Aug. 31 - University of Houston at Rice Stadium - 7 pm (CDT).

HOUSTON (Aug. 29) A puzzled sportswriter once questioned coaching legend Bear Bryant about how his Alabama defensive corner, after blowing his assignment, managed to overtake a much faster -- and wide-open -- enemy running back. "Oh, that other boy, he was just running for a touchdown," The Bear replied. "But my guy he was running for his life!"

That difference in perspective might aptly be applied to Saturday's season-opening matchup between the Rice Owls and the University of Houston Cougars.

Rice head coach Ken Hatfield is philosophical about his team's chances and stresses that, whatever happens, one game does not a season make.

"No matter what, 50 per cent of the teams, in their first games of the season, are going to lose," he told the Webletter. "Half of them are going to lose. It's just a fact of life. There'll be some good teams lose the first week. But that doesn't mean the season's over. It's just that you've gotten beat in one game."

UH head coach Dana Dimel, on the other hand, has no time for such contemplative reflection. Anticipating kickoff in Saturday's Bayou Bucket game, the Coog mentor is trying mightily to shake his charges out of a losing streak that's reached 15 games and counting.

Those Rice boys, nor matter how highly motivated they turn out Saturday, will only be running for touchdowns. The Cougars, on the other hand, indeed, will be running for their lives.

A Rice loss won't sit particularly well in the craws of the Owls and their fans. But it wouldn't be a season ruiner, in a year in which heavy graduation losses have provided Coach Hatfield's staff with somewhat more leeway than usual in the anticipated results just don't mention the word, "rebuilding."

Houston, on the other hand, is staring at a "must" win, if there ever were one. New U of H athletics director Dave Maggard admitted as much in the form of a half-joking quip when introducing Coach Dimel at Thursday's Bayou Bucket luncheon. "This game, coach, after all is said and done, isn't a matter of life and death," the UH AD admonished his head man. "It's more important than that."

The UH coach is being coy about his quarterback position, saying he won't name the number one man until just before kickoff.

The two, relatively healthy pretenders to the throne are redshirt freshman Barrick Nealy and junior Nick Eddy. Eddy has appeared to have the superior fall practice but he does have only one more year of eligibility left, after this one, before he graduates, er, de-matriculates, while Nealy has shown a great degree of raw talent in the brief time he's spent working out at QB for the Coogs.

"Barrick continues to get the full grasp of the system, so each day is an improvement for him," said Dimel.. "Nick is trying to make up for the 10 days that he missed (due to a hamstring injury), and I see him coming along and making more and more plays."

Either way, expect the Coogs to try and establish a running game, early – something that they weren’t able to do against the Owls in last year’s game, or against just about anyone else, for that matter.

For Rice, success in this game may be rooted in simply not shooting oneself in the foot..

"The biggest thing this week is us controlling what we do well," Coach Hatfield told press. "We were able to benefit from watching other people play this past weekend. Virginia, playing at home, certainly hurt itself by turning it over five times. Also, you saw an Iowa State team that came back on Florida State. That's something else you can use: that you can never let down and always try to play your best.":

Despite the loss of eight starters on offense, the Owls have returned their chief skill position players. But they’ll need to be supported by a fairly green offensive line, whose members will have about ten minutes’ time to be able to jell and play like veterans, come Friday – or face losing the Bayou Bucket to the Coogs.

Just for funsies, the wily old Old Hatfield has shuffled the deck on the Rice depth charts, come Saturday. Little-tested Marcus Battle has moved ahead of Gavin Boothe (check-mark), Jeremy Hurd (brand-new checkmark), John Brock, Ryan Simonak and Ben Wiggins. But likely each and every one of the aforementioned wideouts will see at least some action Saturday, Coach said.

Junior Stanford transfer Mike Holman has moved into the starting LT spot over junior Chris DeMunbrun – not an altogether unexpected development, as Mike brought starting experience and a hefty degree of credentials with him from the Farm.

