Rice's 4 TD performance leads Rutgers to 2nd straight bowl victory

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• Rice's 4 TD performance leads Rutgers to 2nd straight bowl victory

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Bowl Overview

It was over when... Ray Rice rushed for the first of his four TDs in the first quarter to put the Knights up 14-0. Gameball goes to... Rice. In what may have been the junior's final collegiate game, he ran for 280 yards and four TDs. Stat of the game... 303. Rutgers rushed for 291 yards, but actually gained more yards in the air -- 303. Complete Bowl Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	25	27
Total Yards	595	460
Passing	303	291
Rushing	292	169
Penalties	6-58	3-25
3rd Down Conversions	8-12	7-15
4th Down Conversions	0-0	0-1
Turnovers	1	1
Possession	30:01	29:59

Air/Ground Leaders
Rutgers Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Teel 16/25 303 3 1 Robinson 0/1 0 0 0	Ball State Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Davis 25/49 291 3 0
Rutgers Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Rice 35 280 4 90 Robinson 4 14 0 8	Ball State Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Clancy 12 98 0 36 Davis 13 38 0 23
Rutgers Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Britt 6 125 1 47 Underwood 3 72 1 35	Ball State Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Love 13 169 1 34 Hill 9 89 2 22

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				RUTG	BALL
	TD	12:29	Tim Brown 36 Yd Pass From Mike Teel (Jeremy Ito Kick) Drive: 6 plays, 72 yds, 2:31	7	0
	TD	02:14	Ray Rice 1 Yd Run (Jeremy Ito Kick) Drive: 6 plays, 70 yds, 2:21	14	0
	FG	00:35	Ian Mcgarvey 47 Yd Drive: 5 plays, 55 yds, 1:29	14	3
SECOND QUARTER				RUTG	BALL
	FG	11:16	Jeremy Ito 53 Yd Drive: 12 plays, 48 yds, 4:13	17	3
	FG	06:50	Ian Mcgarvey 24 Yd Drive: 13 plays, 73 yds, 4:26	17	6
	TD	00:40	Ray Rice 1 Yd Run (Jeremy Ito Kick) Drive: 6 plays, 40 yds, 2:07	24	6
	FG	00:00	Ian Mcgarvey 32 Yd Drive: 5 plays, 37 yds, :31	24	9
THIRD QUARTER				RUTG	BALL
	TD	11:13	Ray Rice 90 Yd Run (Jeremy Ito Kick) Drive: 3 plays, 98 yds, 1:36	31	9
	TD	09:43	Dante Love 10 Yd Pass From Nate Davis (Ian Mcgarvey Kick) Drive: 5 plays, 78 yds, 1:23	31	16
	TD	02:42	Ray Rice 1 Yd Run (Jeremy Ito Kick) Drive: 8 plays, 80 yds, 2:16	38	16
FOURTH QUARTER				RUTG	BALL
	TD	10:02	Darius Hill 6 Yd Pass From Nate Davis (Ian Mcgarvey Kick) Drive: 10 plays, 83 yds, 3:25	38	23
	TD	09:55	Tiquan Underwood 35 Yd Pass From Mike Teel (Jeremy Ito Kick) Drive: 1 plays, 35 yds, :07	45	23
	TD	04:21	Kenny Britt 47 Yd Pass From Mike Teel (Jeremy Ito Kick) Drive: 3 plays, 55 yds, 1:45	52	23
	TD	02:05	Darius Hill 1 Yd Pass From Nate Davis (Ian Mcgarvey Kick) Drive: 6 plays, 72 yds, 2:07	52	30

TORONTO (AP) -- Ray Rice ran over Ball State and through the 2,000-yard barrier, giving Rutgers its second postseason win in the school's 138-year history and leaving the Scarlet Knights wondering if he'll scamper off to the NFL.

The junior, who kept mum on his plans for the draft, ran for 280 yards and four touchdowns, including a career-long 90-yarder to lift the Scarlet Knights to a 52-30 win over the Ball State Cardinals on Saturday.

"I've been around some great running backs, both in college football and the National Football League," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "This guy, what he did today, was second to none. It's an amazing performance."

A Side Of Rice
Rutgers' Ray Rice didn't even have the best rushing performance of the 2008 bowl season, but his 280 yards in the International Bowl was the third all-time best rushing yardage in a bowl game.
Player	Bowl	Yards
P.J. Daniels, Georgia Tech	2004 Humanitarian	307
Tony Temple, Missouri	2008 Cotton	281
Ray Rice, Rutgers	2008 International	280*
James Gray, Texas Tech	1989 All-American	280
Curtis Dickey, Texas A&M	1978 Hall of Fame	276
* Rutgers single-game record

Rutgers (8-5), which played the first college football game, hadn't won a bowl game before last year. Now the program has won two in a row, following a 37-10 win over Kansas State in the 2006 Texas Bowl, another blowout.

