Owlook

For the Owls, it's something in the nature of a mid-term exam, in the course of a season where all looked pretty much lost a couple of weeks ago, before the Feathered Flock came home from 'The Rock' in Hattiesburg with a surprising road win over Southern Miss.

Houston comes in to the game with a 2-3 record, 1-1 in Conference USA play, but the the Cougars' outings have been much more impressive than the Owls', as last week they battled Alabama to the final ticks of the clock in a 30-24 loss at Tuscaloosa.

The East Enders' other two losses included a 37-35 nail-biter at home to Eastern Division favorite East Carolina, and a 48-27 road loss to Oregon to open the season -- each games in which the Cougars were competitive.

Still, the three losses that have been hung on the local city college equals the total number of games lost during the '06 season, a campaign which saw the wily senior quarterback Kevin Kolb lead the Coogs to a C-USA championship and a berth in the Liberty Bowl.

A lot of Coogfans seem to feel that the prop wash from last year's success will be enough to lead UH to a second consecutive league title, but old hands are fully aware that it's difficult to lead the league when your team is quarterbacked by a committee, instead of a game-breaker. And that's doubly true when the offensive line tends to leak a bit.

UH still quarterbacked by committee, six games into season

The Coog OL has allowed 12 sacks in the past three games, and while Case Keenum impressed with his stats against Tulane, he continues to split playing time with the Blake Joseph at the quarterback spot. The two of them sport a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 11-8, not bad, but not great, either.

Last week, both QBs split time in Tuscaloosa, garnering 261 yards total passing offense between the two of them. Joseph has the higher rating of the two, having completed 67.9 percent of his passes for five touchdowns and one interception. Keenum, on the other hand, has completed 63.3 percent of his attempts on the year, but he has just six touchdowns against seven interceptions.

Their favorite target is senior wide receiver Donnie Avery, who leads all Coogs in receiving, with 33 receptions for 538 yards and three touchdowns-- an average of 107.6 yards per game. Avery was named the Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week on October 1, after he produced a then-league record 350 all-purpose yards, including a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Tulane.

The Coogs will get their yards through the air, but one suspects that a great deal of Rice's success on the defensive side will be determined by their ability to put a roadblock in the way of UH all-purpose back Anthony Alridge. While Alridge is the leading UH rusher with 543 yards and three touchdowns, he also has has also played a significant role in the passing game and comes into this matchup with 18 receptions for 275 yards and four scores.

Defensively, the Coogs lost several starters from last year's conference championship team, but they have back to bedevil the Owls senior free safety Rocky Schwartz, who always manages to play huge against his cross-town rivals. He currently leads UH in tackles with 44, while junior defensive end Phillip Hunt has totaled 4.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

Senior linebacker Brendan Pahulu, junior strong safety Kenneth Fontenette and junior defensive end Ell Ash also have excelled on the defensive side for the Coogs this season, as evidenced by their being tapped for mid-season all-league honors

The Cougars have won four of the last five contests against the Owls, with their only loss a 10-7 setback at Reliant Stadium to begin the 2004 campaign. Since moving to Robertson Stadium prior to the 1998 season, the Cougars have posted a 3-1 mark against Rice there, and an overall home mark of 10-5 in the head-to-head meetings. UH head coach Art Briles is 2-0 at home versus the Owls, having won his debut in 2003, 48-14, as well as the 35-18 victory in 2005.

Owls can break out to 2-0 in western race with win

Rice senior defensive lineman Jonathan Cary said Monday that the UH game is doubly important in that not only does it give the Owls a chance to get a leg up on an intra-city rivalry, but it also provides Rice with an opportunity to break out of the box with two straight wins in what looks to be a wide-open C-USA western division race.

"It's a step in the direction to go 2 and 0, but at the same time it's a rivalry," JC said. "Saturday, everybody will have a little something extra in them. We want the Bayou Bucket back. The seniors have had it one time since we've been here, so of course we want it back."

Owl team leaders have taken heart by the success seen at Southern Miss, even though the Institute had to hang on for dear life in the end to pull out the 31-29 victory.

"I can sense the rhythm coming," Rice all-everything wide receiver Jarett Dillard told press Monday. "At Southern Miss, the rhythm was there. Our running game was working. Every week I see improvement in practice. As an offensive unit, I feel we can put up way more points than we have thus far."

Several formerly injured Owls should return to action on Saturday, including key recievers Joel Armstrong and Corbin Smiter.

"That really excites me," Jarett said, "becausenow the defense will not be able to focus on one receiver. They'll need to focus on Joel and Corbin as well."

The Coogs opened as 20.5-point favorites, but the betting line has narrowed to 14 and a half as the week has progressed. It's a cliche, but surely it'll be time to throw out the record book and the stat sheets when the Owls and the Pussycats tangle come Saturday.

"We want to beat them," JD quipped, "and they want to beat us. I really want to beat U of H. Last year, we lost to them by one point -- and they went on to win Conference USA and the Liberty Bowl. I think if that one point swung our way, and it would have been us in the Liberty Bowl last year."

--P.T.H.