In a couple of slight backfield surprises, converted QB Joe Moore has moved ahead of three-letterman senior Sean White at the left halfback spot, while senior Vincent Hawkins is running just ahead of soph Clint Hatfield at the other running back position.

Nice distinction, however, as all the aforementioned will likely get plenty of reps on Saturday.

Defensively, LB Jeff Vanover and DL B. J. Forguson, both coming off of career-postponing injuries, B. J. to the back and Jeff to the knee. Both have pranced around the Rice practice field with great alacrity this August, and if they can play healthy and stay healthy, to slam on Rice’s defensive as being awfully green will be much muted.

Of course, Lombardi Award nominee DL Brandon Green is quietly waiting in the wings. After his big game against the Coogs at Robertson Stadium last fall, why shouldn’t he be?

Look, win or lose, it’s time to tee it up, Coach Hatfield told press. The Owls’ll be alright this year, regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s game.

"We're just anxious to finally play somebody," Coach said. "The Bayou Bucket is enough motivation to make this an exciting game for everybody. We are physically in good shape for the game; we don't have anybody out for the season like we did this time last year with four or five guys out."

The cards will need to fall the Coogs’ way, in order for the East Side crew to steal a win, and the Bucket, away from Rice Stadium. An inexperienced quarterback – whomever that turns out to be – will have to play like a veteran and minimize mistakes. None of that throwing an interception on the first play, like the Coogs managed at Robertson last year.

OK, so the Coogs have terrific athletes at running back, receiver, OL, DL, etc., etc.

If so, they must not be very smart, because Houston coaches have directed excellent defensive and offensive attacks at other locales.

Coog defensive coordinator Dick Bumpas is known as a wizard against the option offense, but he’s only 1 and 2 against his old coaching colleague Ken Hatfield since arriving on Cullen Boulevard.

The reason? Ask, perhaps, Boise State, an extremely talented team, with great skills, tools, size and speed who just happened to have their fannies handed to them, 45-14, on the Rice Stadium turf last fall – all because their scholar-athletes were bumfuzzled by Rice’s offensive sets.

The Coogs, lining up against the Owls, certainly will be big enough, fast enough, and strong enough to be able to run for their lives successfully. The question is, will they know which way to run?

University of Houston Owlinks.....

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Sept. 8 -   Duke University

At home against Duke, tables are turned – if there is a non-conference "must" game on the Owl schedule, this one is it.

Duke went 0-and-11 last year, although they played several good teams close. Looking at this year’s schedule, the Blue Devils might well be penciling this one in as a game that’s there for the upset.

The situation might be replicative of Rice’s home game against Northwestern in 1998, when then-Wildcats coach Gary Barnett pulled out every trick play in the book to eke out a 23-14 win over an uninspired Institute team.

The temptation will be for the Owls to try to just keep from losing this one. Let’s hope they don’t play that way.

Duke brings in plenty of aerial power in proficient passer D. Bryant, who late last season threw 16 straight completions and got 3 Tds and 310 yards in a narrow loss to NC State. D. can throw to several talented receivers this year, including Mike Hart, Ben Erdeljac, Kyle Moore and Jeremy Battier (basketball star Shawn’s little brother).

So  it looks like pass defense will be a big key in the Owls’ first two games, the kind of "D" that starts with pressure on the quarterback.    The key to the Duke game, in any case:   Owl "D" to pressure Duke's "D".  Larry Brown, Brandon Green -- are you guys ready to go?

Duke Owlinks

The Owls travel to Lincoln to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers before their usual packed house --  a deed which stacks up as no small task . Not too many outfits have had much luck in recent decades with that bunch on their home turf.

But Coach Hatfield is undeterred. "It helps out enormously to have 26 seniors. They’ve played at Michigan and Oklahoma, and we played hard all the time," he said.

"I never went in (to Norman last year) thinking we weren’t going to win the ballgame."

