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'08 Rice-UH game page Rice 56, U of H 42
HOUSTON (Nov. 30) – Leave it to good-old-boy UH quarterback and part-time magician Case Keenum to put the capper on Rice’s dramatic 56-42 win over the Cougars Saturday. "Rice came out, and they played perfect on offense and didn't turn the ball over," he said afterwards. "And when Rice plays perfect on offense, you can't get behind like that. You have to capitalize every chance you get. Every time you get the ball, you need to score, but there were three or four series there where we didn't." "And that showed up on the scoreboard." Indeed it did, as the Owls penetrated the UH red zone six times in the game and came up with six touchdowns to show for it. Rice scored touchdowns eight out of the first ten times it touched the football this day. The rest is details. Meanwhile, the much-maligned Rice defense, while giving up a passel of yardage (though a good part of it in garbage time), turned surprisingly stingy once backed up near its own goal. Though the Coogs punted only three times in the game, in all seven UH possessions went for nought, which meant the Owl defenders were busy making goal line stands, sacking Mr. Keenum, forcing ill-executed field goal attempts, getting turnovers, and forcing the ball over on downs all afternoon. It was a day for big plays and small plays for the Rice team, on both sides of the ball; for big successes and little successes. All of it added up to produce an inspiring - and just-the-ticket - effort by the Owl defense, and a perfect, oh well, let’s say, damn near perfect, outing by the Flock offense. Net result: a thorough whipping of a speedy, prolific, confident UH that belied the mere two-touchdown difference shown on the scoreboard at game’s end. Rice head coach David Bailiff was prolific in his praise of this Owl team, now 9-3 on the season and only a field goal’s distance from representing C-USA West division in the league championship game, for that was the margin of defeat for Marshall in its attempt knock of Tulsa Saturday. "Tonight's victory was a great team win," Coach Bailiff said, his voice soft-spoken in his post-game press conference. "You know, Houston is a great football team; they’re a great offensive football team. My hat goes off to them. That was an unbelievable football game by both universities." "Those seniors led us this year around so many obstacles – including Hurricane Ike. As things were cast at them, they just kept negotiating us around all obstacles. The way Chase and JD and James Casey -- talk about guys just continuing to make plays when we need them. And the other teams knows they're coming, and they just keep making them, and they just keep playing harder. The amazing thing, too, offensively and defensively is that we get better each week. We're into week twelve and our football team continues to improve. And that's because of those seniors." 98 points, 1,100 total yards -- not much going on, really
For the blow-by-blow description of how the Rice seniors – not to mention more than a few underclassmen – put the woodshedding on their cross-town rivals this day, have a chair and lean back. But bear in mind: in this game, 98 points were scored, and 1,100 yards were gained. Better pour yourself a cup of coffee and relax. This will take a while. For starters...after UH won the toss and deferred, the Owls got a 20 yard kickoff return from Ja’Corey Shepherd and set up shop at the 28. And Chase Clement came out firing on all cylinders. His first five plays were via the pass, highlighted by a 25-yard toss to Jarett Dillard for a first down in Houston territory, with the Owls facing second and 10. But after C. J. Ugokwe slashed through the UH defensive line for 17 yards to the Cougar 19 yard line, the Rice offense on this drive tended to keep the ball on the ground. The key play was a 14-yard option by Chase Clement which carried from the UH 15 to the one-yard line. From there, James Casey barreled into the end zone untouched, and the Owls led 7-0, three minutes deep into the game. The Rice kickoff team once again established precedent by flying to the ball on Rice's first kickoff effort, as David Falgout came in to nail Tyrone Carrier after only an eight-yard return to the Houston 27. Two short passes, bottled up by Chris Jones and Andrew Sendejo, gave the Owls a chance for a three and out when the Coogs faced third down and five from their own 32. But UH managed to get out of the box when Keenum threw complete to Chaz Rodriguez for 25 yards to the Rice 43. One play later, Keenum hit his receiver LJ Castile 10 yards down the field on the slant, heading toward the sideline. Castile dodged one tackler, and then threaded his way all the way down the west sideline, 43 yards for the score. It didn’t help matters for the Owls that the trailing Rice defender was absolutely mugged by the downfield blocker for U of H. That set a precedent for the game: no holding was called on that play, and in fact, Houston did not get a holding call visited against it for the entire afternoon, which, ‘upon further review,’ turned out to be a patently ridiculous turn of events. One of the few misfires for Owls
