HOUSTON ( Nov. 15) – To hear it told by the prognosticators, the Rice Owls are going to be teeing it up this Saturday against a one-man team – and that one man is going to be able to handle them quite nicely, thank you.

Owlook

In fact, the Tulane Green Wave, who come into Saturday’s tilt with a 3-7 record, 2-4 in conference, do feature the number one running back in college football in the likes of Matt Forte, who currently leads the nation with 1,813 yards rushing in ten games. But if one takes a look at the entire Tulane stat sheet, the term "one-dimensional" immediately comes to mind.

Offensively, the Green Wave have only averaged 23.6 points per game thus far this season, despite grinding out an average of 396 yards total offense per contest. Of that number, over 200 of it has come on the ground, which means that Mr. Forte is providing better than 90 per cent of the Greenie ground game, and right at half its total offense.

Rice head coach David Bailiff is the first to admit that the senior Tulane running back is a major force to be reckoned with. "I've been around some great backs, but he is a great football player," Coach Bailiff said. "He has size and he has speed and he has vision. You see him in piles like at SMU where you think he's tackled, and all of a sudden he's going down the sideline for 50 more yards. He's an amazing player."

"He's 6'3", 225. He's averaging 6.1 yards per carry." the Rice head man went on. "They use him in the old two back set. I don't know if anyone remembers this football set-- it's got a fullback and a tailback. They've gone back to that unconventional set with a tight end and him in the backfield. You're going to see that a lot where you're going to have to stop the iso and the power and the sweep. They will go empty with him at the quarterback and let him run. He's thrown eight passes this year. They throw him the fade. He's everything to that football team. He's the second leading receiver. He's an amazing player, and he's got tailback speed."

OK, OK Coach – we get the idea. So guess it’s not going out on a limb to suggest that a major component of the Owls’ defensive strategy this weekend will be to emphasize more strength up the gut to slow down the Forte attack. Let him go ahead and get his yardage between the 20s, the thinking would go, but tighten up in and near the red zone.

And Rice has the skill and strength at linebacker to make such an adjustment. The questions is, if Owl coaches bunch up the defense to slow down Forte, what will that do for the Tulane passing game?

The Green Wave quarterback, Anthony Scelfo, has averaged only 120 yards per game passing this season – and he’s thrown as many interceptions as he has touchdowns, at six apiece.

But the combo of Scelfo and Forte was enough to humble the Owls last year in the Superdome, as the Greenies ground out a 38-24 win, one which turned out the be the only mar on the Rice record in their last eight regular-season contests.

Toledo finally achieved balance he sought, last week

And just last week, Scelfo upped his game sufficiently to propel the Green Wave past a struggling UTEP team, 34-19. Actually, it was Scelfo and his buddy, Kevin Moore, because against the Miners, Tulane coach Bob Toledo ran tandem quarterbacks. Between the two of them, Moore and Scelfo went 16-for-23 for 277 yards and two passing touchdowns, with but a single interception thrown between them.

"That's how the offense is supposed to look," Coach Toledo said at his Monday press conference. "When you can run the ball like we run the ball, it really opens up one-on-one situations all over the field. They can't put eight or nine in the box and stop the receivers, too. When they do that, that's when the play-action pass really comes in."

According to Toledo, his system has finally fallen into place, and the Owl defense can expect to face a potent, diversified attack when it lines up against the Greenies at 2:00 p.m. Saturday in Rice Stadium.

Speaking of the UTEP game, Toledo said, "We finally did what we are supposed to do with the offense. We made them pay for putting so many guys (in the box). It made me feel good, because that's the offense. That's how it's supposed to be."

The former long-time USC and Texas A&M offensive coordinator said he would continue to go with both Scelfo and Moore in the Rice game. "Why can't you rotate quarterbacks?" he asked, obviously rhetorically. "I know a lot of people get heat for it, and I've done it in the past. I don't like it, but I think it's something we have to do this year because I have to find out."

What he needs to find out, the outspoken Tulane coach went on, has to do with a winning combination. "I'd just like to put them both in a pot and stir them up," he quipped.

Be that as it may, young Mr. Forte took pains to note, any significant uptick in the passing production tends to work to his advantage."It makes my job a lot easier when we do that, so I love it when they pass the ball well," Forte said. "It kind of gives me a break. I'll have like three or four runs, and then they pass the ball and get a big gain, so that gets everybody's motivation up and everybody on the sideline gets hyped and it gives me a little rest before we go and run the ball again. I love it when they pass the ball."

Of course, if the Owls are able to employ successfully the overall game strategy that has brought them exciting, come-from-behind wins in their last two outings, whether the Greenies are able to mount a diversified attack won’t make any difference – the Feathered Flock’ll just outscore ‘em.

Of the three opponents – UTEP, SMU and Tulane – the Lousiana contingent’s defensive stats don’t exactly stand head and shoulders above the other two outfits.

Currently, the Greenies are surrendering an average of 422.6 total yards per game, and, what’s even more encouraging, the Tulane secondary is giving up over 287 yards per game via the pass. Last week, though losing, the Miners went for 301 yards through the air with no interceptions.

Tulane has forced just 17 turnovers this season, but the defensive front has been reasonably successful in rushing the pass, coming up with 27 sacks thus far for the year Evan Lee has been the go-to guy on the Tulane defensive unit this season thus far, with a team-leading 88 tackles and eight TFLs. Aside from Lee, DB/LB Joe Goolsby plays strong safety in a four-man secondary or outside linebacker in Tulane's nickel defense. Goolsby is second on the Tulane defensive unit with 70 tackles, seven TFLs, four pass breakups and two forced fumbles.

Fun and games at the ball park

Pre-game activities on campus will kick off at 10 a.m. Saturday with the opening of Tailgate Owley. This feature, newly-introduced this season, is a special tailgating area located on the practice football field north of the stadium. It features moonwalks, and a rock climbing wall for younger fans as well as refreshment areas and a band on stage from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.

Fans of all ages will have a number of special opportunities to attend the final two home games at no charge.

Also, all area youth football players as well as their cheerleaders, will be admitted free when attending the game in their uniforms. And the game is also being promoted as Scout Day, with any Girl,Boy or Cub scout being admitted free if in uniform. Any troops who plan to attend should contact Megan Dodge (mdodge@rice.edu, in order to receive special scoreboard recognition.

At halftime of the Rice - Tulane game, Houston area Purple Heart recipients will be honored. In addition, three wounded soldiers will be presented their Purple Hearts.