Indeed, the Owls gave the national champions a run for their money – with Ben Wulf, their fourth - string quarterback at the helm, late in the third quarter, the Flock was down only 21-14, and had the ball at midfield. Many OU fans said the Rice game was as tough a test as the Sooners faced all year – at least at home.

So Coach Hatfield plans on taking a little bit of that same mojo up to Lincoln in September. He’s planning on doing a little more than to just "save the equipment," in the words of former Owl coach Ray Alborn. "We'll go up there thinking we will win the ballgame," he said.

In fact, the key for respectability in this game for the Owls will hinge on whether they come out and play like they did against the Sooners last fall in Norman, or whether they lay an egg early, like they did against Michigan at Ann Arbor. (The Wolverines went out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter in that one, most of their largesse occasioned by Owl jitters.)

This year, as usual, the Huskers are picked atop the Big 12's North Division.   They return Heisman Trophy candidate Eric Crouch at quarterback.  They play eight of their games at home,  including bouts with Notre Dame, Kansas State and Oklahoma.

But this Goliath is not without chinks in his armor. Nebraska returns "only" 12 starters from last year's 10-2 team.  Except for Crouch, many of last year's top performers at the offensive skill positions have used up their eligibility.

Former Rice assistant Craig Bohl heads up the Nebraska defensive staff for the second straight year.  He'll have some holes to fill, but, of course, is not without a raft of superior athletes from which to choose.  Some of those include tackle Manaia Brown, LB T. J. Hollowell, DE Chad Kelsay, CB Keyou Craver, and LB Scott Shanle.

Dahhran Diedrick stacks up as the Huskers' top returning running back, and TE Tracey Wistrom will catch a lot of balls and pound a lot of people.

The Owls will enter Cornhusker Stadium with heads high, but not too many teams have left there with a winning ledger in recent decades.

Nebraska Owlinks....

Sept. 29 - University of Hawaii at Honolulu, Hawaii. - 11:00 p.m. (CDT).  Western Athletic Conference Game.

The Flock will get a week off to rest after the Nebraska game, before having to travel to the Islands to take on Hawaii in the conference opener Sept. 29.

"It’s a real plus to have that week off before going to Hawaii," Coach Hatfield said. "You either have to have a week off before, or a week off after you make that trip because it helps with what you’re doing. It makes a big difference."

The last time the Owls made the trip to Hawaii, two years ago, they left on a Tuesday for a Saturday game, and holed up at a remote hotel on one of the outer islands. The result was a resounding, 38-19 win against a Rainbow Warrior team that won eight games and went to a bowl in '99.

That was followed last year by a relatively easy Owl win in Rice Stadium, 38-13.

If the Warriors, or whatever politically correct name they’re calling themselves this year, make as big a comeback from their Y2K 3-9 season as did Hawaii coach June Jones did over the winter, they’ll be a team to be reckoned with.

Jones suffered a horrible, one-car auto accident last February from which he virtually came back from the dead – one tough guy, for sure. It remains to be seen, however, just how much overtime  he and his staff will be able to put in, to assemble a solid defensive unit to go along with their always- effective passing attack.

Coach Jones had to sit out spring practice, which was led by Associate Head Coach George Lumpkin.  He's in charge of the defense, and will need to fill several holes with newcomers, in a Hawaii defense that was among the most porous in the league last year.

But Warrior QB Timmy Chang returns as a sophomore with a full year's experience (and WAC Freshman of the Year honors) now under his belt, and a host of talented pass-catchers as targets.

Specfically, Hawaii's four top receivers return -- Channon Harris, Craig Stutzman, Justin Colbert and Ashley Lelie.  And most of last year's offensive linemen are back as well.

So the game appears to stack up as similar in circumstance to the '99 game played on the islands.  Hawaii will have potent weapons on offense, but they should be vulnerable, defensively, against the run.

The key for the Owls against Hawaii:   conscientious and opportunistic pass defense, winning the time of possession game  -- and staying away from the Hula Girls -- and the Institute just might begin conference play 1-0.

