Rice-Texas game page

Texas 59, Rice 21
Too much Ricky
Owls utterly defenseless
in record-setting UT runaway
(Austin, Sept. 26)   Ricky Williams gained 318 yards rushing and scored six touchdowns as Texas overwhelmed the Rice Owls, 59-21, here Saturday.

Rice coach Ken Hatfield summed up the game succinctly:  "They're bigger than us, they're faster than us, they're stronger than us, and they're a better football team," he said. "And they just beat the dog out of us."     

Spurred by Williams' performance, the Longhorns gained 692 yards, setting  a school record for total offense.  The Longhorn punting unit never took the field.

"I was making moves I've never made before," said Williams.   "It was like, 'Who is this guy?  Where did he come from?'"

Williams' heroics opened up the entire field of play for the Texas offense, and redshirt freshman quarterback took advantage, completing  15 of 21 for 245 yards and two TDs.

Rice first-quarter offensive parity overhwhelmed

Texas set the tone early as they took the opening kickoff 80 yards in nine plays, most of the yardage  being picked up by Williams.

But the Rice offense came storming back, sparked by a nifty 50-yard kickoff return by Michael Perry.  Owl FB Jamie Tyler bounced off a Horn tackler and rambled for 36 to set up his one-yard plunge for the tying TD.

Texas promptly came back and roared another 80 yards, Williams scoring from 16 out, leveling and juking  several Owl would-be tacklers.

The next Rice series stalled, and a short punt set up Texas at midfield.   Again, there appeared to be no stopping the Horn offense, until Rice DE Julian Duncan stripped Ricky Williams of the ball just before he crossed the goal line.  Owl DB Travis Ortega recovered and almost broke loose for a 95-yard fumble return, but was tripped up at the Rice 20.

It was the single defensive highlight of the night for the Owls, but it suggested at the time that Rice might be able to make a game of it.

Never mind.   The Owls were unable to move, punted, and Texas roared back.  Several times.

It was 35-7 just before the half, when Rice beat the clock for the first time this season on a 70-yard drive, Owl QB Chad Richardson completeing three passes to WR Jason Blackwell, and FB Jamie Tyler going over  form the one, on the last play of the half.

Diehard optimists thus could entertain halftime notions that the Owls were still in it--assuming they could take the second half  kickoff and drive it all the way.

No such luck.  The Owls went 1-2-3-kick, the Horns stormed to another score, going up 42-14, and the UT student section moved en masse toward the frat houses.

No use taking up space here to recount the Texas offensive onslaught.   The evening simply could not end soon enough.

Suffice it to say that Ricky Williams appears to be back on track in the race for the Heisman.

"It was evident that they were trying to do that,"  Coach Hatfield said after the game.  "They said they were going to do it and they did it against us.  Ricky has a lot of durability. If he can carry the ball for 30 to 40 times the rest of the season, then my hat's off to him.  But I'm not sure he'll be able to do that."

One thing the Owls won't have to do is face another running back this season like Ricky Williams.

(September 24)
"I'd like to see how they're
doing the measuring"
Coach Hatfield wonders whether UT really
now picking on someone their own size

Rice coach Ken Hatfield told his Quarterback Club Thursday he got a kick out of the headline in the Austin paper earlier this week:  "Texas finally gets to pick on someone its own size."

"I'm not sure of the way they do the measuring over there at Texas," he said.   "I guess I'm going to have to stand beside them during the warmups to be sure they're our size, because we've got the impression that they're just a little bit bigger."

The UT offensive line is the best Rice has faced this year, Hatfield believes.   "They're all 305-325 pounds; last year they just blocked us unmercifully and they're all back his year.   And we couldn't get to Ricky Williams at all.   I know he's champing at the bit."

The only way to contain Ricky, Coach Hatfield said, was exemplified by the Kansas State defensive effort:  just don't let him get started; contain him and keep him to the inside. "People look at Ricky's size and think he's an Earl Campbell-style battering ram inside, but's he's really a big guy who prefers to run outside," Hatfield said. "He's always searching and looking, to hit a crease and get to the outside. Of course he's done it a bunch.  That's why he's a Heisman Trophy candidate."

"I know, after the Kansas State game, that Coach Brown is going to be trying to get him back in the Heisman race.  So he just MAY get the ball a few times this Saturday."

Owl coaches know they've got to concentrate on stoppping Ricky Williams.  But the defensive approach necessary to deal with him will force a lot of one-on-one situations with Horn receivers.

"Major Applewhite, their quarterback, really threw the ball well, when he had the time, in the Kansas State game," Coach said. "He threw the interceptions mainly because he was being harrassed."

Coach Hatfield does not expect the Owls to be without any defensive ammunition when they line up Saturday at Memorial Stadium, however.

