UTEP football vs. Rice University: Recap
UTEP took on its oldest conference rival, Rice, for the final scheduled time, on Thursday night on national television.
UTEP Miners football live updates
Rice 37, UTEP 30, Final
Rice 37, UTEP 30: :24 4th: Rice QB McMahon hits Bradley Rozner for a 23-yard potential game-winning touchdown.
Rice 27, UTEP 27 11:17 4th: So just a heads up. I have to go to the field in a few minutes. One way or another the blog will finish well after the game is over.
Rice 27, UTEP 27 11:17 4th: Well look what we have here. Brownholtz leads the team 75 yards, completing 4-of-5 passes then running it in from 25 yards out. Cinderella story.
Rice 27, UTEP 20 end 3rd: Brownholtz finds Smith for 15 yards and a first down as the quarter ends. A chance for a storybook script here. Or not. We'll find out in the next 15 minutes.
Rice 27, UTEP 20 end 3rd: Brownholtz finds Smith for 15 yards and a first down as the quarter ends. A chance for a storybook script here. Or not. We'll find out in the next 15 minutes.
Rice 27, UTEP 20 end 3rd: Brownholtz finds Smith for 15 yards and a first down as the quarter ends. A chance for a storybook script here. Or not. We'll find out in the next 15 minutes.
Rice 27, UTEP 20 1:14 3rd: Hardison is out with an ankle injury. Brownholtz is in. UTEP is against the wall
Rice 27, UTEP 20 1:23 3rd: UTEP can't string anything together. Just as the defense had looked to turn things around, Rice goes 75 yards in seven plays. Gains of 31 and 27 yards on that drive, the later a touchdown pass right over the middle.
Rice 27, UTEP 20 1:23 3rd: UTEP can't string anything together. Just as the defense had looked to turn things around, Rice goes 75 yards in seven plays. Gains of 31 and 27 yards on that drive, the later a touchdown pass right over the middle.
Rice 20, UTEP 20 3:55 3rd: The Gavin Baechle-for-All-American campaign continues apace. After UTEP manages 13 yards in seven plays, Baechle nails a 51-yard field goal, his 19th consecutive and the 55th of his career. Seven plays, 13 yards, 2:06. Miner offense is sputtering, but here they are tied and the defense has made an appearance.
Rice 20, UTEP 17 6:01 3rd: UTEP defense is playing their way into the game. A crisp three-and-out, UTEP's ball on the Rice side of the field.
Rice 20, UTEP 17 8:16 3rd: So much for prosperity. UTEP with an ugly three-and-out. They send in Baechle for a 59 (?!) yard FG, then call timeout. Then a punt. Sloan pins it on the 6, which is something salvaged. UTEP drive was minus-3, 1, 0 yards.
Rice 20, UTEP 17 12:33 3rd: UTEP with a stop! Rice falls to 6-of-9 on 3rd down with an incompletion on 3rd-and-5. Pass was tipped by Tyrice Knight. The first Owl punt of the night.
Rice 20, UTEP 17 half: UTEP with a stop! Rice falls to 6-of-9 on 3rd down with an incompletion on 3rd-and-5. Pass was tipped by Tyrice Knight. The first Owl punt of the night.
Rice 20, UTEP 17 half: Rice outgains UTEP 284-186 with a 12-8 edge in first downs. Hardison 7-13 for 93 yards, Smith 4 receptions for 54 yards. Awatt 6 carries, 32 yards, Hankins 6 for 29.
Rice 20, UTEP 17 0:16 2nd: In the "it could have been worse" department, Rice goes 72 yards, but after facing a 2nd-and-2 on the 3, UTEP stiffens and forces the chip shot FG. Miners had Rice in a third-and-11 from the 29 with 54 seconds left, but were fooled by a QB draw that went for 18 yards.
Rice 17, UTEP 17 3:04 2nd: UTEP, which looked to be on the ropes a few minutes ago, answers with a 9-play, 47-yard drive taking 4:48. A pair of third-down conversions on the drive, then a 7-yard TD, Hardison to James Topou for Topou's first career touchdown. Miners show some fight. Now defense needs to build on that.
Rice 17, UTEP 10 7:52 2nd: Bad news was Ty'Reke James couldn't haul in a potential pick-6. Good news for UTEP is Ilijah Johnson is there for the pick and the Miners' fourth interception of the year. They needed that.
Rice 17, UTEP 10 8:39 2nd: Rice makes it look easy, going 75 yards in five plays: 8 yards, 35 (Rice lost 15 on a personal foul after the play), 46 and 2. So they had 90 yards of offense on those five plays. Rice has two TDs and a FG on three drives.
Rice 10, UTEP 10 12:06 2nd: UTEP gets going but stalls on the 29. Facing 4th-and-2 they line up like they are going for it, call timeout, then settle for Gavin Baechle's 46-yard field goal. That's 18 consecutive FGs for Baechle, who breaks his own school records every time he makes one. 8 plays, 46 yards, 3:27.
Rice 10, UTEP 7 end 1st: Hardison finds Smith for a 12-yard gain to give UTEP a little juice heading to the second quarter. Smith has two catches for 49 yards.
Rice 10, UTEP 7 0:33 1st: There went the fast start. Rice moves down the field easily after converting a third-and-6 on their first set of downs. Seven plays, 57 yards taking 3:41. At one point the Owls had a long TD called back on an illegal block but overcame it.
UTEP 7, Rice 3, 4:14 1st: A three-and-out precipitated by a sack of Hardison. UTEP loses 7 yards on that set of downs.
UTEP 7, Rice 3, 5:49 1st: Rice goes down the field making it look easy until, on third-and-3, Cal Wallerstedt gets a sack. Rice settles for a 43-yard FG, a career-long for Christian VanSickle. Drive was 12 plays, 50 yards, taking 5:31. UTEP is going into a pretty big wind this quarter, so so far so good.
UTEP 7, Rice 0, 11:41 1st: So much for slow starts. UTEP scores their second first-quarter TD of the year on an eight-play, 78-yard drive. Deion Hankins got the score from 2 yards out a play after a 37-yard strike, Gavin Hardison to Tyrin Smith. UTEP converted a third-and-11 along the way with a 13-yard pass to Trent Thompson.
1 minutes to kickoff: Rice wins the toss and defers so UTEP starts with the ball. Should also point out that the Houston Texans are playing the Philadelphia Eagles right down the road. Busy night for Houston sports.
1 minutes to kickoff: Rice wins the toss and defers so UTEP starts with the ball. Should also point out that the Houston Texans are playing the Philadelphia Eagles right down the road. Busy night for Houston sports.
5 minutes to kickoff: Rice lets kids on the field for a spirit line, and at this point they about outnumber the people in the stands. Should point out one hour after this kicks off, the Houston Astros play the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series, so this isn't the biggest event on the Houston sport calendar today.
15 minutes to kickoff: Both teams have headed to their locker rooms. UTEP coach Dana Dimel said last week he generally waits to take his team o the locker room because he doesn't want them in there too long. This was in the context of asking him if there was anything UTEP could do pregame to get off to faster starts. UTEP has been outscored 71-16 in first quarters.
35 minutes to kickoff: Both teams out for warmups. UTEP wearing all white with their white 915 helmets. Rice in gray tops with dark blue pants and matching helmets. It's 81 degrees, very little wind. It's not supposed to get blow the mid-70s. Good night for football.
Updates will appear here once the game starts at 5 p.m.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Rice scores late touchdown to beat UTEP as bowl hopes take a hit