Hawaii Owlinks

Boise started out the year 0-for-2 against solid BCS opponents, losing to South Carolina on the road and Washington State at home. That was followed by consecutive lopsided wins against UTEP (42-17) and the University of Idaho (45-13).

One thing’s for sure: although known primarily around the country as That Team with the Blue Astroturf Stadium, this is an outfit that knows how to win. "They've been one of the winningest programs in America the last 10 years," Rice head coach Ken Hatfield warned. "They've won two bowl games in a row; they've beaten UTEP twice in the same year; you know they've played some tough people.

"South Carolina has had a great year, they had a big victory over Alabama, and that's who they opened up with on the road. They lose to Washington State, another good big, physical team. They've played some very tough competition."

The Broncos feature a well-balanced offensive attack, led by sopohomore quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie, who leads the WAC in passing efficiency. His favorite receiver is junior WR Lou Fanucchi.

The top runner is junior tailback Brock Forsey, who’s had two straight 100-yard games in the Broncos’ wins against UTEP and Idaho. Forsey is ably backed up at the tailback spot by sophomore David Mikell, who rushed for 64 yards in 11 carries against arch-rival Idaho last week.

Defensively, the Broncs are led by junior free safety Quintin Mikell, who earned co-defensive player of the year honors last year in the Big West Conference. Junior defensive tackle anchors the front line for BSU.

The Broncos also have a potent weapon in place kicker Nick Calaycay, who is on the Lou Groza Award watch list for the second straight year. Calaycay made 15 out 16 field goal tries last year. Hmm. Wonder if he’s got a little brother?

It’s difficult to play the comparison game in attempting to get any idea of how Rice and Boise State might match up in this, the first meeting ever between the two schools.

On paper, Boise would seem to have the edge. They defeated UTEP last year in the Humanitarian Bowl – their second win in a row in that bowl game, played in their home stadium. The Owls were a loser to UTEP in El Paso, a few weeks earlier.

Though they’re only 2 and 2, their two losses came against some pretty stiff competition.

But league teams from the western part of the WAC always have had trouble in Rice Stadium – just as Rice has usually had problems with road games to the west coast.

Boise comes in as a 4 ½ point favorite. But ask Utah, BYU, New Mexico, Colorado State and a few other programs who’ve come to Houston to play with high expectations of themselves and much less so of the Owls. They all got their fannies handed to them.

Will the same thing happen to Boise?

Boise  State Owlinks

Oct. 13  -- U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland (11 a.m. CDT).

The irony of the situation is that Rice may own a greater talent edge over this Navy team than any other program on its schedule this year.  But yet this match is going to be an extremely difficult one for the Owls to win because of Navy's propensity to out-do Rice at its own game, in playing with discipline, hanging close, not beating themselves, and using the home-field advantage.

The last time the Owls traveled to Annapolis, in 1994, with Chad Nelson at the helm,  Rice came into that game needing a win to go to a bowl game.  But the Owls were knocked off, 29-17,  by a Navy team that entered the game with a 2-7 record.

That point ought to be driven home by Coach Hatfield to his squad repeatedly this week.

In two Rice-Navy games played in the past decade at Rice Stadium, however, the Owls came out on top in both, in equally close matchups.

Still, despite the slight feeling of angst that the trip to Annapolis may bring to the long-time Rice fan, this trip is a great one for the Owls to be making, because it is one of the rare times when the proverbial even playing field is being tested.  And the military pageantry is stirring as well -- particularly in times like these.

The Midshipmen  -- we won't refer to them androgenously as "the Mids" -- are led ably by quarterback Brian Madden.  Midshipman Madden missed the first two games of the season, but was back in full form by the Air Force game last week, which was played in Annapolis.  Navy's still winless after the AFA game, but they came darn near to pulling off the upset, losing out 24-18.

Navy was driving for the winning touchdown in the waning moments of the game when an errant pass bounced off a Navy receiver's hands and into the arms of an Air Force defender.

