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Rice-SJSU game statistics.... Rice-SJS photo gallery..... San Jose State 20, Rice 17
The Owl offense ran virtually at will, amassing some 400 yards rushing (minus sacks). But a fumble here, a blocked field goal there, kept the Owls back on their heels in a game they could have--and should have-- won, going away. But it was one uncharacteristic move by the the Rice coaching staff midway in the second quarter, that totally changed the complexion of the game. The Owls already were ahead, 7-3, having amassed 180 yards on the ground. In addition to an 80-yard TD drive, they had moved into scoring position again, early in the second quarter, when a drive was thwarted by a Jamie Tyler fumble. Rice was in the process of completing a third, ground-gobbling, clock-eating long drive, when they faced fourth and one and the SJS 8 yard line. Now, mind you, the Spartans had not stopped the Rice offense all day, and the Rice line charge was blowing SJS off the ball. What does Ken Hatfield usually do when he's facing fourth-and-one? Why, go for it, of course, no matter the field position. No time to turn conservative This time, however, he chose to take the three points. Only the Owls didn't get it. The low-trajectory field-goal try was blocked, and SJS LB Samson Sherrod picked up the ball and lumbered 65 yards to the Rice 20. The Spartans scored three plays later, and instead of 14-3 Rice, it was 10-7, SJS.
Griffin had 56 out of the Owls' 80 yards on the first TD drive, scoring from the one. During the drive, Rice had to overcome a second-and-26 after a questionable offensive pass-interference call on Jason Blackwell. Before the Owls' first score, the Spartans had held a 3-0 lead on a 46-yard knuckleball of a field goal by punter Tim Morgan. It was the left-footed kicker's first field-goal try as a collegian. Chad Richardson had a fine day on the ground, but a frustrating one in the air. Passing under a heavy rush and usually when everyone in the stadium knew it was a passing down, he was only 3 for 11, for 33 yards. Rushing, Chad finished with 15 carries for 123 yards. Midway into the second quarter, with both Richardson and Griffin lopping off big chunks of yardage every time they carried, it looked as if Rice were in great shape. Then came the ill-fated field goal attempt, and Rice had to work against the clock to get close enough for Scott Grimes to convert a 40 yard field to tie the game at 10, going into the locker room. By halftime, Rice had gained 257 yards rushing--over half of it from Griffin--and controlled the clock. Second half started out well enough
San Jose coach Dave Baldwin decided to change his quarterback rotation policy and leave in senior Chris Kasteler the third quarter. He responded by going 12-for-14 on the day passing, for 169 yards. The ensuing SJS drive consisted basically of two spectacular pass receptions--the first going for 42 yards to Shawn Green on third-and-long, and the next for 22 yards and the score to WR Oliver Newell. The receivers appeared well-covered in both cases, but were able to make circus catches on passes thrown by a QB with much too much leisure time in the pocket. The zebes were dropping flags every other play in the first quarter, but then put them back in the pocket when scoping out the Spartans' grabby offensive line in the second half. The Rice defense remains 1-for-the-year in quarterback sacks. Down 17-10, the Owls hitched up and drove again. Chad Richardson cut inside for a broken- field 25-yard run, but the ball was punched from his grasp at the SJS 15, the Spartans recovered, and the Owl drive was foiled again. The Rice defense held, and after the ensuing punt, Rice took over with good field position. Michael Perry was ineffective subbing in for Anthony Griffin, who had left the game with an apparent twisted ankle. But Chad kept things rolling, until Rice faced fourth and 4 at the SJS 26. With the crowd on its feet, the Spartans fiercely pursued the pitch man on the Rice option--too fiercely, it turned out, because Owl WR Matt Weber took the reverse for 26 yards and a tying TD on his first collegiate carry. Seven minutes remained, and it appeared a stop on defense would put the Owls in position to drive for the winning score. But it was not to be. Instead, the Spartans drove 52 yards in 11, time-consuming plays to set up the winning, 24-yard field goal by David Silberstein. Most of the yardage was gained in the air, including two, key third-down passes where QB Kasteler narrowly escaped blitzing Owl defensive ends. Rice wound up punting only twice on the day, on their opening possession of each half. Every other possession, the Owls picked up yards, but failed to score on four possessions ended by key breakdowns--two lost fumbles, the blocked field goal, and a missed 34-yard attempt in the second quarter. San Jose State, on the other hand, had zero turnovers--continuing a turnover-free string of 15 quarters. Rice-SJS photo gallery..... Rice-SJSU game statistics..... Usually Patton-like
