User:Johntex/2005 Rice

The 2005 Rice vs. Texas football game was played on September 17 2005 at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

Texas and Rice met in 2005 for the 88th time. Texas held a 65-21-1 lead in the series, which began in 1914. The series is the fourth oldest (by number of games) in Texas history. The two schools were once conference foes in the Southwest Conference and have maintained a rivalry despite the fact that Texas enjoys a sizable lead in the series. This was alluded to by President John F. Kennedy when he compared the challenge of going to the moon to the challenge of Rice playing Texas. In addition to renewing a traditional rivalry, playing Rice in a "home and away" series allows for Texas to play games in Houston, Texas, a city that is an important recruiting base for UT, along with having a significant Texas Exes alumni population.

The Rice Owls won the toss and deferred to the second half; After a touchback Texas got the ball on their 20 yard-line. The first play-from scrimmage was a 22 yard pass from Vince Young to David Thomas. Four plays later Texas had first-and-ten from the rice 25 yard-line. Jamaal Charles carried the ball to the right side for a touchdown with less than 1:49 used off the game clock. With the extra point by David Pino, Texas took a 7-0 lead.

After the kick-off and a penalty against Rice, the Owls started their first offensive series from their eleven yard-line. Quarterback Joel Armstrong used six plays to advance the ball to the Texas 43 before punting on fourth-and-nine. The punt was downed at the Texas one-yard-line forcing the Texas offense to begin work inside their own end zone. Texas put the ball in the hands of Henry Melton but he was stopped for no gain. On second down, Vince Young threw a three yard pass to David Thomas to bring up third-and-seven at the Texas four yard-line. Vince Young elected to keep the ball in his own hands and ran 51 yards to the Rice 45 yard-line before being run out-of-bounds by cornerback Lance Byrd. Jamaal Charles got the ball on four consecutive plays, culminating in a touchdown with 7:16 left in first quarter. Again the extra point by Pino was good and the Longhorns extended their lead to 14-0.

Rice began their next drive on their 18 and were unable to get a first down so they punted. Texas actually lost 12 yards on their possession due to a penalty as well as a quarterback sack of Young so they also punted without having gained a first down. Rice got the ball on their 39 but again were forced to punt without having made a first down. This time, the ball went into the end-zone for a touchback, but a personal foul on Texas' Michael Griffin caused Texas to start their drive from their ten yard-line. Young began with a 12 yard pass to Limas Sweed. Next, Young ran for 8 yards followed by a loss of one yard by Charles. On third-and-eight, Vince Young threw a pass that was intercepted at the UT 20 by Ja'Corey Shepherd who was tackled by Limas Sweed. This was the first time the Owls had the ball inside Texas territory. They got the ball on the UT 20 yard-line with four seconds left, which expired on a one-yard rushing play by Joel Armstrong to end the first quarter.

The second quarter began with Rice running a reverse play to Dillard which lost seven yards. This was followed by a delay of game penalty which cost Rice five yards. The Owls took a time out with 14:09 remaining in the half. Armstrong's attempted pass to Nick Aranda was incomplete. Rice put in Chase Clement at quarterback, and his fourth down pass to Jarett Dillard was incomplete, causing Rice to turn the ball over to Texas.

The rest of the first-half was dominated by the Longhorns as they scored four more touchdowns to take a 42-0 lead. The Owls had four more possessions in the second quarter but never advanced the ball past their own 30 yard-line.

The second half was much lower-scoring. Rice began the third quarter with an eight play drive, but an attempt to convert on fourth down was unsuccessful. UT scored a field goal, which Rice answered with a field goal of their own. The next two possessions saw one punt by each team. Then Texas scored on a ten yard run by Ramonce Taylor but Pino missed the point-after to make the score Rice-3; Texas-51. The only score in the fourth quarter was a Rice touchdown from a two yard quarterback sneak by Chase Clement.

Texas won the game 51-10. Jamaal Charles ran for 189 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries in his first start for the Longhorns. After the game, Charles said that his goal is to rush for 200 yards each game but that he was not disappointed because he hit his goal of rushing for three touchdowns.