Navy 41, Rice 9

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	16	17
Total Yards	367	284
Passing	66	94
Rushing	301	190
Penalties	5-30	11-105
3rd Down Conversions	1-11	8-21
4th Down Conversions	0-0	0-2
Turnovers	0	2
Possession	22:20	37:40

Individual Leaders

Navy Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Owens 3/7 66 0 0 Hampton 0/2 0 0 0	Rice Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Clement 11/23 94 1 0 Armstron... 0/1 0 0 0
Navy Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Hall 6 91 2 46 Owens 12 53 0 26 Hampton 5 46 1 24	Rice Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Smith 19 124 0 21 Armstrong 10 28 0 12 Wall Jr. 3 17 0 9
Navy Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Nelson 1 54 0 54 Tomlinson 1 11 0 11 Hines 1 1 0 1	Rice Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Henderson 8 66 0 13 Dillard 2 24 1 15 Smith 1 4 0 4

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				NAVY	RICE
	TD	6:59	MATT HALL 31 YD RUN (JOEY BULLEN III KICK) Drive info: 2 plays, 57 yards.	7	0
SECOND QUARTER				NAVY	RICE
	FG	2:06	JOEY BULLEN III 24 YD FG Drive info: 5 plays, 56 yards.	10	0
	FG	1:15	LUKE JUIST 53 YD FG Drive info: 7 plays, 22 yards.	10	3
	FG	0:04	JOEY BULLEN III 31 YD FG Drive info: 9 plays, 51 yards.	13	3
THIRD QUARTER				NAVY	RICE
	TD	14:20	KARLOS WHITTAKER 19 YD RUN (JOEY BULLEN III KICK) Drive info: 3 plays, 48 yards.	20	3
	TD	13:17	MATT HALL 7 YD RUN (JOEY BULLEN III KICK) Drive info: 2 plays, 18 yards.	27	3
	TD	6:11	JARETT DILLARD 15 YD PASS FROM CHASE CLEMENT (FAILED 2PT RUSH) Drive info: 13 plays, 66 yards.	27	9
FOURTH QUARTER				NAVY	RICE
	TD	10:23	TREY HINES 11 YD RUN (JOEY BULLEN III KICK) Drive info: 3 plays, 64 yards.	34	9
	TD	0:58	BRIAN HAMPTON 1 YD RUN (MATTHEW HARMON KICK) Drive info: 5 plays, 18 yards.	41	9

HOUSTON (AP) -- Finally, Navy got a breather.

After five straight close games to start the season, the Midshipmen routed Rice 41-9 on Saturday, handing the Owls their nation-leading 12th consecutive loss.

Matt Hall rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns for Navy (4-2), which enjoyed its largest margin of victory since a 54-21 win over Rutgers last November. Four of Navy's previous five games this year were decided by three points, and the fifth was a 28-21 win over Duke on Oct. 1.

"I was getting tired of all the close games," Hall said. "That's something we talked about -- that we don't have to make it close."

The lopsided loss was more the norm for Rice (0-6), outscored by an average of 48-21 in its first five games. The Owls had been tied with Army for the nation's longest win drought, but the Black Knights ended their streak with a 20-0 win over Akron.

"We're obviously not very good right now," Rice coach Ken Hatfield said. "We play hard, I don't think we play good. There's a big difference between playing hard and playing good, and we have to figure out a way to play good."

Chase Clement went 10-for-22 for 81 yards and threw a touchdown pass for Rice, which is off to its worst start since going 0-11 in 1988. Clement, a redshirt freshman, started for sophomore Joel Armstrong, who injured his shoulder in last week's loss to Tulsa. Armstrong saw some action Saturday, but Clement took most of the snaps.

He took a beating, too, getting sacked five times.

"We just need to come together and be a family right now," Clement said. "We're going to find a win, it's going to come. We just need to keep working hard and good things will happen."

The Midshipmen, the nation's fourth-best rushing team, had 301 yards on 44 carries against the Owls, who ranked 106th out of 117 I-A teams in run defense.

Navy led 13-3 at halftime, but blew several chances to start the rout earlier.

On the only two plays of the Midshipmen's second possession, quarterback Lamar Owens scampered for 26 yards on an option keeper and Hall burst up the middle for a 31-yard touchdown.

Rice halfback Tommy Henderson fumbled less than two minutes later at the Owls' 18-yard line, but Navy receiver Jason Tomlinson lost 5 yards on a third-down run and Joey Bullen sliced a 37-yard field goal attempt.

Navy had first-down gains negated by penalties on its next two possessions. On the Middies' next drive, Owens threw a wobbly 54-yard pass to Marco Nelson, but then badly overthrew Mick Yokitis in the end zone. Navy settled for a 24-yard field goal by Bullen and a 10-0 lead.

"Offensively, we weren't as consistent as I'd like," Navy coach Paul Johnson said. "We missed a lot of opportunities. It was feast or famine -- either we got big plays, or they got us."

Sophomore Luke Juist got the Owls on the board with a line-drive 53-yard field goal that bounced over the crossbar. Juist's first field goal of the season was the fourth-longest in school history and the longest since James Hamrick's 57-yarder against Texas Tech in 1985.

Brian Hampton, who replaced a limping Owens on Navy's final first-half possession, had two long runs to give the Midshipmen a first down at the Rice 14. The drive stalled there, though, and Bullen kicked a 31-yard field goal with 4 seconds left in the half.

Navy finally took control with a flurry of big plays to open the second half.

Karlos Whittaker returned the kickoff to midfield, Owens and Trey Hines had consecutive first-down runs and Whittaker broke two tackles on a 19-yard TD run just 40 seconds into the third quarter.

A minute later, Navy linebacker Tyler Tidwell crashed into Armstrong and forced a fumble inside the Rice 20. Owens zipped a pass to Tomlinson for 11 yards and then pitched to Hall for a 7-yard TD run and a 27-3 Navy lead.

"We talked at halftime about coming out and seeing if we couldn't put their lights out," Johnson said.

Clement threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jarrett Dillard later in the third quarter. Navy's defense dominated from there, yielding only 36 yards the rest of the way.

"We got a lot of negative yardage plays," Johnson said. "Our defense played really well the whole game."

Hall had a 46-yard run early in the fourth quarter and Hines scored from 11 yards out with 10:23 left in the game. Hampton had a 1-yard scoring run in the final minute.

Navy has a four-game winning streak for only the third time in 25 years. The Middies won their first five games in 2005 and their last four games in 1997.

Saturday's game was originally scheduled for Sept. 24, but was postponed because of Hurricane Rita.