Hatfield Former '49ers coach Bill Walsh called it. Just about every one of the announced Spartan Stadium crowd of 13,668 expected it. But this time, the Owls didn't go for it on fourth down--and their failure to do so looks to be a back-straining straw in a Rice season that continues to go nowhere, fast. Midway in the second quarter, facing fourth-and-one at the SJS eight yard line--and already having cranked up 180 yards rushing by blowing the Spartans off the scrimmage line and outsprinting them to the outside--the Rice coaching staff elected to bring in their place kicker and pick up a more-or-less automatic field goal. One could hear the coaching wheels turning on the sidelines: Heck, we've been running on them all day. Let's just pick up our three here, stuff 'em and come back and do it again. Coaching icon Bill Walsh begged to differ on that call. The NFL great and former Stanford mentor was at the game to be inducted into the Spartan Hall of Honor--he's an SJSU alum. Walsh told SJS radio announcers at halftime he couldn't believe Rice didn't go for it, after pushing the SJS line around all day. For that matter, he said, he'd likewise have gone for the first at the end of the half when the Owls, on the Spartan 23, opted for a then-successful field-goal try. Of course, he doubtless wasn't aware that the Rice field goal kicker has the occasional nasty habit of kicking the football into the fannies of his offensive lineman. But in all likelihood the Spartan defense was so informed. To compound the problem, the coaching staff appeared slow to decide, and the field goal unit was late getting onto the field. But instead of calling time out, the Owls rushed to get the kick away. SJS cornerback Omar Smith keyed on the play clock--6-5-4--and started his approach as it wound down--3-2--and crossed the line of scrimmage just as the ball was snapped. He wasn't picked up, so he was in easy position to make the block, and the ball bounced into the hands of SJS linebacker Samson Sherrod, who was ten yards behind any Owl and in the clear for an apparent TD runback. Rice RB Keilone Gordon ran for his life--he must have made up at least 10 yards in the 62 that Sherrod rambled before Keilone shoestringed him at the Rice 20. But the Spartans were pumped by the shocking turnaround. For the only time all day, they moved the ball on the ground, and scored in three plays. The damage was done. Instead of a 14-3 lead, the Owls trailed 10-7 after completely dominating the Spartans the first half. If the Owls had failed in the fourth-down attempt, SJSU still would've had the ball deep in its own territory, with no reason to expect an offensive turnaround. And Rice still would have been ahead instead of behind. The Owls were on the defensive for the rest of the game. The need to play catch-up ball altered the game plan just enough to play away from Rice's advantages--and into the hands of San Jose State. If the talent edge--and the overall Rice effort--had held sway, the Owls would now be 2-0 in conference and have reason to pick up a little spring in the step despite three frustrating non-conference losses. Instead, the Owls appear now to be relegated to playing the rest of the season for funsies Bad Day at Black Rock for
smart guys Rice, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Stanford and Duke have at least two things in common: for one, they're the five private schools consistently listed as among the top 20 national universities who play division 1A football. And for another, each one of them has seen scant success on the gridiron this year. After games of October 10, they collectively held a 6-22 won/loss record on the '98 grid campaign. And two of those six wins came against each other--Northwestern against Rice and Duke against NU. Former Rice assistant Tyrone Willingham appears to be presiding over a downward spiral at The Farm. The Redskins* lost to mediocre Oregon State last week at home, the coup de grace occurring on a fumbled kickoff in the end zone. The Beavers scored two TDs on Indian fumbles, and 1-5 Stanford now should be hard-pressed to win any of its remaining games. Vanderbilt remained winless, losing 27-24 at home to Western Michigan. Maybe coach Woody Wiedenhofer needs to fumigate the stadium each week, after hosting Bud Adams' NFL operation. He had a chance for a minor bowl last season, if only he could've come up with a quarterback. That chance appears lost. Former Rice head coach Fred Goldsmith leads the pack, going 3-3 thus far at Duke. But nothing the Dukies have shown so far indicates they'll be able to challenge seriously in the ACC. The magic touch Fred seemed to have had at Rice lasted exactly seven games at Duke--the length of his initial winning streak at startup. But it's been strictly wait-til-basketball at Durham since then. Northwestern lost 27-25 to Iowa on the road. A 'Cat rally fell short, as coach Gary Barnett no doubt could've used one or two of those trick plays he employed to get the win at Rice. And the Owls--ah, the Owls. This Rice team is exactly four plays away from 4-and-1. But's it's also one play away from 0-and-5. Maybe we should all go over to Telegraph Avenue at Berkeley, and find us a good astrologer. The Golden Bears are the only ones who seem to be living right this year. *The Rice Football Webletter will not use Politically Correct altered
