Rice Routs Western Michigan 38-14 in Texas Bowl

(Rice quarterback Chase Clement threw 307 yards and rushed for 72 more in Rice's rout of Western Michigan. Photo by Darla Tamulitis-Copyright 2008 La Vita Loca Photography)

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (December 30, 2008) During the lead up to the 2008 Presidential election, candidate Ron Paul’s supporters were considered the most vocal and highly spirited around.

The Western Michigan Broncos could have used the support of fans of that caliber in their 38-14 thrashing by the Rice Owls in the 2008 edition of the Texas Bowl.

Rice quarterback Chase Clement threw three touchdown passes, ran for another and caught a TD pass from Jarett Dillard to lead the Owls to their first bowl win since 1949.

Clement’s performance earned him the Most Valuable Player award and showed the talent that should make him a high round draft pick for the NFL.

He threw for 307 yards, completing 33-of-44 passes, and ran for and additional 72 yards, leading the Owls to their first recorded double-digit wins since the 1949 season.

The game was Western Michigan second straight bowl game, but just the fourth in the school's history.

Unfortunately for WMU, all four of the Broncos' postseason appearances ended in defeat, including 2007 in the International Bowl, as WMU was beaten by Cincinnati by the score of 27-24.

Bronco’s quarterback Tim Hiller completed 19-og 42 passes for 198 yards and two Brandon West led the way on the ground with 56 yards on 15 touches. Jamarko Simmons had 92 yards on six catches, while Schneider Julien and Kirk Elsworth recorded touchdown catches.

Clement has praise for everyone around and stated he felt this season would inspire the younger players to achieve higher goals.

“When you sit down and look back and see how everything has unfolded, it’s a special opportunity and just what we’ve been able to accomplish. It really sets this program in the right direction. Hopefully, those guys that are younger than us have seen what it takes to win and what it takes to be successful and hopefully they can get that going,” Clement was quoted in the post-game press conference.

There was a bit of gold in the dark cloud that hovered over the Broncos the entire game. Before the contest, Western Michigan announced that Head Coach Bill Cubit agreed to a new five-year contract.