Rice rolls past Houston Christian, 31-3

This one was over early. Rice rolls past Houston Christian, 31-3 at Rice Stadium. Houston Christian scored first, and Rice answered by taking the game over. Quinton Jackson ran 10 times for 61 yards and two scores and caught one pass for 6 yards.

One team finished its drives

Rice scored on 50% of its drives to Houston Christian's 11%, chiefly Quinton Jackson (12 pts), DAndre Hardeman Jr. (6 pts) and Gael Ochoa (6 pts). Rice converted 11 of 17 third downs (65%) to Houston Christian's 31%, chiefly DAndre Hardeman Jr. (2/2), Tyvonn Byars (5/6) and Jacurri Brown (2/3). Stacked together, that is what turned a close game into this one.

Who carried it

Quinton Jackson ran 10 times for 61 yards and two scores and caught one pass for 6 yards, including two of them from inside the 20. DAndre Hardeman Jr. ran 11 times for 77 yards and one score — that score from inside the 20 and two third-down conversions. Tyvonn Byars ran 16 times for 104 yards, with five third-down conversions. For Houston Christian, Cutter Stewart threw for 61 yards on 17 attempts and ran seven times for 14 yards, with a hand in three plays of 15 yards or more. Champ Dozier ran eight times for 86 yards. Jaylen Middleton ran 10 times for 29 yards. Chibby Nwajuaku was the disruptive one for Rice: 2 sacks, 2 TFLs, 3.5 tackles.

What Houston Christian has to fix

The problems had names: Cutter Stewart (1 interception).

Who got home

Three names to keep, all for Rice: Chibby Nwajuaku (2 sacks, 2 TFLs, 3.5 tackles), Jerrick Harper (1 INT) and Tyler Lavallier (1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 tackle).

The way it played out

Houston Christian struck first through Lukasz Smolen, Rice led 17-3 at the half and got the final points on a late touchdown by Gael Ochoa.

What it means

Business handled for Rice. The question now is whether the opponent told us anything.