nicknames. (October 6) Rice brings a 1-3 record into the 8:00 p.m. CDT game in San Jose, when the slate certainly should have read 2-2, probably should have been 3-1, but on the other hand might've been 0-4. A win over the Spartans, combined with Rice's season-opening 23-17 overtime win over SMU, would put the Owls 2-0 in what is turning out to be a wide-open free-for-all of a WAC Mountain race. The fact that the Owls came out of September with a 1-0 conference record appears to be the single consoling fact about what thus far has developed into a very frustrating season. What's alarming, however, is the definite backwards direction in which the Owls appear to be going. That's not the usual case for a Ken Hatfield-coached team, which usually sputters in September while the offensive precision gets attuned, but then takes off in October--at least until injuries catch up to it. Two steps forward, three steps backwards
The next week, the Owls appeared to improve slightly--but still could not quite pull off the W against Purdue, a solid Big 10 club. And they lost starting QB Jeremy Bates for the season, to boot. Then, against Northwestern, the wheels came off. NU coach Gary Barnett's riverboat gambler's approach to the game suggested a sense of desperation that seemed, at the time, somehow excessive. Seen in the perspective of Northwestern's two humiliating defeats since then (to Wisconsin, 38-7 and at home to the U of I, 13-10) the situation has become more clear: Gary Barnett had on his hands what was simply a sub-par football team, and he felt forced to pull out all the stops to avoid a loss to Rice which would've set the table for meager vittles indeed in Big 10 play. But guess what? NU needed an onside kick after scoring late, for a chance to win this week over the hapless Illini. So they tried the popup routine again. This, time, though, the opposition was ready for it. Looks like they'd seen the Rice game films. So now Coach Barnett sees his bunch help Illinois snap a 15-game conference losing streak And the situation has gone from bad to worse in Evanston. But wait a minute, we LOST to those guys! Coming out of September 2-and-2, with a conference win over SMU and a win over a-- let's face it-- clearly inferior Northwestern team at home, would have been considered mission more-or-less accomplished. After all, Purdue is a sound football team with a terrific passing offense-- witness QB Drew Brees' 5 aerial TDs Saturday against Minnesota-- and Rice was facing them on the road before a typical Big 10 atmosphere. Out of the mouths of babes...
"Looks like Texas got good again." Yeah, Texas's got good again. And if they continue to perform like they did against Rice Sept. 26, we probably won't see another Owl victory over UT during our lifetime. So, to long-time Owl fans, used to dealing with the art of the possible, the problem appears, not so much with the 1-and-3 record, but with the definite alarming trend towards the rear echelon. The reasons are not entirely apparent, though a few might be suggested. Michael Perry appears to be unable to shake off an ankle injury which has nagged him all year. Jeremy Bates' torn ACL essentially wasted three dozen practices with him at the first-team helm. Chad Richardson is a gamer, with toughness and quickness: Normandy was won with second lieutenants like him leading the platoons. But the season may be too short for him to develop the precision necessary for success with the option, and his pass, unfortunately, is a sidearmed knuckleball. There's more: the Texas game showed just how outmanned the Rice defensive unit typically is, and proved, in the negative, how courageously the defense played it against Purdue and Northwestern. Conference race brings chance for redemption So ample reason exists for diminished expectations. Yet, the second season, with opportunity for redemption, is now upon the Owls. San Jose State looked darn good in wins against New Mexico and Stanford. But they looked not nearly so super in road runaways against the two ranked teams they've played. The Spartans appear, in short, to be a middle-of-the-pack WAC team, with musical quarterbacks--the kind of team Rice has been able to dominate, in the past two years, simply by playing its ball-control kind of game. Thus, it would not appear to take any major software upgrades for Rice to be able to make the necessary mouse-clicks to prevail over SJSU. No huge developments in the passing game would appear necessary. No unsung heroes should have to emerge from the pack. Rice merely should have to do the things that it consistently has done in conference play since joining the WAC-- control the ball, get consistent offensive line play, minimize mistakes, shorten the game, bend but don't break on defense. It hasn't happened consistently over four quarters yet this year. One can hope that the week off will make a difference. This Ken Hatfield team will just have to improve, eventually. TCU improvement, UNM decline, show When Dennis Franchione took over the helm at TCU, he moved a wide receiver to quarterback, several of the offensive unit to defense, and vice-versa. With no great improvement to the talent till, he's taken a faltering TCU program overnight and turned it into a legitimate contender for the WAC Mountain crown. The Frogs were ripe for the picking at home against Vanderbilt, after the emotional win against Air Force the week