HOUSTON (AP) - Turner Peterson rushed for 136 yards and scored two touchdowns, helping Rice defeat Southern Miss 44-17 on Saturday.
Peterson caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Driphus Jackson in the second quarter and capped the scoring with an 8-yard TD run with 3:37 left in the game for the Owls (3-6, 1-4 Conference USA).
Jackson completed 4 of 6 passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns in relief of starter Taylor McHargue, who took a hit on his injured shoulder in the second quarter and did not return.
Southern Miss (0-8, 0-4) turned the ball over five times and remained winless this season despite gaining more yards - 372 to 370 - than the Owls. Tracy Lampley had four receptions for 101 yards for the Golden Eagles.
One of Southern Miss' turnovers was a 75-yard interception return by Rice's Paul Porras that gave the Owls a 31-10 lead in the third quarter.
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| Scoring Summary |
| RICE | Dennis Parks 35 yd pass from Taylor McHargue (Chris Boswell kick) |
| USM | Corey Acosta 50 yd FG |
| RICE | Turner Petersen 38 yd pass from Driphus Jackson (Chris Boswell kick) |
| USM | Jeremy Hester 1 yd run (Corey Acosta kick) |
| RICE | Donte Moore 9 yd run (Chris Boswell kick) |
| RICE | Chris Boswell 45 yd FG |
| RICE | Paul Porras 75 yd interception return (Chris Boswell kick) |
| RICE | Donte Moore 25 yd pass from Driphus Jackson (Chris Boswell kick) |
| USM | Arsenio Favor 16 yd run (Corey Acosta kick) |
| RICE | Turner Petersen 8 yd run (blocked XP) |
| Team Stats | ||
| USM | RICE | |
| First Downs | 19 | 19 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 6-19 | 6-11 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 2-4 | 0-0 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 80-372 | 63-370 |
| Rushes-Yds | 49-116 | 45-198 |
| Passing Yds | 256 | 172 |
| Kick Return Yds | 54 | 87 |
| Punt Return Yds | 0 | 10 |
| Passes | 14-31-3 | 11-18-0 |
| Punts | 4-147 | 4-148 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 3-2 | 3-3 |
| Penalties-Yds | 1-5 | 6-50 |
| Time of Poss. | 29:55 | 28:13 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| USM: Arsenio Favor 19-65, Jalen Richard 6-22, Tyre Bracken 1-14, Jeremy Hester 8-13, Desmond Johnson 8-11, Cole Weeks 3-8, Kendrick Hardy 1-0, Team 1--3, Tracy Lampley 1--5, Peter Boehme 1--9 |
| RICE: Turner Petersen 19-136, Driphus Jackson 6-27, Taylor McHargue 8-23, Donte Moore 1-9, Luke Turner 5-6, Jordan Taylor 1-6, Charles Ross 2-5, Brandon Hamilton 3--14 |
| PASSING |
| USM: Arsenio Favor 10-22-180-2, Cole Weeks 4-9-76-1 |
| RICE: Taylor McHargue 7-12-80-0, Driphus Jackson 4-6-92-0 |
| RECEIVING |
| USM: Tracy Lampley 4-101, Justin Sims 4-28, Justin Burdette 2-8, D.J. Thompson 1-54, Dominique Sullivan 1-34, Francisco Llanos 1-19, Chris Briggs 1-12 |
| RICE: Jordan Taylor 3-38, Donte Moore 2-30, Turner Petersen 1-38, Dennis Parks 1-35, Sam McGuffie 1-19, Taylor Cook 1-8, Charles Ross 1-4, Taylor McHargue 1-0 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| Southern Mississippi | 6th Conference USA East | 0-8 | 0-12 |
| Rice | 3rd Conference USA West | 4-4 | 7-6 |
