Army did everything it could to mount a comeback against Rice on Saturday, coming back from trailing 14-0 early but coming up one magical play short, falling 38-31 on the road.
"Our guys did a great job of fighting back, staying in the game and giving ourselves a chance to win," Army coach Jeff Monken said. "We did that all the way to the last play of the last drive."
The Black Knights (2-6), after tying the game with 2:13 left on a 20-yard field goal by Daniel Grochowski, gave the ball back to a surging offence in Rice.
Driving through the rain Rice quarterback Driphus Jackson, who finished 20-for-30 for 267 yards and two touchdowns, led the Owls (4-3) on a seven-play, 75-yard game-winning drive in 1:49.
Despite the late touchdown, Army had a chance to fire at the end zone on one last play from 36 yards out to only have its last hope batted down into the soaked turf at Rice Stadium.
"I just can't say enough about that type of game with the weather conditions and just playing Army," Wright said. "Just kudos to them. They never quit. We went up 10, 14 and they just kept coming. It was a lot like playing against our defence. I just can't say enough of how hard they played and how hard they fought."
After scoring on its first drive, Rice recovered an Army fumble on its first play of the game. This snapped a 174-snap streak with no turnovers created by the Owls defence. The fumble recovery is the first turnover for the Rice defence since recovering a fumble against Baylor.
The running attack for Rice was paced by Darik Dillard, who was one of six Owls to get carries, finishing with 10 carries for 89 yards and a score.
With his 34-yard touchdown run with 13:38 left in the first quarter Dillard marked his 21st of his career, adding that to his brother Jarett's 60, who was at Rice from 2005-2008, tied the NCAA record for touchdowns by siblings. The 81 career touchdowns tied the record set by Jacquizz and James Rodgers of Oregon State.
In the opening 2:23 of the game, Rice pounded the ball in twice, Dillard running it in, then after a fumble by Army on its own 23, the Owls' punched it in from a yard out by Samuel Stewart.
After those scores, Rice was held scoreless for 24:04 until Luke Turner took the ball into the end zone from two yards out with 3:43 left in the half.
In the meantime Army, which ranks 12th in FBS in rushing averaging 258.7 yards per game, took to what they knew best. The Black Knights mounted a comeback in the game finishing racking up 378 yards by the end.
Black Knight's quarterback A.J. Schurr finishing with 23 carries for 117 yards and a touchdown, while Aaron Kemper had 14 carries for 129 yards.
This is the first time Army has had two players break the 100-yard rushing mark since Angel Santiago and Larry Dixon rushed for 120 and 107 yards, respectively against Morgan State on August 30, 2013.
Schurr's 100-yard rushing day at quarterback marks the first time an Army quarterback has done that since Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for 129 yards against UConn earlier this season. Schurr came close against Bucknell on Oct. 17 rushing for 99 in that win.
Army will now prepare to face Air Force on Nov. 7 in the 50th all-time meeting between the two service academies.
"I hate to have to live with a loss for two weeks. It's agonizing," Monken said. "The next game is such a big a game. We're in the hunt for the Commander & Chief Trophy and this is the first step toward that. We have a few guys injured, so having the extra time I hope is a benefit to us."
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.