing for at least 300 yards. He was 0-5 heading into Saturday’s contest.

• Piland recorded his ninth multi-touchdown game of his career. The win over Rice was his second multi-touchdown game of the season. 

Phillip Steward
• Senior Phillip Steward recorded his fourth career forced fumble and third of the season at the 12:29 mark in the first quarter.

• Steward tallied his third sack of the season, a career-best and the seventh of his career to force a Rice punt with under a minute to play in the second quarter. 

• Steward recorded three tackles for loss, a single-game career-best, which totaled 29 total yards. Two of the three tackles were sacks for a loss of 27 yards. His 2012 total comes to 11. His previous eight tackles for loss this season heading into today’s game totaled 27 total yards. The 11 ties his season-best total, which happened the previous two seasons. 

Larry McDuffey
• Freshman Larry McDuffey notched his second touchdown catch of the year for 25 yards to put Houston up 6-0. Of his four receptions made to that point, two have been for touchdowns.  

• McDuffey recorded his first 100+ yard receiving game of his career and fourth by a Houston receiver this season. McDuffey finished with 100 receiving yards. 

Lloyd Allen
• Senior Lloyd Allen recorded his second sack of 2012 early in the second quarter, bringing his career total to 5.5 sacks. 

Daniel Spencer
• Sophomore Daniel Spencer’s 31-yard touchdown catch from David Piland was his fourth of his career and second of the season to put Houston up 13-0. 

Charles Sims
• Junior Charles Sims’s season-long 47-yard touchdown run was his fifth rushing touchdown of the season and 23rd of his career, moving him into a tie for 6th all-time. The touchdown led to a 28-0 Houston advantage in the third quarter. 

• Sims recorded his fourth career 100+ yard rushing game and first of the season. His last 100-yard game came at Tulane on November 10, 2011, where he ran for 207 yards.

• Sims tallied a single-game career-best three rushing touchdowns, surpassing his previous high of two, which came seven times, last against Louisiana Tech on Sept. 8, 2012. 

• Sims also totaled a career-best 24 rushing attempts. His previous high of 21 came in a loss to Louisiana Tech this season. 

Kenneth Farrow
• Redshirt freshman Kenneth Farrow tallied a career-long reception with his 35-yard catch in the third quarter, which eventually led to a Houston touchdown. His previous career-long reception was for 18 yards against Texas State on Sept. 1, 2012. 

• Farrow tallied a career-best four receptions for 61 total yards in today’s game, bringing his total to five.  

Trevon Stewart
• True freshman Trevon Stewart recorded double-digit tackles in back-to-back career-starts. In his first career start at UCLA on Sept. 15, Stewart totaled 16 tackles, while tallying 11 in today’s win. 

• In both of those games, Stewart led Houston in tackles. 

Everett Daniels
• Senior Everett Daniels notched his first career sack with 8:21 left to play in the final quarter. 

Richie Leone
• Junior punter Richie Leone tallied his second 60+ yard punt of the season with his 62-yarder in the second quarter. He went on to finish with two over 50 yards today--a 62-yarder and 59-yarder. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

BY THE NUMBERS
1
With the win, Houston earned its first win of 2012, first regular season win under head coach Tony Levine and improved to 1-0 in Conference USA play this season.

1
Houston defense recorded a shutout in the first half for the first time in seven games. The Cougars led 14-0 at the half over Rice.  

2
True freshman Larry McDuffey recorded his second career touchdown  from a pass by David Piland to put Houston on board first.

3
Houston has now won three straight Conference USA openers and six of its last seven. 

4
Houston improved to 4-0 when Charles Sims records at least 100 rushing yards. 

5
Houston racked up a season-best five sacks, surpassing the previous high of four, which came against Texas State in the season opener. 

8
The first scoring drive of the game was the eighth this season that was under two minutes for Houston. 

10
Houston forced Rice into 10 punts, a season-high, surpassing previous high of seven against Louisiana Tech.

11
Trevon Stewart led Houston in tackles for the second straight game, tallying 11 on Saturday. Stewart made his second career start today with the first coming at UCLA.

47
Charles Sims 47-yard touchdown run was a season-long run and fourth rushing touchdown of the season and 22nd of his career.

100
Larry McDuffey recorded his first career 100-yard receiving game with exactly 100 yards on the game. 

120
Houston’s defense held Rice to 120 total yards in the first half, which was the lowest this season and fewest since holding Penn State to 115 yards on Jan. 2, 2012. 

158
Charles Sims recorded his fourth 100+ yard rushing game of his career and first this season with 158 total rushing yards.

361
David Piland threw for 361 yards for his sixth career 300+ yard game.

32,718
Today’s neutral game attendance totaled 32,718 at Reliant Stadium. The total ranks ninth all-time in the Bayou Bucket series.     

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