before. TCU outplayed and out-statted Vandy, but the Commodores almost stole a win. A lesser prepared team would have let it happen. Franchione managed to slam shut the door. TCU has three wins over legitimate, if not overpowering, programs, and lost a game against OU that they shouldn't've. There's no doubt that the Toads should be 4-and-0. Meanwhile, Rocky Long at New Mexico has gone nowhere, fast, with all-conference QB Graham Leigh still at the helm. With recent results at Albuquerque and Fort Worth considered, Coach Franchione has demonstrated that he's simply a coaching genius at evaluating talent. If he can match his on-field skills with recruiting ability, he would appear destined for a top-ten, Enormous State University program. Can the boys at Add-Ran hold on to him, at least for enough years to build a solid, durable program? Let's hope so, for TCU's sake and the sake of the Texas end of the conference. You Froggies tell Dick Lowe to get that checkbook out! Latest Rice, UH attendance shows college football's In its first win of the year, 35-14 over Memphis at Robertson Stadium, the University of Houston drew an announced crowd of 13,140. Earlier in the season, UH did not sell out the 22,000-seat stadium against fifth-ranked UCLA. Meanwhile, Rice drew only 16,400 at home against Northwestern-- compared to 42,500 against SMU, which occurred as a result of months of campaigning and promotion. Indeed, college football continues to be a tough sell in the city of Houston, for both UH and Rice. Admittedly, there are many other fall entertainment activities to tempt John Q. Houstonian. The Astros are (check that, were) in the playoffs. Grand Prix auto racing has moved downtown. The first breath of fall football weather has yet to grace the Bayou City. Yet, the Oilers are gone, and with their departure there's been left a huge entertainment hole in the city spectrum. In Texas, where football is king, the four millions-plus of the city of Houston have only Rice and UH as major college football to address their pigskin yearnings locally. There was a time when being the only game in town meant something. In the early 70s, this writer worked college summers at the William Cameron Co. loading dock on Cullen Boulevard. The old-timers on the dock used to regale with stories about how they'd take the buses down from the wards to pay 35 cents to sit in general admission at Rice Field to watch Bill Wallace, Weldon Humble and Froggie Williams play. It was the only game in town, and it was followed by all. Now, clearly, times have changed and with it have evolved the recreational opportunities of the potential townie fan. Rice and UH partisans alike for years have bemoaned the fickle nature of the average Houstonian sports fan, typically having come from somewhere else and been raised somehow with different interests than we native types. Is Houston the Worst Sports Town in America? Or is it the Dumbest Sports Town in America? Or are Houstonians just The Fans from Somewhere Else? Think about the last time you were at the Astrodome-- was the crowd really into to the game? Did they know when to bear down on the opposition, or did they respondly only lemming-like to the "NOISE!" admonition on the scoreboard? And compare that to a time, perhaps, when you've seen a game at Wrigley Field or Fenway Park. Did they need a "NOISE!" sign on the scoreboards there? When has this town responded, en masse, to local sports teams before? Houston has reponded only to a mass media blitz accompanying a championship contender. The city has to have something the non-fan can know to cheer about. And it has to have someone to raise the "NOISE!" sign. (A dumb slogan seems to help, also. Luv ya, Blue! Believe!) Neither Rice nor U of H will have a chance to capture a decent share of the local sports dollar without creating a winner of consistent bowl-game or Big Dance level. The folks in Quail Valley won't pay attention otherwise--and neither will the Chronicle or the TV talking heads. Now, that's a tall order. The Coogs have got a slight jump on the Owlies--they can recruit anybody with an SAT score higher than "no pulse." Perhaps the Institute has an advantage of its own--it has the endowment to continue to play before sparse crowds ad infinitum, with no need to answer to the voters. Oh, hell, we've all been through this a hundred times before. The Owls and the Coogs have to play the game with the hands they've been dealt. For now, just a few meager suggestions to you fellow Owlybirds out there: Go to the games. Join the Owl Club. Call the talk shows and email the papers and news stations. And, once a year, when Rice is on the road, and the Coogs are at home, pack up a pic-a-nic basket and head over to Robertson. Catch that bus out of the wards of West U. and pay that money for a ticket. It's as good a way as any, to spend a fall Saturday afternoon. (October 7) On the other hand, junior outside linebacker Larry Ruffin (Grapevine) will undergo arthroscopic surgery Thursday on his left knee. He sprained his anterior cruciate ligament in that knee, also in the first half against Northwestern, and has not played since. Hatfied moved Tuesday's workout inside The Astrodome because of heavy rain in the Houston area. "This was a real blessing to