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Rice powers Rutgers' rout of Ball State

Jan 5, 2008 - 10:35 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Rutgers hopes running back Ray Rice did not play his final game. But if it was his final appearance for the Scarlet Knights, he made it a memorable one.

Rice rushed for a school-record 280 yards and four touchdowns Saturday - one on a 90-yard gallop - as Rutgers routed Ball State, 52-30, in the International Bowl for its second consecutive bowl victory.

The Scarlet Knights' 37-10 win over Kansas in last season's Texas Bowl was the first bowl victory in the school's 131-year history.

Rice shattered his previous school rushing mark of 243 yards set earlier this season in a 41-6 victory over Army.

If the New Rochelle, New York native returns for his senior season - instead of opting for the NFL draft - he will have a chance to break Ron Dayne's NCAA record for career rushing.

Rice, the fourth-leading rusher in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season, entered Saturday's contest with 4,646 yards. That put him less than 1,800 yards shy of Dayne's mark of 6,397 set at Wisconsin from 1996-99.

Rutgers fans at the Rogers Centre serenaded Rice with chants of "one more year!", but he was non-committal about his future.

"Me and coach (Greg Schiano) will get to sit down once we get back to New Jersey," said Rice, also Rutgers' career leader in touchdowns with 49. "It's always great to know your fans are behind you."

On Saturday, Rutgers (8-5) relied heavily on the running of their powerful back, who carried 35 times - 21 in the first half, when the Scarlet Knights built a 24-9 halftime.

Counting the bowl game, Rice finished the year with 2,012 yards, setting a Big East single-season record. The 280 yards Saturday was the third-highest total in a bowl game.

"He ran the way he has done his whole career," Schiano said. "You don't go over 2,000 yards in a season. But this guy does - game in and game out."

Rutgers' defense held Ball State (7-6) to three field goals in the opening 30 minutes and sacked Cardinals' quarterback Nate Davis five times (seven overall).

Rice's 90-yard run - Rutgers' longest play from scrimmage this season - staked the Scarlet Knights to a 31-9 lead less than four minutes into the third quarter.

"When a guy rushes for that many yards, you got to do a better job of tacking," Ball State coach Brady Hoke said. "We just didn't get that done."

Although the Scarlet Knights expeienced somewhat of a letdown after last season's storybook run, they still went 8-5 and have won 19 games in the last two campaigns.

In 2006, Rutgers posted the best year in school history, finishing 11-2 and going from perennial laughingstock to a legitimate contender for a BCS bowl.

On Saturday, Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel also exploited Ball State's porous defense, completing 16-of-25 passes for 303 yards. He threw two scores in the fourth quarter after the Cardinals had closed within 38-23.

Tell established another school mark with 20 touchdown passes this season.

Davis finished 25-of-49 for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Dante Love caught 13 passes for 169 yards for the Cardinals.

Ball State dropped to 0-5-1 in bowl games.