"The Northwestern game was the finest defensive effort we've had since I've been here.  Though we lost,  that's the encouraging thing," he said.   "If you look at the film, we haven't had that many people flying around the football, knocking people loose, playing the way we want to be playing-- and it was against a good, big offensive line."

"Our defense played 17 series against Northwestern. Four times they used a trick play on fourth down--and each time  it caused us to have to start all over again." 

Owl fans should expect Chad Richardson to deliver a more sanguine performance against Texas, Hatfield advised.

"It was one thing to come off the bench in the Purdue game--at that time, everybody pulled together in a critical situation.  It's another thing when you're the starting quarterback the whole week.  You've got to realize we worked Jeremy Bates as first team quarterback all spring, all 29 practices in the fall, and then for the first two games.  We've really only had one week of really working with Chad's personality . Maybe working  out of the bootleg and doing some things flushing out of the pocket are more his personality, rather than the things Jeremy does or the things that Chad Nelson used to do for us. So we all have to adjust with Chad to find the things that really fit him best, as a starting quarterback.   He's had a good week.  It just goes back to the fundamentals."

"We could be 3-and-0 or we could be 0-and-3.   We made the plays in the first game.  We didn't in the last two."

Coach Hatfield did deliver an  injury report.  But Horn fans aren't going to read about it here.  Suffice it to say that there may be a surprise or two on Saturday.

Can Rice pull it off?
Can the Owls beat Texas?
Not an easy task.  But it can happen.  Here's how.

The Rice Owls travel to Austin Saturday to take on the Texas Longhorns in a match that Texas partisans, pre-season, had penciled in as a definite win.  Of course, many of those Horn fans, flush with adrenalin over the naming of Mack Brown as UT head coach, had also penciled in a one or two-loss season, a Big 12  championship, and a Heisman Trophy for Ricky Williams.

By now any one of of those accomplishments is problematical.   So should the Rice game no longer be considered a  no-sweat win for the Horns?   Depends more upon what Rice does than what Texas does.

For sure, the Owls have some serious baggage they carry into any game with Texas.   After shedding a 29-year bugaboo with a 19-17 win in Houston in '94, Rice outplayed Texas again last year, only to lose, 38-31. Numerous factors once again inveigh against the Owls' chances this year in Austin.

The Ricky Williams factor.  Ricky Williams is simply a magnificent running back. Last year, Rice had no answer for Ricky,  lacking linebackers and secondary with the speed and range to contain him.  While 'Horn cyberfans may be muttering over his reduced Heisman chances via less-than-spectacular showings thus far this year, Ricky has his  head screwed on straight and should be counted on as a model of consistency. He'll get his yards. He'll get his points. He'll stay healthy. He may yet get the Heisman.

The "We're Texas" factor.   Texas' position in the constellation of college football was enough, practically in itself, to insure victories over Rice for many years.  This current crop of Rice players is less in awe of Texas than their predecessors, but it still seems to take a doubled-up effort for the Owls to prevail.  In '94, Rice outplayed Texas by three touchdowns and won, 19-17.  In '97, the Owls outplayed Texas again and lost.  Go figure.

The backs-against-the-wall factor.  Once again, the Horns take on the Owls, having just lost a lopsided game to a formidable opponent.  Once again, there is a feeling that the Rice game is a "must win" in order for Texas to right the ship in preparation for the conference race.  Again, Rice is being taken more seriously than it would be, were Texas sailing on, undefeated against A&M-quality nonconference competition.

Add to that a large, and at least initially vociferous Memorial Stadium  crowd , and you can forget about the fact that the Horns were drubbed 48-7, last week, by the Kansas State Penitentiary.  They'll be ready.

College football, as an extension of politics by other means...

And yet, in college football, as in other forms of politics, the worm slowly turns, and nowadays, Rice has a few intangible factors going for it, too, in lining up against Texas.

The service-academy-offense factor.  Rice runs an offense that opposing teams see once, perhaps twice in a season.  It takes extra time to prepare for it, and throws a team off its seasonal schedule.  Gary Barnett last year called it "goofy" and "a waste of time," did nothing special to prepare for it and promptly got his fanny beat at home. This year, he worked in the summer on a special defense and a bag of trick plays, used them both against Rice, and snookered away a win.  But the exception proves the rule.  Texas, frankly, has bigger fish to fry than Rice, and, while Mack III may be able to put in a few defensive wrinkles to defense the option, he can't dedicate the time to set up an entire, new defense to cover it.

