Rice leads RU to 2nd consecutive Bowl Win

It has been a storybook career for Junior RB Ray Rice and if it came to an end on Saturday afternoon north of the border, in the International Bowl, Rutgers fans could not have scripted a better conclusion. Rice did his best impression of a slalom skier, weaving in and out of traffic, eluding would-be tacklers all day, en route to a 280 yard, 4TD performance, and led RU to a 52-30 win.

Raymell [Ray] Rice may have concluded his Rutgers career on Saturday afternoon versus Ball State in the International Bowl, but if he has, he disappeared into the sunset on quite the high note. Rice galloped his way to 280 yards and four touchdowns, in helping Rutgers defeat Ball State in the International Bowl. Rice also added a career-long 90-yard romp, and etched his name in the NCAA history books while doing so. Rice's daily totals were the third-most yards in NCAA bowl game history and set the Rutgers' single-game rushing mark (280).

With his historic performance, Rice eclipsed the 2,000 yard mark for the season, the first Big East player to achieve the milestone. His 4 TDs raised his yearly total to 25 scores, also a Rutgers school record.

The Scarlet Knights improve to 8 victories against 5 losses on the season while the loss dropped Ball State to 7 victories against 6 losses. While RU won their second consecutive Bowl Game (RU defeated Kansas State 37-10 in the inaugural Texas Bowl in 2006), raising its record in the postseason to 2-2, the postseason victory column eluded Ball State for the fourth straight time.

Mike Teel settled in to the game and completed 16 of 25 attempts for 303 yards and 3 TDs. Teel raised his season total to 20 TD passes, also a new Rutgers school record. The record was established with his 47-yard connection to Kenny Britt at 4:21 of the fourth quarter.

After opening up the game with a 12-yard Ray Rice scamper, Rutgers got on the board first behind a Teel to Tim Brown connection, five plays later. Tim Brown found himself running directly past the opposing defensive back in the center of the field and Mike Teel found the sophomore speedster for a 36-yard touchdown pass. Rutgers took an early 7-0 lead. Ball State hung in there, closing to within 24-9 at the end of the first half, but the Cardinals could not stop the Scarlet Knight rushing or aerial attack all day.

Dante Love was one of Ball State's lone bright spots. Love caught 13 passes for 169 yards and eluded the Rutgers defense for most of the afternoon. However, the Ball State offense could not establish any offensive flow until the game was out of reach.

Notes
The attendance of 31,455 surpassed the mark set in the inaugural International Bowl of nearly 27,000.