Rutgers used its two strongest weapons, Sophomore running back Ray Rice and a very stingy defense, to whip the Wildcats of Kansas State in the first ever Texas Bowl in Houston last night. The final score was 37-10 but it could have been much, much worse.
Only Yamon Figurs’ 76 yard return of a Joe Radigan 36 yard punt with 9:37 remaining in the first half provided much of a spark of hope for the KState fans. The return made the score Rutgers 14, Kansas State 10 but that would be all she wrote for Kansas. (KState would have only 77 yards net offense in the first half; just one yard more than Figurs’ punt return.)
Ray Rice rushed for 170 yards and a TD on 24 carries leading 16th ranked Rutgers to a 37-10 victory over Kansas State. Sophomore Ray Rice earned MVP honors at the Texas Bowl.
Rice gained eight more yards than the Rutgers defense permitted the KS Wildcats in the entire game as the Scarlet Knights’ seventh ranked defense held the Wildcats’ offense to just 162 net yards. The RU offense gained 479 yards, averaging 7.4 yards per play. It was the fifth time this season Rice surpassed 150 yards in a game and his 25th touchdown in 25 career games at RU. With 2,914 yards to his credit, Rice is now just 200 yards shy of Terrell Willis’ mark as the Scarlet Knights’ all-time career rushing leader.
Freshman Tim Brown scored two first quarter touchdowns on receptions of 14 and 49 yards. It was Browns first career start. He came into the game with just three receptions and one touchdown. He finished the Texas bowl with four receptions, two touchdowns and 101 yards.
Senior linebacker Quintero Frierson returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage of the second half.
Junior kicker Jeremy Ito converted on 3 of 5 field goal attempts and all four PATs. Ito’s 13 points pushed him passed Senior fullback Brian Leonard on the all-time scoring list> Ito now has 280 points to Leonard’s career total of 272.
Leonard caught a pass in the first quarter giving him a reception in each of his 47 career games. He is Rutgers’ all-time reception leader with 207 catches.
Senior tight end Clark Harris had seven catches for 122 yards and, with 2,015 reception yards, moved to fifth place for reception yards in the RU record books.
Sophomore quarterback Mike Teel completed the 2006 season going 45-69 for 692 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in his last three games. He registered a pass efficiency rating of 173.37 while averaging 230.7 yards per game and completing 65.2 percent of his passes.
(Game Story and stats here.)
Rutgers, allegedly the third best team in the Big East, has provided the second victory for the conference in bowl games this season. Southern Florida downed East Carolina, 24-7, in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.
Still to come:
Jan. 1: Gator Bowl: #13 West Virginia vs Georgia Tech
Jan. 2: Orange Bowl: #6 Louisville vs #14 Wake Forest
Jan. 6: The International Bowl: Cincinnati vs Western Michigan
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