Madden brings both running and passing skills to the Navy attack, which Coach Charlie Weatherbie has diversified somewhat, since the last time Rice has seen his team, in a 20-17 win in Houston year before last.

Madden throws to several receivers, primarily among them Jeff Gaddy and Tony Lane.

Defensively,  the Midshipmen are led by free safety Lenter Thomas, who played his high school ball in the Houston area at 2A East Bernard,  and Matt Brooks   of Laguna Niguel, Cal., who had  11 tackles in the Air Force game.

Navy is going to be ready for the Owls.  They're always ready, but with the close call against Air Force last week, they're bound to be particularly pumped.

The Owls need to follow the usual Hatfield prescriptions -- play within themselves; minimize turnovers; don't give up the big play; hang close for a half; and run the option the way it's sposed to be run.

Ten HUT!  Fall in!

Navy Owlinks

Oct. 20--  University of Nevada at Rice Stadium, 7:00 p.m.  Western Athletic Conference game.

Item 1 for this one is that this Nevada team did beat the Owls, 34-28, last November in Reno to close out a perfectly awful season for Rice. They did it once; they're capable of doing it again.

They shouldn't...but they're capable of it.

The Wolfpack are 1-and-4 on the season with their sole win coming at the hands of Hawaii, in Reno, one week after the Owls dispatched the Warriors with a late rally in Honolulu.

Nevada got an extra week to prepare for Hawaii when its game with San Jose State was postponed as a result of the terrorist attacks in September. The extra time paid off as Nevada overcame penalties and showed offensive balance and stingy defense in crunch time in downing the Warriors in their home and WAC opener, 28-20.

Nevada has gotten solid play for the second year running from quarterback Chris Neill, who gave the Owls fits through the air last year in Reno. But the Nevada offense now features a running threat that it hasn't featured before, in freshman sensation running back Chance Kretschmer, who’ll be gunning against the Owls for five straight games of over 100 yards as the WAC's leading rusher – and the nation's second-leading rusher. 

Last year's leading receiver, Nate Burleson, has 32 catches for 339 yards and two touchdowns for 67.8 yards per game. Jermaine Brown has 21 catches for 231 yards and leads with 11.0 yards per catch. Burleson and Brown share the lead with two touchdowns each.

On the defensive side, sophomore Daryl Towns leads the team with 44 tackles, 27 of them solos and Ronnie Hardiman is next with 35 tackles and 23 solos. Sophomore Jorge Cordova leads with five tackles for loss (18 yards) and paces the squad in sacks with four. Hardiman is first in the WAC interceptions with three and fourth in the NCAA.

This game stacks up with Rice’s needing to establish two things: first, they need to be able to run the ball with consistency against Nevada’s defense and control the clock. Nothing new about that.

And second, the Rice defense needs to throw Nevada’s ace freshman just a little off his running game. He can get his 100 – only not in big chunks.

If the Owls can control the ball sufficiently, it won’t matter what kind of day Neill is having through the air and Kretschmer is having on the ground. They won’t see the ball enough to be able to score the points to win.

But if the Rice offense sputters – with illegal procedure penalties, offsides and like, and a lack of production up the middle – the Owl defense could have its hands full with the variety of offensive weapons Nevada features.

Nevada Owlinks
Nevada SID game release

Oct. 27 - Louisiana Tech at Ruston, La., 1:30 p.m. (CDT) Television:   Fox Sports Net.  Western Athletic Conference game.

The folks at Lousiana Tech say this upcoming game with Rice is their biggest contest in ten years. It’s no trivial occasion for the Owls, as well. A road win here would be a huge boost in, well, just about any kind of aspirations of any manner harbored by the Institute.  A loss wouldn’t be crushing, but it just wouldn’t help a bit.

And a win is not going to be easy for the Owls to come by. To play the comparisons game, two weeks ago, Auburn at home pushed then number-one-ranked Florida all over the field before finally kicking them into submission with a 23-20 win. And then last week, at that same Jordan-Hare Stadium, the Techsters came in and pushed Auburn all over the field before finally losing in overtime, 48-41.

