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Nick Fanuzzi was 30 of 43 for 405 yards and three touchdowns passing to lead Rice to a 41-37 win over UTEP Saturday.
Vance McDonald caught eight passes for 157 yards and a touchdown, and Tyler Smith caught eight catches for 74 yards for the Owls (3-6, 2-4 Conference USA), who ended a three-game losing streak.
Nick Lamaison was 16 of 29 for 294 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Miners (4-5, 1-4). Mike Edwards had seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns.
Fanuzzi put Rice on top 34-31 with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Taylor with 7:59 remaining. After Bryce Callahan intercepted Lamaison for a second time, Fanuzzi found Randy Kitchens for a 23-yard TD pass with 2:58 to play.
Lamaison threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Leslie with 42 seconds left, but McDonald recovered the onside kick.
Rice finished with 671 yards of offense, third-most in school history. The Miners controlled time of possession by nearly 17 minutes, but had 392 yards on 50 plays, while Rice ran 93 plays.
UTEP got on the board first with a 74-yard pass from Lamaison to Edwards on the third play from scrimmage, but Rice responded with a 44-yard touchdown run by Petersen with 12:15 left in the first quarter.
Jeremy Eddington put Rice ahead 14-7 with a 7-yard touchdown run.
Rice's Chris Boswell connected on field goals of 37 and 23 yards in the second quarter, and Dakota Warren made a 33-yard field goal for UTEP as the Owls took a 20-10 lead.
Leilyon Myers cut the lead to three with a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:11 left in the second quarter, and Myers gave the Miners a 24-20 advantage with another 1-yard touchdown run with a minute left in the second quarter.
Rice retook the lead 27-24 on a 25-yard touchdown from Fanuzzi to McDonald with 6:39 remaining in third quarter, but the Miners answered with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Lamaison to Edwards with 1:13 left in the third.
