Game Stats
Post-Game Notes
Post-Game Quotes
HOUSTON - On a night when Western Michigan seemed to come up just short or just long, the Broncos could never get any momentum in a 38-14 loss to Rice in the 2008 Texas Bowl in front of 58,880 fans at Reliant Stadium. The crowd is the largest in Western Michigan bowl history.
WMU's collective heart sank early in the game when on its first drive seemed to be clicking when on first-and-10 from the Owls' 38-yard line, Tim Hiller pump faked and had Juan Nunez all alone down the middle of the field for what appeared to be an opening score in the game. The ball, like others later in the game, was dropped and the drive stalled on a John Potter miss from 51 yards out. Rice capitalized on its first touchdown drive when Rice's Chase Clement scampered 26 yards into the end zone. Clement finished with 307 yards and three passing TD's on the night. He also caught a touchdown pass in the third quarter.
Western Michigan had five offensive possessions in the first half and the final four resulted in two punts and two interceptions. It marked the second game in a row Hiller had multiple interceptions. WMU began the second half with the ball but were forced into a three and out. The Broncos forced Rice into its first three and out of the night but they again could not sustain a drive. Brandon West had 16 yards on the drive and achieved the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career. He is the first Bronco to accomplish the feat since Mark Bonds in 2006 (1,082).
The Broncos' Achilles heel throughout the first half and most of the game was third downs, offensively and defensively. Western Michigan was 1-for-7 in the first 30 minutes, while Rice was a staggering 9-for-12 in the first half alone. Rice's second score, a 30-yard field goal from Clark Fangmeier, was aided in part by a pair of 15-yard penalties on WMU over a span of three plays to take a 10-0 lead. That lead grew to 24-0 by the break with Clement finding Toren Dixon from six yards out at the 6:53 mark of the second quarter and James Casey from 45 yards out.
Simmons opened the Broncos' offense on a high note, hauling in a nine-yard reception for his 99th catch of the season, breaking the WMU record previously shared with Greg Jennings. It was the only ball thrown to Simmons in the entire opening quarter. He later became the only receiver in Bronco history to have 100 catches in a season. He surpassed Jennings' single-season yards mark. The 41-yard reception gave him 92 yards at that point in the game and 1,276 on the year.
The catch put WMU on Rice's 11-yard line and four plays later, Hiller found Kirk Elsworth from one yard out for WMU's first and only score of the game. The TD pass, which capped a nine-play, 69-yard drive, broke Tim Lester's former single-season mark, giving Hiller 35 scoring strikes on the year and 75 for his career. His 198 yards gives him 3,725 for the season, breaking Tim Lester's mark of 3,639 set in 1999. Lester was in the stands for tonight's game.