Ball State (7-6), meanwhile, is still waiting for its first bowl win in six tries.

"Obviously we're disappointed in the outcome," Ball State coach Brady Hoke said. "We gave up some big plays and when you give up big plays, either running the football or with balls over your head, it kills the flow of the team."

Rice, whose 25 touchdowns this season are a school record, has yet to announce whether he'll skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft. Players who choose to declare for the draft must do so by Jan. 15.

"Me and coach will sit down once we get back to New Jersey and decide on that," was all Rice would say.

Schiano has already made a similar decision. After speaking with Michigan about the Wolverines' job opening in December, Schiano stayed with Rutgers.

Rice made that decision look wise on Saturday.

On the Scarlet Knights' first drive of the third quarter, Rice took the ball at his own 10-yard line, broke through the line of scrimmage and raced down the left sideline, fighting off two tacklers before diving into the end zone.

"That was the longest run of my life," Rice said with a laugh. "I'm talking about Pop Warner, high school, everything."

Even quarterback Mike Teel didn't expect Rice to make it all the way.

"I was way behind, jogging, figuring he was going to get tackled," Teel said. "Then all of a sudden I hear the crowd go crazy and he takes off down the sideline and puts it in the end zone. I didn't think he had it in him. That's pretty darn good."

Rice ended the third with a 12-yard run, making him the first Big East player to break 2,000 yards. Rice's 2,012 yards this season are behind only Central Florida's Kevin Smith and Tulane's Matt Forte.

Rice has gone over 100 yards in a school-record eight straight games.

"When it's all said and done, Ray's going to be known as one of the greatest players in Rutgers history," senior offensive lineman Jeremy Zuttah said. "Just being part of his whole career and helping him accomplish what he has, has been great."

Rutgers fans chanted "One more year!" after Rice's fourth touchdown run on a one-yard dive late in the third.

"It's always great to know your fans are behind you," Rice said. "They made me feel warm out there. I even got a little emotional at the thought of them caring for me so much."

Facing a Ball State defense ranked 99th in the nation against the run, Rice set the tone early, running left for a 21-yard gain on Rutgers' first play from scrimmage.

"That's been an Achilles' heel for us," Hoke said of his team's inability to stop the run. "We just couldn't fit the defense right."

Five plays later, Teel found Tim Brown wide open over the middle for a 36-yard touchdown pass as Rutgers took an early 7-0 lead.

Rice made it 14-0 on Rutgers' third possession, carrying the ball four straight times and finishing a six play, 70-yard drive with a 1-yard run.

Rice did it all by himself on a second-quarter touchdown drive, rushing five times and catching an eight-yard pass from Teel, before another 1-yard plunge gave Rutgers a 24-6 lead.

Teel completed 16 of 25 attempts for 303 yards and three touchdowns, including a 35-yard scoring strike to Tiquan Underwood in the fourth.

Teel set a school record with his 20th TD pass of the season, a 47-yarder to Kenny Britt at 4:21 of the fourth.

"I really expected Mike to have a great game," Schiano said of Teel, who had been bothered by a sore hand. "He's finally back to feeling healthy and was whipping it in practice."

Britt finished with six catches for 125 yards.

Dante Love scored Ball State's first touchdown on a 10-yard pass from quarterback Nate Davis in the third. Tight end Darius Hill caught two TD passes in the fourth.

Davis completed 25 of 49 for 291 yards and three touchdowns but was sacked seven times.

"He's tough," Schiano said of Davis. "Our guys hit him a lot and he just kept scraping himself off the turf and playing."

Love caught 13 passes for 169 yards and Ian McGarvey kicked three field goals for the Cardinals.

The International Bowl is the only NCAA Division I football game played outside the United States. Cincinnati beat Western Michigan 27-24 in last year's event.

Game notes
Rutgers has three Canadians on the roster. Senior DE Jamaal Westerman and freshman WR Jawaan Westerman are both from Brampton, Ontario, and sophomore DE Jonathan Pierre-Etienne is from Montreal. ... Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis attended the game, as did a handful of CFL scouts. ... Attendance was 31,455. ... In 1869, Rutgers beat Princeton 6-4 in the first college football game in history.