Tulsa 27, Rice 10
'What-if's' in the rain

OHHH, SO CLOSE -- Rice running back Charles Ross has the go-ahead touchdowns literally in his hands but the rain and an interfering shoulder pad conspire to get in the way (Mark Anderson photo)

Owls forge halftime tie, but suffer another third quarter breakdown as offense falters, defense wears down, and Flock falls to 0-5 on the year

Phillip Gaines stretches with everything he's got in attempt to bat away pass (PTH photo)

HOUSTON (Oct. 4) – Call it Ground Hog Day; call it Deja Vu All Over Again, but for the second week in a row, the Rice Owls managed a 10-10 first half tie, but then failed to register a single third-quarter first down, fading in the stretch and seeing its winless stretch unbroken, this time by a 27-10 count against Todd Graham’s Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

The references are somewhat illusory, however, in that this week’s sweepstakes entry had the right numbers early, the Owl defense helping set up their offense in a way that easily might have led to as much as a 21-7 Rice first-half lead, instead of a halftime tie, which would have had a slightly different effect on how the second half was played out; maybe even the final result, don’cha think?

Far from being fortunate to still be in the game at the halfway point, this time around the Owls were only a dropped ball and a bad call or two from being two touchdowns ahead.

After surrendering an 80-yard touchdown drive on Tulsa’s first possession, the Rice defense got stingy. For the remainder of the first half, Owl defenders allowed the vaunted Tulsa scoring machine only 38 yards’ total offense, while the Rice offense managed to move the ball in fits and starts.

Both of Rice’s scores; in fact, both of Rice’s score-producing drives, plus a third that should’ve produced points, but didn’t, were set up by the stout first-half play of the Owl defense.

Tulsa’s last possession of the first quarter went minus-11 yards, thanks to consecutive quarterback sacks, the first by Terrance Garmon and the next by Scott Solomon.

Pinned back at the Tulsa 18, Cane punter Michael Such got off a high pop fly that was fair caught by Andrew Sendejo at the TU 48. From there, it took the Owls only two plays to score, paydirt coming on an alley-oop 29-yard post pattern from Ryan Lewis to a leaping Taylor Wardlow deep in the end zone.

That was Ryan’s first TD pass of his college career, and it engendered hope among the small, and wet, but enthusiastic Rice contingent – hope that the Owl offense had finally discovered some semblance of consistency, plus at least an occasional ability to make the Big Play.

Owls were in the thick of it; should've led by more

Chris Jones gets congrats after he gets second-quarter fumble recovery (PTH photo)

But alas, it was not yet to be, even though the Owl defense three-and-outed Todd Graham's scoring machine on the ensuing kickoff, and Andrew Sendejo returned a punt to the Rice 30.

Ryan Lewis got his mates up and at ‘em, at that point, tossing three consecutive third-down completions, two to Charles Ross and one to Taylor Wardlow, each good for the first down.

Patrick Randolph got 13 more on a reverse, and then on first and ten from the 24, Charles Ross ran a sideline route and crossed up his defenders. Ryan Lewis laid in what appeared to be a perfect touchdown strike, but the ball hit Charles’ right shoulder pad, and bounced smartly away before the phenomenal freshman had a chance to reel it in. Two plays later, Ryan had Luke Willson open in the end zone but just barely overthrew him.

"You just can't get those back -- I know that," said Ryan Lewis afterwards, looking as if he bore the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. "I understand I'm going to make mistakes out there, but honestly all I'm trying to do is make a play the next time. I tried not to look at it, I tried not to remember it, I tried to forget it and move on."

An obvious pass interference penalty appeared to buy Ryan and his crew yet another chance, setting up the Owls with first and ten at the Tulsa 12 yard line, from where it appeared as if the Rice drive still had enough gas left in the tank to get six.

From the 12, though, a Charles Ross run was stopped at the line, and two passing attempts to Taylor Wardlow couldn’t connect. Rice lined up to take the chip-shot field goal, anticipating, thusly, gaining a lead against an opponent for the first time this season.

But in the now-heavy drizzle, the wet ball slipped out of the holder’s hands, and Tulsa defenders smothered Clark Fangmeier when he picked up the pill and tried to make something out of the play.

Result: a 59-yard drive that consumed 16 plays, went all for nought. That presented no problem for the Rice defense, though, which promptly forced another three-and-out.

The two teams sparred in the rain for several possessions, neither of them generating much in the way of offense. When Tulsa quarterback G. J. Kinne (the "G" and the "J" stand for Gary Joe, by the way) connected to A. J. Whitmore for 23 yards to the Rice 38, it appeared as if the Hurricane were finally managing some movement against the the aroused Rice defenders.

Alert fumble recovery set up go-ahead field goal

Owl wide bodies Kramer Lucio (L), Michael Smith team up to put pressure on Tulsa OLs (PTH photo)

But next play, ol’ Gary Joe muffed the snap, and an alert Chris Jones zeroed right in on the ball and was on top of it at the Tulsa 33 before the 'Cane quarterback scarcely had a chance to react.

With the clocking ticking down, Jeramy Goodson rushed for six, and Ryan hit Pat Randolph for six more and a first down. At that point, the Rice play selection appeared to leave just a bit to be desired (just like the curve ball the Bob Uecker called to be "juuuust a bit outside."

Three more plays produced a negative two yards, and Clark Fangmeier came in to nail a 42-yard field goal to put the Owls up, 10-7, with 47 seconds left in the half.

Unfortunately, Rice’s strategy from there appeared to involved sending a line drive kickoff in the general direction of Tulsa’s ace return man, Demaris Johnson – and not cover the sideline. That’s exactly what transpired, as Johnson simply grabbed the kickoff on the fly, put on his jets, and scooted 75 yards down the sideline before he was finally pulled out of bounds by Travis Bradshaw at the Rice 21.

Scott Solomon promptly sacked Gary Joe for a loss of five, so Tulsa had to burn its final time out with 29 seconds left, camped at the Rice 26. A holding call on the next play put the Tulsans back ten yards more, really out of field goal range given the weather conditions.

But in a last-gasp effort, Kinne found Johnson slashing across the middle and he got as far as the Rice 12. Now here’s where Rice really got jobbed: The line to gain was the Rice 10. Johnson hit the ground and skidded, fanny first, at about the 13 yard line. The clock, meanwhile, was ticking down to under 10 seconds to play in the half.

Mysteriously, the refs whistled the clock dead with 8.5 seconds to play, then dithered as they decided where to spot the ball. There appeared no question but that the Tulsa receiver was short of the first down, and the clock should have gone ahead and expired.

Six to eight interminable seconds letter, the officials realized their goof and got the clock going again, but, sure enough, Gary Joe was able to spike the ball with four seconds left.

Kevin Fitzpatrick followed with the inevitably successful 29-yard field goal, so instead of going into the halftime locker room up 10-7 (or 17-7 or 21-7, for that matter), the Owls found themselves deadlocked at the intermission.

Tulsa altered schemes in second half -- it worked

Would it have made a difference for the Owls to have gone off the field with a lead? Impossible to tell, but perhaps not, given the way the Tulsa offense came out humming after  its first possession of the third quarter.

"Coach D (Driesbach) will be the first one to say our defense is the best it's been since he's been here," Scott Solomon said afterwards, of the Owls’ valiant first-half effort. The big Rice defensive end had a monster first half, with three sacks, and for the game he posted a career-best 11 tackles. "I definitely see that. But there are still things like in the third quarter where we need to make plays – we need to make those tackles. But that's definitely something that we can build on."

Apparently the Tulsa brain trust was doing a little building, themselves, during the halftime break, fiddling with both the offensive and defensive controls and installing a slightly different look, for, after the Owl defenders fashioned one more three-and-out on Tulsa’s opening possession of the second half, after a tit-for-tat Rice three-and-out the Hurricane set up shop on their own 24.

Tulsa at that point modified its offensive strategy, going with quickly-developing plays, including a little quick-out slant pass that was guaranteed to pick up seven or eight yards on first down, given the coverage that the Owls were throwing at it.

With that, the Tulsans drove 76 yards in ten plays to go up for good, 17-10, midway in the third quarter.