The Owls narrowly averted disaster on their next possession, when, on second and four from the 23, Chase tried a lateral to Toren Dixon which went awry and was kicked back 15 yards to the Rice eight, where a UH defender barely missed snagging it for a fumble recovery before it went out of bounds. From there, Rice had to punt out on fourth and 17, but fortunately for the Flock, a UH special-teams member was flagged for an illegal block on the play, which set back the Coogs an additional 10 yards to their own 39 yard line. Then came the Rice defense’s first inspiring move of the day. First, Scott Solomon broke up a short pass into the middle of the scrum intended for Houston’s star freshman running back, Bryce Beall. Next play, Beall tried to advance the ball but was met at the line of scrimmage by Brian Raines. So when a third-down pass misfired, UH had to punt and the Owls once again were ready to roll, this time at their own 30. In response, the Owls moved the required 70 yards in nine plays, first, confusing the UH defensive strategy by running the quarterback zone read and then the quarterback draw for 12 and 9 yards consecutively. Next, Chase Clement took to the air, nailing Thor for a 23 yard pass and catch which carried to the Houston 19 yard line. Following that, Chase hit Casey on the inside slant for 11 more yards to the Houston eight, and a first and goal. The next play, Chase Clement found a seam and slashed into the end zone. Once again, Houston came right back at the Owls. The Coogs reached goal-to-go hardly breaking a sweat, as Houston’s Bryce Beall accounted for 35 yards on one pass completion and two rushes to set up UH at the lip of the cup. But it was at that point that the Rice"D" delivered a message to its red-clad counterparts on the sideline – that this day was not going to be like any other of recent experience. On first and goal from the five, Beall took the handoff and managed to get within a couple feet of the goal line, but was stopped short by Cheta Ozougwu and Scott Solomon. Second and goal, Beall got the call again, but was met in the backfield by Brian Raines and Andrew Sendejo, losing one. Then on third and goal from the two, Beall carried again, but was nailed by Chris Jones for no gain. That ended the first quarter of play, but the time spent in changing ends of the field apparently gave the Coogs a chance to reconnoiter, as, on fourth and goal, they put a little hitch in their inside running game, with the quarterback making the handoff, once again to Bryce Beall, but setting up the play by jumping toward the line and taking on the first Rice defender into the backfield. The strategy worked, and created just enough of a seam for Beall to slip into the end zone. So, one play into the second quarter, the score was tied again, now at 14-all. Tied at 14, it was time for Owls to wrest control
It was at this point that the Owl offense, aided with some big play defense, seized effective control of the game. Now in the second quarter, and thus while kicking off into a swirling wind, UH PK Jeff Mannisto tried to pooch the ball as far as the Rice 15 yard line, but lost it out of bounds. That gave the Owls field position at their own 40, where, on third and three from the Rice 47, UH fans sensed a big stop in the offing, so upped their level of volume to its highest yet in the game. No problem, though, as Chase found a wide open Taylor Wardlow 30 yards down the field and threaded the needle to him, whereupon Taylor juked and sidestepped his defender and streaked into the end zone, completing a 53 yard touchdown pass, which put the Owls up 21-14, and, incidentally, up for good this day. The Rice offense was now clicking in full stride, but Chase Clement said he was surprised at that point, at least a bit, that he was able to labor under a less-than-heavy UH blitz attack. "Looking at them last week, they blitzed UTEP a lot. But they didn't seem to blitz that much today," he said afterwards. "Coverage-wise, they decided to take away JD, but that opened things up for other guys. They didn't do a whole lot differently than what we've seen on film." Now with the wind behind him, Mark Brundage booted