Houston 31, Rice 30

WERE YOU THERE?

Did you attend this game? If so, start chronicling your sports memories today with ESPN's Sports Passport. Enter the games you attend, upload your photos and share your memories! I was there »

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	17	14
Total Yards	329	283
Passing	233	152
Rushing	96	131
Penalties	10-88	1-5
3rd Down Conversions	3-12	5-13
4th Down Conversions	0-1	0-1
Turnovers	0	2
Possession	30:35	29:25

Individual Leaders

Houston Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Kolb 22/35 233 3 0	Rice Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Clement 12/26 152 2 1
Houston Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Battle 14 74 1 17 Pope 2 31 0 20 Otis 2 8 0 7	Rice Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Smith 18 108 2 52 Clement 10 27 0 10 Armstrong 3 -4 0 0
Houston Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Avery 6 66 0 15 Marshall 6 44 1 20 Harvey 5 50 1 16 Pope 2 42 0 24	Rice Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Dillard 4 34 1 13 Falco 3 17 0 13 Smith 2 87 1 80 Moss 1 5 0 5

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				HOU	RICE
	TD	12:20	JERON HARVEY 6 YD PASS FROM KEVIN KOLB (T.J. LAWRENCE KICK) Drive info: 4 plays, 24 yards.	7	0
	TD	2:25	JACKIE BATTLE 7 YD RUN (T.J. LAWRENCE KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 93 yards.	14	0
SECOND QUARTER				HOU	RICE
	TD	14:47	JARETT DILLARD 13 YD PASS FROM CHASE CLEMENT (LUKE JUIST KICK) Drive info: 6 plays, 77 yards.	14	7
	TD	10:42	QUINTON SMITH 80 YD PASS FROM CHASE CLEMENT (LUKE JUIST KICK) Drive info: 3 plays, 80 yards.	14	14
	TD	6:40	QUINTON SMITH 7 YD RUN (LUKE JUIST KICK) Drive info: 5 plays, 45 yards.	14	21
	TD	0:21	QUINTON SMITH 1 YD RUN (BLOCKED XP) Drive info: 9 plays, 45 yards.	14	27
THIRD QUARTER				HOU	RICE
	FG	6:19	LUKE JUIST 44 YD FG Drive info: 4 plays, -4 yards.	14	30
	FG	2:04	T.J. LAWRENCE 20 YD FG Drive info: 4 plays, 1 yards.	17	30
FOURTH QUARTER				HOU	RICE
	TD	13:41	VINCENT MARSHALL 8 YD PASS FROM KEVIN KOLB (T.J. LAWRENCE KICK) Drive info: 6 plays, 37 yards.	24	30
	TD	10:28	ANTHONY ALRIDGE 8 YD PASS FROM KEVIN KOLB (T.J. LAWRENCE KICK) Drive info: 7 plays, 49 yards.	31	30

HOUSTON (AP) -- Kevin Kolb threw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter as Houston came from 16 points down to defeat Rice 31-30 Saturday night.

Kolb, who is second on the Houston career passing list behind David Klingler, hit 22 of 35 for 233 yards and three touchdowns, including 7 of 13 for 88 yards in the fourth quarter.

Kolb hit his favorite receiver, Vincent Marshall, for an 8-yard touchdown early in the fourth, then tossed a shovel pass to Anthony Aldridge for an 8-yard score to take the lead with 10:28 left in the game.

In coach Todd Graham's inaugural game with the Owls, Rice led 30-14 late in the third quarter after a 44-yard field goal by Luke Juist.

Houston jumped ahead 14-0 in the first quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Kolb to Jeron Harvey and a 7-yard touchdown run by Jackie Battle.

In the process, Kolb recorded 98 passing yards in the period and moved past Tulane's Patrick Ramsey into fifth place on the Conference-USA all-time passing list with more than 9,250 yards.

But Rice, which finished 1-10 last season, took over in the second quarter, outscoring Houston 27-0 as quarterback Chase Clements threw for 123 yards and tailback Quinton Smith scored three times in the period.

Smith set up Rice's first touchdown with a 52-yard run late in the first quarter. He scored the Owls' second touchdown on an 80-yard catch and run from Clements to tie the game with 10:42 left in the second quarter.

Smith then scored on runs of 7 and 1 yards to give Rice its 27-14 halftime lead. Smith finished with 108 yards rushing.

T.J. Lawrence hit a 20-yard field goal to make it 30-17 with 2:04 left in the third period to start the UH comeback.

Ernest Miller intercepted a Clements pass with 2:49 left to stop the final Rice drive.