Owls need to convert on near-misses such as this one in the Baylor game (Mark Anderson photo)

HOUSTON (Sept. 13) -- The Rice Owls return to the friendly confines of Rice Stadium Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. televised matchup against an explosive Texas Tech Red Raider team and coach that can be expected to be harboring two sentiments going into to this week's contest: (a) an overwhelming desire to run up the score; and (b) an overwhelming confidence -- would that it be overconfidence -- in their ability to run up that score.

Owlook

Those sentiments inevitably would have been derived watching game videos of a Rice team that, thus far this year has fallen at home to 1-AA Nichols State before being blasted, 42-17, last week by a Baylor team rolled up 512 yards total offense, 423 of them through the air. And this, by an outfit that's not expected to be particularly competitive in Big XII league play.

In fact, Tech head coach Mike Leach is so concerned about the outcome of the Rice game this week that on Friday night, he's taking in the Astros baseball game at Minute Maid Park, where he's slated to throw out the first pitch. Typical of the Tech coach -- he can't even attend a baseball came without coming out throwing from the minute he gets to the stadium.

Leach piled the sandbags high at his Monday press conference, when asked about his perspective on the Owls. "They're an impressive team and they do some good stuff," the off-beat Tech coach said. "We've got to go play good.''

Think so? Well, let's play the numbers game.

Tech mauled SMU, but then had trouble with UTEP

Tech mauled SMU in the season opener, 49-9, but then traveled to El Paso to take on a far-from- resurgent UTEP Miner team Saturday. Sure enough, the El Pasoans came out smoking and carried a 28-17 lead into the halftime locker room.

"It was really more just getting everybody on the same page than some dramatic thing,'' Tech Coach Leach said. "Anytime there's a level of frustration, people fragment a little. We didn't want that. We knew that we could win, and we felt like we would win, and we knew that it would be a team (effort), which it was."

And as it turned out, however, 30 minutes is plenty of time for Tech offense to get untracked as they outscored the Miners 28-3 in the second half to win going away, 45-31, rolling up prodigious quantities of offensive stats along the way. Typically, against UTEP, the Raiders rolled up 484 of its 561 total yards via the air.

On Tech's first two possessions after the break, quarterback Graham Harrell threw touchdown passes to Michael Crabtree and Danny Amendola to put the Red Raiders ahead for the first time at 31-28.

Harrell, who completed 48 of 64 passes, posted his career high in completions -- for the second straight game. He had 44 the week before in Tech's win over SMU. The junior signal-caller had one interception.

Crabtree had his second consecutive 100-yard receiving game, finishing with 15 catches for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Last week he caught 12 for 106 and three TDS.

The redshirt-freshman receiver has broken three school receiving records in two games.

"I am just out there doing my job," Crabtree said of his record - breaking performances.

Compared to Tech's offensive juggernaut the Owls rank 103rd nationally in total offense and 80th in total defense, including No. 93 against the pass. And that's having gone against football "powers" Nicholls State and Baylor.

Defensively, the Raiders haven't exactly been all that impressive historically, either -- and that certainly went for last week's effort against UTEP.

After limiting SMU to 270 yards total offense in the season opener, Tech suffered what amounts to a defensive breakdown against UTEP, giving up 431 yards total offense to the Miners, including 215 on the ground. The defense managed just one turnover and sack, while permitting UTEP to convert 11-of-18 third down attempts.

It should not fail to be noted, however, that the Raider defense allowed UTEP only a single field goal in the second half.

Safeties lead in tackles -- sign of suspect defense

A pair of Raider safeties, SS Joe Garcia and FS Darcel McBath, are among Tech's defensive statistical leaders -- typically not a harbinger of solid defensive play. The pair ranks among the top three on the tackles chart with McBath tied for first with 14 and Garcia third with 13. McBath has a team-leading three pass breakups, while Garcia has one. Additionally, Tech's two interceptions against SMU were initially tipped by McBath.

Of the Owls, Mike Leach was grasping for good things to say on Monday. "They run around good,'' he managed to come up with. "They run more defense probably than the other teams we've played, a bigger variety of stuff. They're bringing more people from a variety of directions, get their secondary involved in the blitz.''

"Offensively, they're kind of like West Virginia,'' Leach said. "They get the quarterback involved in the run game some. Good coaching staff."

Coachspeak translation: "If we don't put up at least 60 against these guys, I'll eat my hat."

Rice head coach David Bailiff wasn't making any predictions -- veiled or otherwise -- at his press conference, though. All he said was that he expected his players to play hard Saturday -- and improve.

"We're going to be enthusiastic," he said. "We're going to show them what they've done wrong, and we're going to challenge them to do the right thing. Football is important to these young men. They're going to rise to the challenge. They want to win, and they're going to do everything we ask them to do."

This is the first time the Owls have met the Raiders on the football field since the 1995 swan song season of the Southwest Conference. In the all-time series, Texas Tech owns a 25-20-1 advantage over Rice, including a 31-26 victory in that most recent meeting.

But in those final years of the SWC, the Owls were known for taking to task Tech teams that were superior on paper, as often as not coming out on top. Although Tech is 11-8-1 against the Owls in Rice Stadium thus far, the Flock lost only once to the Guns-Up guys at home after 1988.

Old grads are hoping for a little nostalgia trip in that regard, when the two teams tangle under the hot sun Saturday afternoon.

 --PTH