UTEP 38, Rice 31

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Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	19	27
Total Yards	532	380
Passing	387	108
Rushing	145	272
Penalties	15-155	7-63
3rd Down Conversions	8-12	5-17
4th Down Conversions	0-0	4-6
Turnovers	3	1
Possession	24:57	35:03

Individual Leaders

UTEP Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Palmer 24/30 387 3 2	Rice Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Clement 6/10 83 1 0 Armstron... 3/9 25 0 0
UTEP Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Ebell 16 96 2 18 Thomas 8 54 0 18 Palmer 3 -1 0 4	Rice Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Smith 24 154 1 22 Armstrong 21 75 1 15 Wall Jr. 13 38 1 8
UTEP Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Francies 4 126 1 54 Hunt 4 42 0 12 Ebell 4 31 1 12 West 3 41 1 19	Rice Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Henderson 4 34 0 11 Dillard 2 40 1 31 Aranda 1 18 0 18 Falco 1 10 0 10

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				UTEP	RICE
	TD	11:48	CHRIS FRANCIES 54 YD PASS FROM JORDAN PALMER (REAGAN SCHNEIDER KICK) Drive info: 1 plays, 54 yards.	7	0
	TD	6:46	QUINTON SMITH 22 YD RUN (BRENNAN LANDRY KICK) Drive info: 10 plays, 79 yards.	7	7
	TD	2:33	JOE WEST 10 YD PASS FROM JORDAN PALMER (REAGAN SCHNEIDER KICK) Drive info: 12 plays, 77 yards.	14	7
SECOND QUARTER				UTEP	RICE
	FG	8:12	BRENNAN LANDRY 27 YD FG Drive info: 20 plays, 61 yards.	14	10
	TD	4:08	TYLER EBELL 10 YD RUN (REAGAN SCHNEIDER KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 80 yards.	21	10
	TD	1:02	TYLER EBELL 3 YD RUN (REAGAN SCHNEIDER KICK) Drive info: 4 plays, 80 yards.	28	10
THIRD QUARTER				UTEP	RICE
	TD	9:06	JOEL ARMSTRONG 13 YD RUN (BRENNAN LANDRY KICK) Drive info: 5 plays, 53 yards.	28	17
	TD	5:38	JOHN WALL JR. 1 YD RUN (BRENNAN LANDRY KICK) Drive info: 5 plays, 15 yards.	28	24
	TD	1:15	TYLER EBELL 3 YD PASS FROM JORDAN PALMER (REAGAN SCHNEIDER KICK) Drive info: 10 plays, 92 yards.	35	24
FOURTH QUARTER				UTEP	RICE
	FG	9:56	REAGAN SCHNEIDER 25 YD FG Drive info: 9 plays, 48 yards.	38	24
	TD	4:00	JARETT DILLARD 31 YD PASS FROM CHASE CLEMENT (BRENNAN LANDRY KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 62 yards.	38	31

HOUSTON (AP) -- Jordan Palmer threw for 387 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as UTEP held on for a 38-31 victory over Rice, extending the Owls' nation-leading losing streak to 13 games.

Rice scored three times after UTEP turnovers in the second half and moved to the Miners' 3-yard line in the final minute after recovering on onside kick. But John Wall lost 2 yards on fourth down with 57 seconds left.

Palmer, the brother of Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer of the Cincinnati Bengals, became UTEP's career total offense leader with 6,138 yards, passing Sammy Garza, who had 6,056 from 1983-86.

Palmer completed 24 of 30 passes in his seventh career 300-yard game and third of the season.

UTEP (6-1, 4-1 Conference USA) moved into a tie with Tulsa atop the C-USA West Division and became bowl eligible with the win, giving the Miners their first chance for back-to-back bowls since 1953-54.

Rice's defense, which had forced only two turnovers all season, intercepted Palmer on consecutive series in the third quarter. The Owls (0-7, 0-4) drove to a pair of quick touchdowns by Joel Armstrong and Wall to trim UTEP's 28-10 halftime lead to 28-24 with 5:38 to play in the third.

The Miners answered with Palmer's 3-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Ebell and a 25-yard Reagan Schneider field goal for a 38-24 lead with 9:56 to play in the game.

The Owls later recovered their first fumble of the season, leading to a 31-yard touchdown pass from Chase Clement to Jarrett Dillard to make it 38-31 with 4:00 remaining.

Rice used its ground game to keep the ball for more than 20 minutes in the first half. But UTEP scored touchdowns on its first four possessions, including a 54-yard pass from Palmer to Chris Francies on the Miners' first play.

Palmer hit 13 of 15 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.

Francies, from nearby Cy-Falls High School, caught a pass in his 38th straight game, the nation's longest active streak. He had a career-high 126 yards on four catches.