Luke McCown, the Bulldogs’ phenomenal sophomore quarterback– and the third of the heralded McCown brothers to emerge from Jacksonville, Texas, and play major college quarterback – completed 27 of 52 passes for 381 yards, but threw five interceptions. And if the Tigers hadn’t been able to grab hold of each and every one of them, they’d likely have gone down to a shocking defeat. 

After trailing by 18 points at halftime, the Bulldogs outscored Auburn 28-10 in the final two quarters of regulation to force overtime. "Fortunately we were playing at home," said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville. "We knew La. Tech had a good team." 

The Bulldogs are 3-3 with wins over SMU (36-6), San Jose State (41-20) and at Nevada (45-42). Tech’s losses have come at the hands of Oklahoma State (30-23), Fresno State (38-28) and Auburn, all on the road.

Besides Mr. McCown, Tech coach Jack Bicknell has seen his offense bloom with the emergence of junior running back Joe Smith who has recorded 340 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the past three games. Not coincidently, during that three-game stretch, the Bulldog offense has scored 40 or more points in each game.

Sounds pretty grim. But there are some positive aspects to consider. Tech is not exactly a defensive juggernaut, especially against the rushing game.

This is the Bulldogs’ first time ever, to go against Ken Hatfield and his option attack. Expect the Tech defense to come out mobile, agile, hostile and undisciplined.

Rice needs to shorten the field, shorten the game, shorten everything. If the Owl offensive line can perform as well as it did the second half of the Nevada game, the fullback position should be able to make a big contribution to the Rice offense – especially the way Robbie Beck has been playing. And Jamie Tyler is expected back, as well.

You know "the formula." If Rice’s basic, no-frills offense can click, and the ball control game can function; if the Owls avoid turnovers and giving up the big play; if the defense plays with the greatest possible intensity and gets stingier as it gets backed towards its own goal – then this one ought to be a barn-burner. And the Owls will have a chance to pull off the win. A darn good chance.

Louisiana Tech Owlinks

Nov. 3 - Fresno State University at Fresno, Cal., 6:00 p.m. (CST) Western Athletic Conference game. (TV:   Channel 51)

Let's face it, pre-season,  even the most die-hard of Owl fans had a couple of games on this year's Rice schedule x'ed off as definite "L"s -- one was Nebraska, and the other was Fresno, on the road.

Fresno Owlinks

November 10 -- University of Tulsa at Rice StadiumPaso, 2:00 p.m. (CST) Western Athletic Conference game. Rice Homecoming.

We’ve been informed that the "Golden Hurricane" nickname for Tulsa was a name given by 1889 land rushers to the ubiquitous dust storms that seemed to keep blowing up in their newly- acquired Oklahoma  territory. And a dust storm pretty aptly describes the course that outspoken  Keith Burns’ program has been taking this year, losing seven in a row after a season-opening victory.

Burns stirred up a little bit of dust himself last year as he made some bold assertions after Tulsa came out of Rice Stadium with a 23-16 victory, one of five wins, four in the WAC, that  TU was able to pull off in Y2K.  But the former Rice assistant has been unable to follow up on his initial string of successes, in encountering a prolonged sophomore slump in this, his second season to coach at Tulsa.

Pre-season, one would’ve put quarterback Josh Blankenship at the top of Tulsa’s list of standout players. But Coach Burns has drawn heat for making a mid-season demotion of the highly-recruited junior in favor of his own man, freshman Tyler Gooch.

In fact, Burns has pretty much cleaned house of upperclassmen recruited by former Tulsa coach Dave Rader, a close friend of Ken Hatfield’s.

A total of 15 freshmen, sophomores and juco transfers have been elevated to starting spot for Tulsa this season. Of Tulsa’s 22 starters in a 58-0 loss to Oklahoma last week, 12 were either freshmen or sophs.