the ball cleanly into the end zone, and the Cougars had to set up shop at their own 20. On second and four from the 26, Keenum threw a ball over the middle that was slightly deflected by either Chance Talbert or Chris Ptaszek, and wound up in the awaiting hands of Brian Raines. After reconciling his shock at the fact that he could make interception with such a heavily clad and taped cast on his arm, Bryan hitched it up, headed for the sideline, and danced and threaded 24 yard return yards to the UH 11. A chuckling Braines faced media after the game and mused upon the circumstances surrounding his interception. "I saw the quarterback throw the ball, and then saw it was tipped -- and then I caught it. I was shocked. And then the next thing I thought was, "run," so I took off and then they pulled me down out of bounds. Couldn't catch one with two arms, but I catch one with one. I couldn't believe it." It took Rice three plays to score from that point, when, after Chase rushed twice for nine yards total, he was able to find Casey in the end zone on third and one from the Houston two yard line. Thus, only three minutes of deep into the second quarter, the Owls were now up by two touchdowns, 28-14. And things were about to get even worse for the Cougars. Keenum was still able to work his big-play magic, for on third and long at his own 24, the crafty UH quarterback found L. J. Castile open and streaking toward the goal posts. He hauled in the ball in stride and got as far as the Rice 23, where Chris Douglas overtook him. But on first and 10, Cheta Ozougwu got in and nailed Keenum for a loss of nine, flushing him out of the pocket and bringing him down in a cluster of blue jersies. The Cougars couldn’t follow that up with first down yardage, so set up shop for a field goal attempt at the 24 yard line. The snap appeared clean, but Mannisto got off a rather anemic kick that sailed wide left, not close. The result was as good as forcing a punt, and it even got the Rice offense a chance to get some off time on the sidelines. Nevertheless, when the offensive unit came back again, it picked up where it had previously left off. The Owls advanced as far as the UH 23 in nine plays, including key completions from Chase Clement to James Casey and Toren Dixon for first downs. A the Houston 23, Chase found Thor open briefly in the flat, whereupon the Rice strong man bowled over a defender, rotated left, spun right, and danced his way into the end zone. The resulting score: Rice 35, Houston 14. With that score, the Rice offense was three yards too far away on the TD play from converting yet another red zone effort into a touchdown, thereby going seven-for-seven. UH slipped in another score just before halftime
For a while on the ensuing UH drive, it looked as if the Owls might be able to keep that three-touchdown lead going into the halftime dressing room, or at least give up only a field goal in response. After Houston’s Bryce Beall rushed for 25 yards down to the eight yard line, the Rice goal line defense got stingy once again. Beall again got the call, getting as far as the Rice six before Cheta Ozougwu nailed him. On second and goal, he got three more to the three, where he was met by Andrew Sendejo and Brian Raines. But on third and goal, Keenum finally switched strategy and quickly found his man, Kerrion Johnson, several yards deep in the end zone, flipping to him for the score. Though the Owls moved the ball with some alacrity on their ensuing possession, 51 seconds wasn’t long enough for the Flock to get any more points before time to go in for halftime break, so they did so sporting a 35-21 lead. There was at least some concern among Owl partisans that a textbook UH drive for the score on the Cougars’ first possession of the third quarter would quickly turn a three-touchdown lead into a mere one- touchdown lead, and make it, as they say, a whole new ballgame. But the Rice defense wasn’t having any of that. First, Rice super sub Brian Craig got things rolling on the third-quarter kickoff, as he stormed down the field to nail Tyrone Carrier at the UH 14. It appeared UH wanted big results early, as Keenum set up in the pocket three times in a row, only to have to run for his life each time. On two plays, Tyrone Carrier was his intended receiver, but on the third, the tuba player in the Rice band appeared to be who he was throwing to. Faced with a three-and-out, UH sent out punter Chase Turner, who boomed a 55 yarder to the Rice 31 that James Casey promptly returned 12 yards to the 43, once again giving good field position to the Owls. This time, the Owls decided to ply their luck on the ground, and sure enough, the offense continued to