Rice: 2014 Hawaii Bowl Champions

HONOLULU (AP) Driphus Jackson had his best game of the year by passing for 318 yards and three touchdowns, and Rice completed a remarkable turnaround with a 30-6 victory over Fresno State on Wednesday night in the Hawaii Bowl.

The Owls (8-5) started the season at 0-3 and ended it with their second bowl win in the last three years.

Jackson was accurate with his arm, especially on two deep sideline routes, and dangerous with his feet. He rushed for 41 yards and some key scrambles out of trouble. The Owls got plenty of help from their defense.

Fresno State (6-8), the only team with a losing record to play a bowl game this year, broke its Hawaii Bowl record for fewest points. Fresno State scored 10 points two years ago in a lopsided loss to SMU. It was the fewest points Fresno State scored all year.

The Bulldogs lost to Rice for the first time - they had a 6-0 edge from their old WAC days - and dropped their sixth consecutive bowl game.

This one wasn't close.

Rice piled up 463 yards and held Fresno State to 93 yards passing, well below the Bulldogs' season average of 238 yards. Brian Burrell was 10 of 20 for 44 yards and didn't complete a pass longer than 8 yards.

The Owls had 96 yards on their opening possession and had to settle for a field goal after two penalties on one play - holding on Caleb Williams, and then Mario Hull was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for jamming an open palm in the face of cornerback Charles Washington during some trash talk. That made it first-and-goal from the 34, and the Owls got all the way down to the 4 before they had to settle for a field goal.

Even so, it set the tone for the Rice offense - and for the game.

Jackson was perfect on a fly route down the left side to Dennis Parks for 53 yards that led to his 14-yard scoring pass to Jordan Taylor. And after Burrell threw a deep interception, Jackson struck on the next play. He slightly underthrew a deep pass that Hull came back for, and then Hull turned and ran the last 25 yards for a 69-yard touchdown and a 16-3 right before the opening quarter ended.

The Bulldogs made enough defensive adjustments to hold Rice to one first down and 4 yards in the second quarter to at least stay in range. Their offense, however, offered little in return.

Fresno State was helped by a defensive holding call on fourth-and-7 to reach the 26, but it could only manage another field goal by Koedy Kroenig from 40 yards. Late in the first half and trailing 16-6, Fresno State again went for it on fourth-and-1 from the 18. Burrell threw a quick sideline pass to Greg Watson, only for Bryce Callahan to break through a block and drop him for a 3-yard loss that kept Rice up by 10 at intermission.

Callahan later picked off Burrell's deep throw, and that was the end of Burrell's night. He was replaced by Zack Greenlee, who was equally ineffective.

One drive effectively sealed the game for the Owls. Jackson worked the sidelines beautifully to complete four straight passes and move them down the field on their second drive of the third quarter. On third-and-2, he found Parks down the sideline. Parks stiff-armed linebacker Donavon Lewis and raced into the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown pass and a 23-6 lead.

It was Parks' first touchdown reception of the year, and he went over 100 yards receiving for the first time this season.

Rice padded the lead midway early in the fourth quarter when Jackson hit Darik Dillard on a screen in the left flat, and Dillard sped down to the 1, narrowly missing his stretch to the pylon. Dillard ran it in on the next play.

The Bulldogs got 76 yards on 15 carries from Marteze Waller, but that included runs of 41 and 16 yards.

Rice: 2012 Armed Forces Bowl Champions

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Freshman quarterback Driphus Jackson threw for 264 yards in relief of Rice's hurt starter, including two touchdown passes to Jordan Taylor, and the Owls beat Air Force 33-14 in the Armed Forces Bowl on Saturday.

Jackson's first series after taking over for Taylor McHargue ended with a bad pitch for a fumble near the goal line only 2 seconds before halftime, when the Owls (7-6) trailed 14-7.

But Jackson made up for it after halftime, when Rice scored 26 unanswered points. Taylor caught nine passes for 153 yards, with a 16-yard TD from McHargue in the first quarter.

McHargue never returned because of an apparent head injury after a helmet-to-helmet collision with about 5 minutes left in the first half.

Air Force (6-7), which scored on consecutive drives in the second quarter with backup quarterback Kale Pearson in the game, was held to a season-low 214 total yards.

On Rice's opening drive of the second half, Jackson had consecutive completions of 25 and 22 yards before a 2-yard keeper and then a 22-yard TD to Taylor.

The Owls went ahead to stay when Jackson had six consecutive completions for 75 yards to set up Charles Ross' 2-yard TD run on the second play of the fourth quarter for a 21-14 lead.

Jackson, who started one game during the season when McHargue was dealing with a shoulder problem, completed 15 of 21 passes and ran 13 times for 32 yards.

Rice has won both of its bowl appearances under sixth-year coach David Bailiff. Before that, the Owls had lost the only four bowl games they had played since winning the 1954 Cotton Bowl.

McHargue was hurt at the end of a 5-yard keeper, when he put his head down and ran into defensive back Steffon Batts. The ball dropped between the quarterback's legs and was recovered by Air Force. After staying down for several minutes, McHargue was noticeably wobbly while being helped to the sideline.

The Falcons then went 35 yards in nine plays for a 14-7 lead with 2:36 left in the half. Mike DeWitt converted fourth-and-1 from the 26 with a 2-yard run and Cobb scored after three consecutive carries from the 6.

Jackson then came in for the Owls and had keepers of 5 and 14 yards before a 23-yard pass to Taylor. After another 10-yard pass for first-and-goal from the 2, Jackson had a bad pitch behind his running back that was recovered by defensive back Chris Miller.

McHargue hit 6 of 8 passes for 31 yards, including the TD to Taylor. The junior quarterback returned to the sideline after halftime wearing a warmup suit and a cap.

Since the Falcons' last game, senior quarterback Connor Dietz has graduated from the academy and been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force.

Dietz was banged up late in the season and was mostly ineffective in his last game, running six times for 11 yards and completing only 1 of 3 passes.

Pearson wasn't must better, 2-of-8 passing for 44 yards with six carries for 11 yards. But he was on the field for both of Air Force's scoring drives and had a 9-yard TD run

The Falcons have made a school-record six consecutive bowl appearances under coach Troy Calhoun, but are 2-4 in those games. That includes a 1-3 mark in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Linebacker Austin Niklas had 14 tackles and Alex Means 12 for Air Force, which lost four of its last five games to finish this season.

Chris Boswell made field goals of 24 and 25 yards in the fourth quarter, before Jackson hit Taylor for a final 34-yard TD with 1:38 left.

Boswell, who made six field goals of at least 50 yards during the regular season, had apparently made a 52-yarder early in the second quarter before officials blew the whistle for an Air Force timeout. Boswell got another try, but pushed it wide right with about 9 minutes left in the first half.

That's when Pearson took over for Air Force, leading them 66 yards in 10 plays. He had a 15-yard pass and ended the drive with a wide sweeping run to get into the front corner of the end zone to tie the game at 7.