In fact, about the only familiar face on the Hurricane offensive side will be Donald Shoals, a senior, All-WAC wide receiver who figures to get a lot of balls thrown his way Saturday.

If Tulsa is to seriously challenge the Owls for this game, Shoals will need to huge day, to figure into it. Last year in Tulsa win over the Owls, Shoals did have a big ‘un, adding a 71-yard TD punt return to his eight catches on the day.

Senior place-kicker Chris Earnest also adds a measure of stability. He’s on the short list for the Lou Groza Award this year.

On the ground, TU features running back Eric Richardson, a 5-9, 170-pounder who had 119 yards against Fresno State.

Defensively, junior linebacker Michael Dulaney leads the team in tackles, averaging 10.3 a game. Tulsa’s had injury problems in the defensive secondary and may start as many as three freshman there Saturday against Rice.

Nothing mysterious about the key to the Owls’ fortunes in this game. They simply have to play their own brand of ball and consistently the things they do best -- hog the clock, run the option, and bend but don't break on defense. Coach Hatfield said if they’d beaten Fresno last week, he’d be worried about a letdown – but under the circumstances, he’s confident the Owls will be ready to play.

Tulsa Owlinks

Nov. 17 - University of Texas-El Paso at Rice Stadium, 7:00 p.m. (CDT).   Western Athletic Conference game.

The Rice Owls face the Miners of the University of Texas at El Paso in a battle featuring two teams which appear to be headed in opposite directions.

After tying TCU for the WAC championship last year, the Miners were picked for a first-division league finish in ‘01, but have fallen on hard times after September wins against Texas Southern and Tulsa at home.

But the Owls say they are focusing on their own performance this Saturday, and not paying attention to the ups and downs of their upcoming opponent.

"We have to play at our best this week against UTEP," Rice head coach Ken Hatfield warned. "You know last year at this time we were playing over at their place, and they had a record crowd, to see them tie for their championship. And it was an exciting time for them, and certainly they played extremely well – it was a good moment in their history."

UTEP’s point production has gone up considerably, their last three games, after a rocky offensive start. "I know Gary (Nord) is excited about scoring 30 points late in their game last week," Coach Hatfield said, "and I know that they’ll be really ready to play. We know how tough they were last year, and that’s what we’re preparing for – the same type of game."

UTEP’s main offensive weapon is WR Lee Mays, with whom the Owls are plenty familiar. Mays had several big catches against Rice last year in the Sun Bowl, to keep drives alive for the Miners. He’s just 69 yards away from setting a UTEP career receiving record, which now stands at 2,882 yards.

Gary Nord had been starting his young quarterback Greg Schaper since midseason, after it became clear the Miners were out of the WAC race. But he learned Monday that Schaper tore a groin muscle in the first half Saturday against Louisiana Tech and will be out for the rest of the season.

That means veteran QB Wesley Phillips will get the starting nod against the Owls. Wesley comes from a solid football pedigree, as he’s the son and grandson of former NFL coaches Wade and Bum Phillips, respectively. Phillips can throw the ball; he did so for over 300 yards in the first half alone, against San Jose State Oct. 20.

Senior RB Chris Porter is leading the Miner rushing corps, averaging 52.4 yards per game.

Defensively, the Miners are young, being led by freshman linebacker Robert Rodriguez, who had 22 tackles against SMU two weeks ago.

It remains for the Owls to focus on winning one game at a time, and disregarding what may or may not happen in the smoke-filled rooms of bowl impresarios, according to Coach Hatfield.

"The thing we always talk about is that we have no control over things that go on behind closed doors," Coach Hatfield said. "The only thing we have control over is to be a team that's good, that's exciting, that would be a team -- if we finish out the season good and get invited to a bowl --that would be worthy and a good opponent for somebody in a postseason game. That's all we can control right now."

UTEP Owlinks....

Nov. 25 - Southern Methodist University at Dallas, Texas, 2:00 p.m. (CDT). Western Athletic Conference game.

SMU Owlinks