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Fort Worth, Texas • Freshman quarterback Driphus Jackson threw for 264 yards in relief of Rice's hurt starter, including two touchdown passes to Jordan Taylor, and the Owls beat Air Force 33-14 in the Armed Forces Bowl on Saturday.
Jackson's first series after taking over for Taylor McHargue ended with a bad pitch for a fumble near the goal line only 2 seconds before halftime, when the Owls (7-6) trailed 14-7.
But Jackson made up for it after halftime, when Rice scored 26 unanswered points. Taylor caught nine passes for 153 yards, with a 16-yard TD from McHargue in the first quarter.
McHargue never returned because of an apparent head injury after a helmet-to-helmet collision with about five minutes left in the first half.
Air Force (6-7), which scored on consecutive drives in the second quarter with backup quarterback Kale Pearson in the game, was held to a season-low 214 yards.
On Rice's opening drive of the second half, Jackson had consecutive completions of 25 and 22 yards before a 2-yard keeper and then a 22-yard TD to Taylor.
The Owls went ahead to stay when Jackson had six consecutive completions for 75 yards to set up Charles Ross' 2-yard touchdown run on the second play of the fourth quarter for a 21-14 advantage. —
Rice 33, Air Force 14
Rice 7 0 7 19 — 33
Air Force 0 14 0 0 — 14
First Quarter
Rice • Taylor 16 pass from McHargue (Boswell kick), 4:05.
Second Quarter
AFA • Pearson 9 run (Herrington kick), 6:14.
AFA • Cobb 1 run (Herrington kick), 2:36.
Third Quarter
Rice • Taylor 22 pass from D.Jackson (Boswell kick), 9:30.
Fourth Quarter
Rice • Ross 2 run (Boswell kick), 14:25.
Rice • FG Boswell 24, 11:18.
Rice • FG Boswell 25, 4:31.
Rice • Taylor 34 pass from D.Jackson (kick blocked), 1:38.
Attendance • 40,754.
Rice AFA
First downs 24 12
Rushes-yards 54-208 48-166
Passing 295 48
Comp-Att-Int 21-29-0 3-12-1
Return Yards 13 0
Punts-Avg. 2-36.5 7-33.1
Fumbles-Lost 5-3 2-2
Penalties-yards 5-35 5-45
Time of Possession 37:52 22:08
Individual Statistics
Rushing • Rice, Petersen 9-81, Ross 16-57, McHargue 10-39, D.Jackson 13-32, Turner 1-3, Eddington 1-1, Parks 1-1, Team 3-(minus 6). Air Force, MacArthur 9-48, Cobb 13-39, Getz 7-35, Dietz 6-11, Pearson 6-11, DeWitt 2-10, Strickland 1-5, Baska 1-3, LaCoste 1-3, Lee 1-2, Team 1-(minus 1).
Passing • Rice, D.Jackson 15-21-0-264, McHargue 6-8-0-31. Air Force, Pearson 2-8-1-44, Dietz 1-3-0-4, Strickland 0-1-0-0.
Receiving • Rice, Taylor 9-153, McGuffie 5-80, Petersen 3-11, Moore 2-22, McDonald 1-25, Ross 1-4. Air Force, Strickland 1-29, Coleman 1-15, Hendricks 1-4.