be able to work without worrying about the weather," he said after the two-hour practice. "I'm not sure what we would have been able to accomplish outside on a day like today." Rice is 1-3 on the year and coming off its only open date of the year. More importantly, the Owls are 1-0 in Western Athletic Conference/Mountain Division play. San Jose State is 2-3 and 1-0 in the WAC Pacific. (October 5) Hatfield: week off gave Owls time to work with QBs "At the same time, it allowed us to work with some of those young freshmen we have on defense: B.J. Forguson, Ryan Smith and Larry Brown, guys who have been playing a lot." On San Jose State — "San Jose is like us in that they're 1-0 in their division in the WAC. It ought to make for an interesting ball game. They did beat New Mexico pretty strong, and they played a good team in Virginia last weekend, so they've seen the speed of the game at the top level. "They're a good football team. As I watch them on tape, they were not in the ballpark physically with Virginia or Oregon, but those are great teams that can score a lot of points and have beaten a lot of teams badly. San Jose beat Stanford, and it's pretty good to beat a neighborhood team like that. "They're playing two quarterbacks equal time: one plays the first and third quarters, and the other plays the second and fourth. What's amazing about them is that they've had no turnovers in their last two games. When you protect the ball like that and play good, solid defense like they do, it gives you a chance to be as good as you can be." On playing a WAC game again — "Maybe it's like the (Dallas) Cowboys, who didn't win a game in the preseason. They were pointing to the regular season and it worked. There's a new aura of excitement from here on, knowing that all the games are conference games. We learned a lot from those three non-conference games. I think we've benefited from playing those teams; now's the time to see if we've improved. "This is the fun part. It's kind of like the playoffs. Everybody likes to make the playoffs, but then you have to be playing your best. You'd like to have everybody healthy, and you'd like the younger players to have enough experience so that they feel comfortable and they know what it takes to win. "There are a lot of conferences like that. Take the ACC (Atlantic Coast), where Florida State gets beat early. There are probably four teams in that league that think they can win it. Our conference started that way, too. Look at Brigham Young. Who'd have thought Brigham Young would start 2-3 and lose a conference game to Fresno State? TCU upsets Air Force and they're having a great year. Wyoming came back and beat Utah. There are a lot of teams in both divisions who think that they can win it all." On the WAC Mountain Division — "It look's like our half of the WAC is the strongest right now. Air Force is playing as good as anybody, and TCU beats them. Wyoming is playing great. Colorado State is in our half and they were the preseason pick to win the whole thing anyway. SMU won the other day. Tulsa? Lord, Tulsa is about second or third in the nation in total offense. They're having a great year. Tulsa beat Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma State could have beaten Nebraska. I don't think there's any doubt that our half of the league is very strong from top to bottom. "There are a lot of good football teams that we will be playing in the future. Everybody has a lot of confidence because they've had good things happen to them this year. Whichever team wins the Mountain Division will gain a lot of confidence going to Las Vegas." |
(San Jose, CA, Oct.
10) The Rice Owls' hopes for division contention were dealt a major setback
here Saturday by the opportunistic San Jose State Spartans, who won 20-17 on a last-minute
field goal.
Up to that play, the Owls had controlled the game in
the usual way--by the ground attack. Freshman RB Anthony Griffin, subbing for the
hobbled Michael Perry, was too quick on the outside for the Spartan pursuit--but he gained
bunches of yardage on the inside, too, bouncing off would-be tacklers. He finished
with 183 yards on the day, playing only three quarters.
When SJS was stuffed on fourth-and-one at the Rice 40 on the opening
drive of the second half, it looked as if Rice were about to take control of the
game, in any event. But this time, the Owls went nowhere, and an unhurried Scott
Grimes shanked a 15-yard punt.
(Houston,
October 4) The Rice Owls enjoyed an open date this week, allowing them time to scrape
themselves off Interstate 35 after winding up road kill beneath the wheels of Ricky
Williams' Mack truck in Austin. Now, they anticipate an October 10 date with San
Jose State, as a game which should tell whether the Institute is able seriously to contend
for the WAC Mountain Division race, or if instead it is perhaps time for Owl fans to
lower expectations and go into Rebuilding Year mode.
Such hasn't been the case this year. The Owls
played hot-and-cold against what was then thought to be a solidly-contending SMU team in
the season opener--but they did what they had to do to get a win.
And Texas? Well, it may be best expressed in the words of
12-year-old David Hays (dad: John Hays, Weiss '71) who sat with our crew at the the
game: