Oklahoma State 41, Rice 24
Progress, but no 'W'

Veteran Owl defender Andrew Sendejo gets good help from frosh Phillip Gaines in bringing down OSU's ace receiver, Dez Bryant (PTH photo)

Fanuzzi takes command at QB, Owls outgain OSU,
but Cowboys use gift points, big plays to prevail

STILLWATER, Okla. (Sept. 19) -- One should have surmised that this Rice Owl team would finally come in from the cold, once every hillbilly hack sportswriter in the former Indian Territory proclaimed Rice 'cooked in five minutes,' or some similar sentiments,  earlier this week.

In fact, it was the Feathered Flock that did a little cooking of its own in matching blow for blow a talented, but not particularly well-put-together, Oklahoma State team, eventually falling 41-24 here Saturday.

The math is simple: take away a muffed snap on a field goal attempt that cost the Owls three points and gave the home team seven on the return. Add in a fifteen-yard chip shot touchdown drive occasioned by a long Cowboy interception return via fluke tipped ball.

Let's see...subtract 3, carry the 7, add seven more....alright, that gives the Oklaggies 27 points, and the Owls....er, they have 27, too.

It gets more exasperating. For one thing, the Owls dominated OSU in first downs, yardage and time of possession. Even allowing for the gift-wrapped first-half points, the Owls were right in the thick of the game after Nick Fanuzzi led the Institute on three, third-quarter touchdown drives, each culminating in a bulldozer touchdown plunge by true freshman Charles Ross.

But on that third TD march, as Nick broke loose and dived for the pylon, he landed on his shoulder. It wasn't a blowout, but the resultant leaky tire was enough to put the dinged- up Owl signal caller on the bench for the duration of the game.

Talk about rotten luck. No sooner than we land us our quarterback, he gets relegated to the pine.

Owls in the game, with time enough left

Unidentified Owl gets solo tackle (PTH photo)

Having climbed back to within 35-24, the Owls looked up at the clock and saw 12:24 left in the game. As they had continuously throughout the contest, the kickoff strategy was to kick short and play pinball. This one was a sharp onsides kick that caromed up and was recovered by a blue and grey-uniformed lad.

But never mind – from across the field came the head linesman, whistling an Owl kickoff team member offsides and nullifying the recovery.

The Owls tried a poocher on the ensuing kickoff, and it was returned by OSU’s Bryant Ward to the Rice 47, where Trey Briggs made the stop. With the short field, the Cowboy’s didn’t need to go far to get into field goal range. In fact, they got as far as the Rice 16 before the Owl defense stiffened, and OSU settled for a 28-yard Dan Bailey field goal.

That made it 38-24, and the Owls at that point had not been kept out of the end zone their last three possessions. Nick Fanuzzi was positively cooking, and the combination of his strong arm and his running threat had rocked back the Pokes on their heels.

Only he didn’t come out for the next series, John Thomas did. "It wasn’t the hit that did it, it was when I hit the ground out of bounds," Nick later said. "I felt a twinge in my shoulder and went over to the sideline and tried to throw. I could, but it just wasn’t 100 per cent. I had to tell Coach. I couldn’t go out there and not be at my best."

"Believe me, I wanted to go back out there and keep the comeback going more than anything in the world," the Stallion said. "But under the circumstances, I had to take myself out – I believe I’ll be fine next week."

(That sound you’re hearing is every single reader loudly knocking on wood.)

At that point, the OSU defensive coaches apparently tore a page out of Texas Tech’s second-half defensive game plan, for when the Owls, behind J T, were backed up to their goal line, they sent in the entire student body (all of them Ag majors) to bedevil the senior Owl quarterback, and, as a result, the Flock went three and out twice in a row, and there was your ball game.

Fluke field goal failure led to would-be-blowout

Two unidentified Owls combine for tackle (PTH photo)

What originally looked like a blowout for a while there looked as it if might be a fight to the finish. But first, the blowout part.

The down side of the short kickoff game is the good field position it sets up one’s opponent in, if the onsides attempt fails. In that regard, the Cowboys took advatange of field position from the onset, driving 60 yards in ten plays to open the game, then, with a 7-0 lead.

Still, though, it wasn’t as if the Okies were cutting through the Owl defense like butter. The initial drive took five minutes, and the Pokes had to earn every inch of it. When they faced fourth and three on the Owl 31 after Chris Jammer nailed Zac Robinson on third and short, they eschewed the long field goal, however, and went for the first.

It worked, as Robinson hit backup running back Keith Toston for eight to the Rice 23. And on the next play, All-American wideout Dez Bryant worked his magic with a twisting catch of a fadeaway in the end zone.

The play was reviewed vis a vis Dez’ possession when he came down, but the result favored the Big XII team, surprise, surprise. Well, on replay it looked as it he did make the danged catch. But it would have been nice to get a call, right out of the box.

Rice failed to convert a third and one on its next possession, but faked the fourth down try, and J T got away a running punt that carried 49 yards to the OSU 33.

When OSU tried to move the ball, their stud, Bryant, put on one move too many and coughed up the pill when pounded by Travis Bradshaw, and the resulting fumble was grabbed by Andrew Sendejo at the Aggie 45.

Again, however, the Owls went three and out under J T Shepherd, although another pooch punt from the OSU 38 backed up the Cowboys to their own 16.

The Owl defense immediately set about to shut down OSU from there, via two Zac Robinson incompletions and a second down stop by Cheta Ozougwu.

OSU punted out to the Rice 37, and in came Nick Fanuzzi -- and this time, the Owls DID move the ball. Six completions out of nine tries, none of them going for longer than 12 yards, got the Owls as far as the OSU 18, and the natives were restless.

But there, the Owls stalled, when a false start penalty combined with a couple of passes that went backwards, so Clark Fangmeier had to line up for a longish field goal try from 47 yards out.

There, however,  the training wheels fell off, as the Owl holder mishanndled the snap. The ball was kicked around the backfield for what seemed like an eternity, but finally was picked up by OSU’s Donald Booker, who rambled 51 yards to the end zone, and, insead of cutting the lead to 7-3, the Owls were now facing a 14-0 deficit.

That play really framed the Rice first half situation. It turned a basically even game into a catch-up problem for the Flock, it pumped life into the the crowd, and amped up the adrenalin level on the "brighter shade of Orange" side.

OSU's fourth TD was a cheap one

Frosh running back Charles Ross turns the corner in early game action (PTH photo)

In retrospect, the Owls were perhaps fortunate in being behind ‘only’ 21-3 at the half, for in the middle third of the game, OSU moved the ball with relative ease, going 63 yards in five plays for their third TD. But credit the Owls for keeping the Okie State offense on the sideline – Rice's sole scoring drive went for 48 yards in 12 plays, culminating in a 34-yard Clark Fangmeier field goal that was spot on, but the drive consumed over six minutes of clock, and the Owls held the time of possession edge in the first half.

Nick Fanuzzi came out to direct the Flock in its first possession of the third quarter, but a tough-luck interception on a tipped ball immediately thwarted the Rice offensive effort, and the ensuing return to the Rice 15 set up OSU for a chip-shot TD to make it 28-3.

But at that point, Mr. Fanuzzi set his jaw at the right jut, and the worm began to turn.

On third and five from the Rice 27, Nick hit Toren Dixon on a crossing route, and he rolled down the sideline all the way to the OSU one. If he hadn’t looked back to see how he was doing, he’d have scored.

No matter, as the Owls immediately set up in the ‘jumbo,’ and Charles Ross bulled it in from two yards out to make it 28-10.

Brandon Yelovich pooched the ensuing kickoff, and the ploy worked like a charm, as Travis Bradshaw scooped up the loose ball at the OSU 33.

A personal foul call on OSU (blatant) was partially offset by an illegal formation infraction against the Owls, but once again, at the lip of the cup, Rice employed the jumbo and Charles Ross got his number two touchdown of the day (and career) on second and goal from the one.

Suddenly, the Boone Pickens Stadium crowd (you leave off the "T") was as quiet as the All-Around Cowboy Church in Sealy. And the small Rice contingent packed off in the farthest corner of the stadium was a whoopin’ and a hollerin’ like they was at Billy Bob’s.

But OSU got cranked up on the ensuing possession, and Zac Robinson hit Dez Bryant on another slant pattern for 38 yards to the Rice three yard line, and a couple of plays later, OSU had extended its lead to 35-17.

The Owls came roaring back, moving 80 yards in 12 plays, the big gainer coming on a 23-yard scramble by Nick Fanuzzi to the OSU one. Actually, it appeared as he nicked the pylon as he stretched for the while going out of bounds, but the play review upheld (we won't say "confirmed") the spot just outside the goal line.

Out went Nick – unbeknowst at the time because he was suffering from an injured wing – but Charles Ross once again put the icing on the cake with a three-yard touchdown run off-tackle.

Had the Owls not been stiffed on the ensuing offside call, and had Mr. Fanuzzi come out of the game unscathed, it would have been a hell of a finish for sure. But as it was, the Rice contingent was having to be content with "good effort" and "moral victory" and such and so.

"I’m very proud of this football team," said Rice head coach David Bailiff, whose team outgained the hosting Oklahoma Aggies, 377 yards to 351. "I thought they fought valiantly for four quarters."

"I leave with a little inner peace that we are getting better," Coach Bailiff said. "We're going to be a good football team."

"We’ve gone toe to toe against two of the best football teams in the country, and you saw how we improved from one week to the next," he added. "We’ll continue to improve, and you’ll see an even better football team next week against Vanderbilt."

Ah, but will it be with, or without, the services of our Italian Stallion?

--P.T.H.

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