roll. After Ugokwe got seven on first down, Chase Clement rolled left for 12 more and another first at the UH 38. Next play, Jeramy Goodson trapped up the middle for 19 more yards on an impressive run. And having just completed a good-looking run, next play the former high school quarterback tried going the pass route, as, having taken the pitch and rolled right, Jeramy turned back and fired the ball right back to his quarterback, nine yards downfield. Chase wasn’t wide open, but he had enough room to make the reception, putting a little additional egg on the faces of UH defenders. And two plays later, he upped the ante by finding James Casey open in the back of the end zone to extend the lead back to three touchdowns, this time by 42-21. UH did come right back and score on a seven-play, 81-yard drive, QB Keenum scrambling for a big 32-yard gain to keep the drives alive, then hitting L. J. Castile in the end zone from 22 yards out. That score jacked up the U of H faithful and clearly presented the possibility that another patented Cougar comeback was in the works. When Rice took over at the 27, in front of bulk of the UH crowd, the place got as noisy as it had been all day. Take out needle, pop Coog's balloon
So, immediately, take out needle, pop balloon. On first down, Chase hit Toren Dixon in the flat, where he dodged a tackler and went 14 yards to the 41, away from the UH band and back toward a now newly- exercised Rice student section. Casey followed up by converting a third-and-one from the "Thor" package, gaining five yards to the Cougar 45. From there, it was heartening to see senior Tommy Henderson get in on the action, as he picked up two receptions in a row, the first for a big 18 yards, the second for four more. Chase scrambled for eight more yards on first down, and then, a couple of plays later, once again hit Toren Dixon in the left flat, where, once again, TD dodged a single tackler aiming at him one-on-one (wonder how many guys were covering JD on that play?) and stormed into the end zone, raising his hand and index finger high as he crossed the plane. Was the game over at that point? Yeah, really. But, hey, we’re Rice fans. The Coogs moved the ball on their next possession, but came up empty when the Rice defense put up a spirited goal-line stand that this time stuck. It appeared the UH coaching brain trust all day was intent on pounding the Rice defensive interior with super frosh running back Bryce Beall over and over again once inside the red zone, but, you know, in retrospect, that strategy just didn’t turn out all that well. At this point, Beall drew the call on first and goal from the Rice nine, but he managed only a couple of yards before being met rudely by Scott Solomon and Joseph Leary. Next play, UH tried another guy, Andre Kohn, but the results were similarly unencouraging, as Travis Bradshaw and Andrew Sendejo welcomed him to the turf after only another couple of yards. So the Cougars tried to score from close in, this time, via the aerial route. On third and goal from the five, Keenum faced a heavy rush and appeared to rifle the ball to nobody in particular – and in fact, Travis Bradshaw narrowly missed picking up the interception as he dived to try and scoop the ball up off the turf at the two yard line. Then on fourth and goal, Keenum did get better protection and found his favorite receiver on the day, L. J. Castile, open for a split second in the end zone. But, alas, the Coog signal caller threw ever so slightly behind the receiver, and, although the ball was eminently catchable and L. J. got both paws on it, he dropped the durned thing, and the Rice defense had its goal line stand. 96-yard Rice drive was the final nail in Coog coffin
What followed was a Rice drive that went 96 yards, taking nine plays and three minutes off the clock (a lot for the typical Owl scoring drive this day). First, C. J. Ugokwe got nine yards on first down, showing encouraging finesse in slashing through a couple of ponderous UH DLs. His next rushing attempt went nowhere, however, so James Casey had to come in and do his thing on third and one. He did, albeit a close call, and Rice had the first down at its own 15. At that point the decision was made, however, "to heck with this, we’re going up top." First play, Chase went to Corbin Smiter for 23 yards down the east sideline – Corbin’s usual route. Next play, Chase zipped up and over the middle to Thor for 27 more, to the Houston 35. Then, after a couple of misfires, on third and ten, Chase hit James Casey, who made an improbable catch as he went out of bounds at the Houston three yard line. And that’s where the third quarter ended. During the break, now at the north end