COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Kenny Hill wasn’t as sharp in Saturday night’s 38-10 victory over the Rice Owls as he has been in his previous two games.

In the opening half, the Owls defense harassed Hill into six incompletions. A&M punted twice in the first half after two rare three-and-out series. The punts were one fewer than the seventh-ranked Aggies had in the first two games combined.

The first half ended with A&M (3-0) leading the Owls (0-2), the defending Conference USA Champions, 21-7. But the game felt so much closer as the A&M defense had a difficult time zeroing in on Rice quarterback Driphus Jackson.

“We had to get ourselves going,” Hill said. “We came out flat. We had to get ourselves going.”

Then Hill and the offense hit zoom drive to open the third quarter. In touchdown drives that lasted all of 1:34 and :33, Hill and company blew open the game. The sophomore quarterback, after a sluggish start, put up some gaudy stats, throwing for 300 yards and four touchdown passes, two of them to Josh Reynolds. He almost had the first rushing touchdown of his career, but an official review overturned the score. They ruled that Hill’s knee hit the 1 after a 39-yard run.

The Owls kept the ball for an astonishing 43 minutes, 14 seconds. But they couldn’t convert their drives into points.

“Where it went wrong, we had six drives of over eight plays where we only had three points,” said Rice coach David Bailiff. “We had a drive of 14 plays where we didn’t score any points. Time of possession is important when you’re getting points out of those drives. If you’re not scoring points, it doesn’t help you.”

As Hill passed his way through the Rice secondary, the Owls’ Jackson was nearly as elusive, albeit with a less talented offensive cast.

Jackson, like Hill, a first-year starter, rushed for 84 yards on 13 carries and threw for 212 with a touchdown. Owls tailback Johan Davis led all rushers with 86 yards on 23 carries.

“We just have to do a better job of putting points on the board,” Jackson said. “We have to take the stress off of our defense.”

Conversely, the Aggies defense hadn’t allowed a team collectively to rush for more than 100 yards in each of its first two games. But A&M defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said in pregame interviews that the Owls, who amassed more than 500 total yards against A&M a year ago, would be a good barometer. Snyder will have one more nonconference game against Southern Methodist next Saturday to fine tune the defense in time for the Aggies next SEC game, Sept. 28 against Arkansas in Arlington, Texas.

“Coach asks us to play smart and play fast,” said linebacker Justin Bass. “It looks like we didn’t play smart.”

Saturday’s game probably will be most remembered for the way the first half ended. It featured one of the strangest sequences college football ever will see.

On the last play, Rice kicker James Hairston looked to have made a 53-yard field goal. Owls players celebrated and sprinted to the locker room. However, officials called the Aggies for an illegal substitution after they counted 12 men on the field. Because it was a dead-ball foul, Rice couldn’t decline it and was forced to try the field goal again.

On the 48-yard attempt, A&M receiver Ricky Seals-Jones blocked the kick. Safety Armani Watts scooped it up at the Aggie 7 and sprinted 93 yards for a touchdown, gutting the Owls to give his team a 28-7 cushion.

Then the officials waved off the score, saying someone on the A&M bench interfered with the play. The Aggies, with one second on the clock, took a knee.

NOTES: The crowd of 103,867 who attended the game will go down as the second largest in the state of Texas to watch a college football game. However, there were 39,271 students. That breaks a national record the Aggies set last Saturday against Lamar, when 38,800 attended. … The Kyle Field ground crew was busy throughout the game. The grass surface was planted last month. Because of torrential rains in the area Friday night, there were broad bald spots all over the field. They were covered with sand. A&M was without three starters, C Mike Matthews (ankle), tight end Cam Clear (ankle) and middle linebacker Jordan Mastrogiovanni (ankle). … A&M freshman Josh Walker started at middle linebacker. He’s the third true freshman to start for A&M in three games. However, in the second half, freshman receiver/returner Speedy Noil, who led the Aggies in all-purpose yards, was taken to the locker room on a cart. A&M freshman defensive end Myles Garrett was credited with 2.5 sacks against Rice to give him 5.5 for the year.

Owls DB Bryce Callahan, whose 11 career interceptions rank third among active NCAA players, couldn’t get a pickoff of Hill. He’s five interceptions away from breaking the Rice school record. Owls DB Malcolm Hill intercepted A&M backup QB Kyle Allen late in the game. … Owls RB Darik Dillard has incredible athletic blood lines. He’s the younger brother of former Rice star WR Jarrett Dillard, who holds the NCAA record with 60 touchdown receptions. His sister, Tai Dillard, was a star basketball player at Texas, playing for the Longhorns Final Four team in 2003.