Football's Furious Comeback Falls Short at Rice

Saturday, October 24

Houston, Texas

12 PM ET

Army West Point

2-6

Rice

4-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Army West Point

RICE

Football's Furious Comeback Falls Short at Rice

October 24, 2015 | Football

Box Score

HOUSTON – Aaron Kemper and A.J. Schurr each eclipsed 100 yards rushing, but it wasn't enough as the Army West Point football team's comeback fell short in a 38-31 Rice victory on Saturday afternoon at Rice Stadium.

Army (2-6) ran for 378 yards in the loss with Kemper leading the way with 129 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Schurr finished with a rushing and passing touchdown and ran for 117 yards on a team-high 23 carries. Jeremy Timpf led the way on the defensive side with 10 tackles and a tackle for loss. John Voit ended up a sack and a force fumble as well.

Rice (4-3) saw Darik Dillard run for 89 yards and a touchdown, while Driphus Jackson threw for 267 yards on 20-of-30 and two touchdowns. Temi Alaka was the leading receiver for the Owls with 98 yards, while Zach Wright and Nate German catch touchdown passes.

After a nice return on the opening kickoff out to the Rice 42, the Owls quickly took a 7-0 lead in four plays. The drive was capped by a 34-yard touchdown run to the left by Darik Dillard.

A turnover on Army's first offensive snap gave the ball back to Rice at the Black Knights' 23. Jackson threw a deep slant to Zach Wright, who was tackled at the one-yard line, before Stewart's touchdown plunge made it 14-0 with 13:38 to play in the first quarter.

The Black Knights got the ball back and moved into Rice territory with runs of 14 yards by Jordan Asberry, nine by Schurr and a 10-yard pickup by Kemper. A personal-foul penalty on the Owls extended the drive and gave Army a fresh set of downs at the Rice 26. From there, the drive stalled and Army lined up to attempt a 44-yard field goal, but tried a fake that was stopped short of a first down when Kelvin White was tackled after taking a shovel pass from Schurr.

The two sides exchanged punts and then Army's defense forced a three-and-out. Jamie Farrimond's punt pinned Army back at its own three-yard line. On second down, Schurr broke a couple tackles and rumbled 71-yards to the Rice 26 on the final play of the first quarter. The run set a new career-long for the Army quarterback and led to Army's first score of the game. The 97-yard drive was punctuated when Schurr hit DeAndre Bell on a play-action pass across the middle. Bell caught the ball inside the 10 and broke two tackles before scoring his first-career touchdown.

After the Army score, each team punted once before Rice took over at its own 42-yard line midway through the second quarter. A first-down run of 19 yards by Austin Walter moved the Owls across midfield and three plays later Walter took a third-and-four carry 19 yards to the Army 14. On the next play, Jackson threw to Wright for a gain of 11 to set up first-and-goal. On third down, Luke Turner found the end zone from two yards out and the extra point made it 21-7 with less than four minutes to go in the half.

Army wasted no time issuing a counter punch. A huge hole on a handoff to Kemper up the middle led to a 69-yard scamper to give the Black Knights a first-and-goal from the Rice six-yard line. Schurr's keeper on the next play helped the Black Knights close the gap to one score following Daniel Grochowski's successful kick.

The scoring didn't stop there, as Rice's Hayden Tobola put through a 25-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. The Owls took a 24-14 advantage into the break.

The rain intensified at the start of the second half as Army received the opening kickoff. The Black Knights moved out toward midfield, but Schurr was stopped in the backfield on a fourth-and-short situation.

Army's defense wouldn't let the Owls take advantage of the field position, as it forced a three-and-out. The Owls got the ball back after Alex Tardieu's punt and started at its own 38 with 6:14 showing on the third-quarter clock. Stewart was bottled up and fighting for extra yardage when Jordan Smith stripped him in the backfield and John Voit came out of the pile with the ball at the Rice 39.

Three straight Kemper carries set up fourth-and-one and an offsides call on Schurr's sneak attempt gave the Black Knights a fresh set of downs. A second-down pitch to Trainor off the left side went 23 yards and pulled Army within three at 24-21.

Army called a surprise onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and Spencer Sheff recovered the loose ball that Grochowski kicked straight ahead. The Black Knights were unable to capitalize on the recovery and punted the ball back to Rice.

Jackson's pass to Wright on third-and-10 moved the chains and then again he went to his favorite target for 19 yards on third-and-long. That play moved Rice into Army territory early in the fourth quarter. Another third-down conversion kept the drive alive when Jackson passed to Nate German over the middle for a gain of 11. Three plays later, the Owls finished the drive when Jackson hit German in the end zone to push the lead back to 10 at 31-21.

Trailing by 10 with a little more than 10 minutes to play, Army was able to get out near its own 40 with a gain of nine by Giachinta. Schurr picked up five on first down, but the Rice defense ultimately forced a punt that rolled out of bounds at the Rice 11.

The Black Knights forced a critical three-and-out and got the ball back at midfield. A pitch to Asberry off the right side collected 19 yards, and then Schurr gained eight off the right side before Kemper broke through the line with a 24-yard touchdown burst up the middle. Grochowski's extra point cut the deficit to 31-28 with six minutes to go.

Army'S defense came up with another huge fumble on a quarterback sack of Jackson with Voit firing around the end and swatting it out of the hand of Jackson. Aukerman had the recovery and Daniel Growchowki kicked a 19-yard field goal to tie the game at 31-31.

The Owls answered with a gamewinning 75-yard drive with Jackson finding Wright on a floating 13-yard pass for the go ahead touchdown with 46 seconds remaining in the game. Kelvin White tried to bring the Black Knights back with the 2-minute drill, but his hail mary was batted down as time expired and the Owls escaped with a 38-31 win over the Black Knights.

Army heads into its bye week before traveling to Colorado Springs, Colo. for a meeting with Air Force on Nov. 7.