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Haugabook, Troy rout Rice for first bowl victory

Dec 23, 2006 - 6:31 AM NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- Troy earned its first bowl victory and did it in style.

Omar Haugabook threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score as the Trojans routed Rice, 41-17, in the New Orleans Bowl for the first bowl victory in school history.

Haugabook completed 14-of-28 passes for 218 yards and one interception and rushed 14 times for 92 yards.

"It was a real good game for me," Haugabook said. "They played a lot of man defense. We were working really hard in practice to beat their man pressure, and we did. Eventually they started blitzing me, trying to get me, but they never did."

Troy (8-5) took control in the first quarter when it jumped out to a 21-7 lead. Haugabook gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead with a 2-yard touchdown run and then threw a 3-yard scoring pass to Gary Banks for a 14-0 lead.

After Rice (7-6) sliced the deficit to 14-7 on Joel Armstrong's 11-yard pass to Mike Falco, the Trojans struck again when Haugabook and Mykeal Terry hooked up on a 56-yard touchdown pass for a 21-7 lead.

"We had a lot of confusion tonight," Rice coach Todd Graham said. "For whatever reason, we did a very, very poor job preparing our guys defensively. We couldn't get a pass rush. We gave up the big play. They didn't do anything we weren't expecting. They just made plays, and we didn't. We were very disorganized the first quarter and a half defensively."

The Trojans extended the lead to 28-10 in the second quarter when Haugabook connected with Andrew Davis for a 7-yard touchdown pass.

"It was a game where we were able to get the momentum early," Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. "Our offense was able to get some big plays early, usually in man coverage."

"I wasn't really surprised," Haugabook said. "Coach said we had the talent to score points in a hurry. Usually we spend the first quarter trying to figure out the defense and what they're trying to do."

Armstrong finished 35-for-54 for 307 yards and two touchdowns, but threw five interceptions.

"Normally, what a quarterback is supposed to do is take care of the ball," Armstrong said. "I really did a horrible job in that regard. I stepped out of the system and tried to force too many things. I had a really bad night."