of the field, while the Rice offense huddled near the sideline with coaches, the UH defensive line stood with its backs to the goal, fulminating. A little eavesdropping revealed the following self pep talk: "This is it! This is where it stops! We’re gonna WIN this game!" Your writer’s strong temptation, standing in behind the end line with camera in hand, was to say something like, "Aw, fellas, don’t you know what a CLICHE that is?" And sure enough, the UH’s big men’s collective mental acumen was revealed when they were completely fooled on the next play. On first and goal, Rice lined up in the "Thor" package. Specific observation revealed that James Casey appeared to make a big deal out of pulling up his game gloves good and snug (hat tip: Chris Butler). Thing is, if a man’s going to run the ball or receive he wants those gloves on tight. But if he’s going to throw, he doesn’t want the gloves on at all. But the wily Thor did not take off his gloves prior to lining up at quarterback; instead ostentatiously keeping them on – before tossing a jump pass to a wide-open Taylor Wardlow in the back of the end zone for Rice’s eighth touchdown of the day. That was James Casey’s fifth TD of the day, to boot, counting his three touchdown receptions and his brief touchdown run to open the scoring.. His receiving total included 12 catches for 172 yards, while his All-American counterpart, Jarett Dillard, was "limited" to four receptions for 43. Thor had an explanation for that ostensible disparity. "I think tonight more so than any other night, they made a point to make sure that Jarett didn't beat them," he said. " I am very thankful to have Jarett on the other side of me all the time, I probably couldn't do much if Jarett wasn't over there drawing so much coverage. Everything I do is because of him and how good of a player he his. A normal fan would not realize how much he did even though he didn't have the stats. The things he does to help the team out are just amazing. I guess that defensive coordinators have seen all the stuff that Chase and Jarett have done so they decide to try something else and that opens things up for me." Clark Fangmeier’s umpteenth (we believe 67th) consecutive conversation made the score Rice 56, Houston 28, four seconds deep into the fourth quarter. It was effectively game over, but to UH’s credit, they did not fold, managing a couple of TD drives as the clock ticked down, despite a continuous heavy rush on Keenum. UH coach Kevin Sumlin after the game was glum but philosophical. "Rice played very, very well," he said. "Let's give credit where credit's due. They came out and played and didn't make any mistakes. They went up and down the field. We couldn't stop them, and we couldn't keep up in the track meet." On the other side of the tunnel, Rice head man David Bailiff was beaming. "I am absolutely so proud of this football team," he told media. "It all started last January when we set our goals, we set them high. We wanted to win the conference championship. We wanted to go to a bowl game." One field goal short of a league championship, perhaps. But with more yet to await the Owls in the way of opportunities this season. --PTH Time to just sit back and enjoy the scene
After all, the Owls are currently sporting an 8-3 season record, and are tied for first place in the Conference USA Western division standings, with their 6-1 record being the equal of Tulsa’s and these same Cougars.’ There are, in fact, some huge cake-icing factors which may be brought to bear by a Rice victory Saturday. Such event would bring about a nine-win season for the Feathered Flock, which simply would be the first time since 1953 that such a lofty won-loss height was scaled on South Main. And that, coupled with a not-very-likely Marshall win over the University of Tulsa Saturday, would propel Rice into the championship game of Conference USA, in line for a Liberty Bowl berth. And the last time the Owls played in a league championship bowl game was the 1958 Cotton Bowl. Either of those outcomes would make up some nice, fudgy, chewing frosting on the cake for head coach David Bailiff’s crew and their perhaps small but steadfast – and growing – group of supporters. Whatever happens, Owls will eat cake But in a larger sense, that cake has already been baked, and it’ll taste just fine, with or without the icing. Coach Bailiff has not failed to point out the adversity under which the players who comprise this group of winners have labored since arriving on South Main – especially those who’ve been there the longest. "It’s a tribute to the seniors," he said earlier this week. "And I want to say that emphatically. They’ve wanted to be