The something-to-prove factor.  Rice fans still chafe at the high-handed arrogance of some--not all--of the UT faction (the initials "D.D." come to mind) in beating up on TCU, SMU and Rice year after year, while at the same time decrying how much "welfare" money was being "siphoned" by the "weak sisters."  In the conference realignment wars, Rice stands, bloodied but unbowed, with a better record, post-SWC, than any other former conference school, and frankly in a better position than in many years to deliver a few body blows itself.

The Ken Hatfield factor.  Coach Hatfield makes no bones about it:   he enjoys his situation at Rice, where he can concentrate simply on coaching and avoid the politics incumbent upon his colleagues like, well, like Mack Brown at Texas.   In such an environment, he's free to develop his coaching philosophy and recruit intelligent, principaled student-athletes who can be competitive despite the little deficiencies in talent.  He's the kind of coach who, in the words of Bum Phillips, "can take his'n and beat your'n, or take your'n and beat his'n."  Moreover, over the years, at Arkansas and otherwise, he's had a consistent record of success against Texas. 

So nowadays, unlike the days of yore, Rice will not have lost the game before it ever ventures on the field at Memorial Stadium.   If the Owls lose, Rice alums will not be howling for Ken Hatfield's scalp.  And the Owls will still be 1-and-0 in conference.

Chalk-talk time

Which brings us down to the X's and O's. Assuming the intangibles for the most part balance themselves out, what will it take for Rice to prevail on the scoreboard Saturday night?

The Owls won't have to grade out "100" on each and every of the following areas, but, the higher the grade, the better their chances.

Play the short passing game.  We're aware that the way a defense takes on the option also tends to take away the flats, and, to a lesser extent, the short sideline, for the passing game.  But Rice's sole passing strategy thus far this year has seemed to be the play-action series, a rushed throw, and the ball being pushed 30 or 35 yards downfield on a sideline pattern.  But they don't have a  Slick Street.   And they don't have a Randy Peschel.  Chad Richardson has got to be at least a little bit of a threat to throw on the scramble.  He needs to throw to his tight end.   To mix in a shovel pass or two.  To do something a little less predictable than the Owl offense thus far has shown.

Conquer the Kryptonite Zone.  This is getting to be a really nagging problem, the kind that can get into kids' heads, and stay there.  The Owls have turned the ball over or been penalized five times in three games, inside the opponents' five yard line.  Eliminate only two of those times, and Rice'd be 3-and-0.   Hear that, guys? A collective vow not to let it happen again, a vow that then is acted upon, is called for.

Grade out on special teams.  Coach says it's one-third of the game. Key breakdowns here and there--a poorly-set-up missed field goal, a 67-yard kickoff return-have made a potential 3-and-0 team turn up with a 1-and-2 record.

Avoid the big offensive play by Texas.   Ricky will get his yardage; the Horns will not be shut out.  Ball control, and a bend-but-don't-break concept on defense, would appear to be the order of the day.  The Rice offensive line can control the line of scrimmage.  The Rice secondary is somewhat deeper and more talented this year than last. The Owls need to use these factors to advantage.

Make something happen early.  The often-fickle UT fans might not take kindly to what they deem an early futz-up by the Horns.  Early errors--forced or unforced--could cause the Texas faithful to turn on their minions.   So the Owls need to force some errors, early.

Focus, focus, focus--but play loose.  No backfield in motion on first-and-goal.  No bobbled snap counts.  No delay of game.  No missed special-team assignments.  But go out and have fun:  this is the reason, after all, that  you came to play college football.

No predictions from this quarter, except for this one:  if the Owls can check off five of the above six homework assignments, they'll come away with a "W" on Saturday.

The Longhorns open with a gimme, New Mexico State at home.  But then they play UCLA and Kansas State on the road, before taking on the Owls in Austin.  Will Mack III still be walking on water after then?  With a win over either UCLA or KSU, he will.  But two solid defeats would have the notoriously fickle Horn faithful grumbling.  In '95, the Owls, after a win in Houston the year before, played Texas in Austin  to a 13-13 tie at half, only to lose going away, 34-13.  The vitriolic calls poured into to Fred Akers' post-game call-in show on KVET.  "If Rass was a high school, it'd be the 73rd-largest high school in the state," one caller noted.   "Coach, we jus' got to do better than that against the 73rd-largest high school football team in Texas!" To do so this year, the prescription will likely be Ricky right, Ricky left, Ricky up the middle.  Horn RB Ricky Williams, whom Texas cyberfans have already awarded this year's Heisman, left the Owls punch-drunk on defense last year. It was the only answer Texas had for an Owl team that otherwise thoroughly outplayed them.  But it was answer enough.  Let's be honest:  If Ricky had turned pro, we’d be penciling in a win in Austin. But can the Owls handle Williams before a big home crowd, after three tough games in a row? It would be no small achievement.