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Rice Owls |
Baylor Bears © |
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Played October 12, 1991 at Floyd Casey Stadium Waco, Texas |
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Teams' Belt Records
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Team |
Belt Reigns |
Overall Record |
Home Record |
Away Record |
Neutral Record |
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W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
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| Rice | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Baylor © | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | ||||
Previous Belt Meetings: None
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
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Rice |
7 |
10 |
0 |
3 |
20 |
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Baylor |
0 |
10 |
7 |
0 |
17 |
The 8th ranked, 5-0 Baylor Bears of coach Grant Teaff came home to Waco to meet the 2-2 Rice Owls of coach Fred Goldsmith. This would be Rice’s first Belt shot & they would make it a successful one. Rice's PK Darrell Richardson kicked a 33-yard field goal with 2:39 left & Bears' PK Jeff Ireland missed 3 field goal attempts in the 2nd half as the Owls claimed The Belt with a 20-17 upset of the champions. “This is definitely the biggest win in our program since the early 1960s,” Coach Goldsmith said while Coach Teaff was “mystified” by Ireland’s misses & his team’s performance as the Bears out gained the Owls 531-344. Rice took the lead late in the 1st quarter when All-American RB Trevor Cobb, the nation’s leading rusher, scored on a 12-yard touchdown run. Baylor tied the game at 7-7 early in the 2nd quarter when RB Robert Strait scored on a 12-yard touchdown run. Rice got the lead back when Richardson kicked a 33-yard field goal give the Owls a 10-7 advantage. The Bears next two drives ended with fumbles in the Owls’ territory. Rice recovered Baylor's RB John Henry’s fumble at the Owls’ 26-yard line while Strait’s fumble gave Rice the ball at the Owls’ 23-yard line. Rice's QB Greg Willig scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 0:39 left in the half before Ireland connected on the longest field goal in Belt history. His 58-yard field goal as time expired in the half left the Bears trailing 17-10. Early in the 3rd quarter, Henry broke loose for a 64-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 17-17. Three times in the next 26:56 of game time, Baylor drove into Rice territory only to be thwarted by an Ireland missed field goal. Ireland missed from 43, 45, & 27 yards to keep Rice in the game. After the last missed field goal attempt, Rice's back-up QB Josh LaRocca led the Owls’ offense from their own 20-yard line against a 10 mph wind. During the drive, the Owls set-up for a 48-yard field goal attempt but holder Chris Miller ran for 13 yards on the fake to get Rice even closer. Richardson 33-yard kick gave the Owls the lead at 20-17. Baylor drove to their own 41-yard line before Rice's DT Shawn Alberding tackled Strait on a fourth down play short of the first-down marker securing the win for the Owls. Willig finished with 136 yards passing while Cobb added 171 yards rushing to his score. Baylor's QB J.J. Joe threw for 202 yards, Strait rushed for 115 yards with his touchdown, & All-SWC WR Melvin Bonner had 5 catches for 124 yards in the loss. The Bears finished the season 8-4 while the Owls finished 4-7. Baylor would play for The Belt again in 2 weeks.