coached. They’ve worked hard. Even with me being the third coach they’ve had in three years, all things they’ve done is to work hard and do exactly what we’ve asked them to do since the day we’ve gotten here." Despite the revolving coaching door, despite injuries, despite the rigors required to obtain a Rice degree, this group has remained focused, and at long last, the results have shown on the field. Rice’s eight-win level previously has only been attained one time since that 1953 mark. That was in 2001, when the Owls actually were disappointed to finish 8-4, suffering a season-ending 37-20 loss on the road to SMU, which knocked them out of the scant bowl picture offered by their Western Athletic Conference affiliation at the time. This year? Not gonna happen. This time, even with a loss to the Cougars, the Owls, with their high-flying offense – not to mention a fan base that traveled 10,000 strong to the New Orleans Bowl in 2006 – will be considered a desirable bowl pick, and won’t have to settle for slim pickens. It is, of course, unofficial, but serious reports, published among other places by the local daily newspaper, indicate that the City of Houston’s own Texas Bowl would want the Owls in the event of a loss to U of H -- and, what’s more, works are afoot to bring in a marquee opponent, quite probably Notre Dame. Despite the Irish’ less-than-lofty six win mark this year, they’re simply a Big Deal. What would it be like for the Owls’ dynamic duo of quarterback Chase Clement and wide receiver Jarett Dillard to have a chance to cap off their magnificent careers in a local bowl game, before 60,000 people, against the Notre Dame fighting Irish – or someone of that ilk? Not too shabby, despite less than desirable television coverage of the contest. That back against the wall? Belongs to the Coogs The University of Houston, in fact, is the team with its back up against the wall for this game. Coogs lose, and they forfeit the Western division crown, despite having having been in the driver’s seat with complete wherewithal over its achievement, going in. A loss to the Owls coupled with an expected Tulsa win, and the best UH realistically can hope for, bowl-wise, is Fort Worth or perhaps Mobile – and that, after having likely lost a head-to-head competition against the Owls for the local bowl berth. Think about it. A driving force, officially or unofficially, in all things Reliant Stadium is none other than Texans owner Bob McNair, who is a huge Rice supporter, albeit being somewhat sub rosa about the fact. If Notre Dame is secured as an unaffiliated Texas Bowl contestant this year, could one really imagine an enterprise with significant McNair backing picking a 7-5 UH team over a 9-3, or even 8-4, Rice? That would be, as one Chronicle reporter has suggested, like choosing Frenchy's over Benjy's. Granted, it’s possible that the Coogs could beat Rice and then fall in the league playoff game scheduled for 11 a.m. somewhere Saturday, December 6. But it’s unlikely that bowl officials would wait around for the outcome of that decision, especially since the game would be at home for the Cougars, who’d be favored by two or three touchdowns over their Eastern division foe. What all this boils down to is that Rice fans really ought to consider just relaxing a bit, heading out early to Rice Stadium Saturday, popping the tailgate, and just sitting back and enjoying the spectacle. Sure, a win would be fun. A loss, on the other hand, might obviate an opportunity to be able to lord yet something more over our U of H neighbors – as if there isn’t plenty to lord over, year in and year out, in sports and everything else. But a loss would in no way spoil the season for this wonderful Rice team. Perhaps it was best summed up by the Rice head man, who, by the way, in 18 short months, has achieved a comfort zone – in his position and in the eyes of his supporters and benefactors – in a way perhaps unequaled since the days when Jess Neely occupied the west end of the Rice campus. "We need to go out there and not play tight – and just have a good time, like we’ve done all year," Coach Bailiff insisted to press Monday. "We’re where we are because we’ve worked hard and we’ve had fun. This is just another opportunity, and it just happens to be one where we have a chance to earn the conference championship." --PTH
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HOUSTON (Nov. 28) – Owl fans
understandably might be expected to be on pins and needles, tinterhooks, whatever else
feels prickly, as the clock ticks down to the 34th Bayou Bucket game between Rice
University and the University of Houston Cougars, kickoff at Rice Stadium 2:30 p.m.
Saturday (CBS-CS TV).