Tulsa got a couple more scores, the first, a 28-yard field goal by Fitzpatrick set up by a 25-yard Demaris Johnson punt return, and the second, a 39-yard pass-and-run to A. J. Whitmore to make it 27-10, a minute deep into the fourth quarter.

During the remainder of the game, Rice scarcely threatened on offense – the Flock managed to total nine whole yards on nine whole plays the duration of the third quarter -- except on its last drive of the game, when John Thomas Shepherd moved the team smartly down the field as the clock ticked down, only to throw an inexplicable shot-put style interception with the Owls at the Tulsa 20 and driving.

We must be getting desperate when we dwell on how much better a 27-17 loss would have looked than a 27-10 drubbing, but guaranteed, a lot of the few Owl stalwarts who braved the elements until the bitter end were thinking just that as the clock expired.

Rice head coach David Bailiff tried to remain optimistic after the loss. "I'm obviously disappointed," he said, "because the players invested a whole lot into this week, and I mean a whole lot. We had a great week of preparation."

"I thought the defense this evening played exceptionally well again. We keep battling and keep battling and we still need to create more takeaways on that side of the football. We're getting hard hits and we've got to dislodge that ball, but, I'm very proud of their effort. It was about 40 points better than what it was a year ago."

"Offensively, first half I thought we kept good rhythm in the football game. Actually, we kept Tulsa off-balance somewhat defensively and moved the ball. In the second-half we couldn't get it done. We still have to convert third-downs, we've got to keep drives alive, and keep our defense off the field. And, I've got to come up with a way to get those kids in position to where they can be successful. That's my job."

"I know there are a lot of wins left in this season for this team. We have seven opportunities left and I know each week we continue to improve."

--P.T.H

Owls bloodied but unbowed
as Tulsa grudge match looms

Rice is still looking for the man who'll repace Chase Clement at quarterback, five games deep into the '09 season (PTH photo)

HOUSTON (Oct. 1) – It’s Tulsa Time this Saturday for the Rice Owls, as the Institute’s next attempt to break into the winning column lies against its former coach and latter-day nemesis, Tulsa University head coach Todd Graham.

Only a few months ago, that notion would have raised the hackles of Rice fans young and old, what with the circumstances in which the former Rice mentor got the heck out of Dodge, crocodile tears, false pretenses, moneybags at the ready and all.

But funny how the ups and downs of college football fortunes have a way of dulling the pain of even recent memories, especially when one wins. Just a few months ago, the Owls, for instance, were ten game winners, sitting on top of the world, and hostile thoughts toward anyone, be they ex-coaches, or ex-wives, for that matter, were a dim memory.

But it’s a short flight of stairs from the penthouse to the outhouse, as David Bailiff’s Owls have found out this forgettable September.  An 0-4 start has relegated the Feathered Flock not just to the Bottom 10, but according to at least one tongue-in-cheek football prognosticator, the Bottom Five among major college football non-powers.

The main question Rice fans, coaches and players have to be asking themselves as they approach Saturday’s 6:30 PM Rice Stadium kickoff is, "when in hell are we going to get a break?" The only luck that’s been had on South Main so far this season has been bad, with a steady procession of key injuries complicating a rebuilding job made incumbent by the graduation of three of Rice’s most productive offensive players of all time.

Tulsa has had a somewhat easier time of it replacing departing veteran players this fall, as the Golden Hurricane return six starters on offense and eight on defense off of last year’s 11-3 entry, which set an all-time record for wins up in that part of dust storm country.

However, Todd Graham has had  to replace one of the nation's top-rated quarterbacks for the second year in a row. In ‘08, senior David Johnson passed for 4,059 yards and 46 touchdowns after taking over for senior Paul Smith.

Tulsa, like Rice, came into this season QB'ed by transfer

As an encore, like Rice, Tulsa came into this season depending upon a big-time transfer to quarterback the team. But while Rice’s Nick Fanuzzi languishes on the sideline with a nagging shoulder injury, Tulsa will have barking signals for them a healthy G.J. Kinne, who came to the Indian Nation by way of Mack Brown and the University of Texas.

In his last outing, Kinne looked great, but the game before that, not so hot. Two weeks ago, against the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Kinne melted in the red zone as the red-faced Tulsans posted a 45-0 shutout loss. In that game, second string OU quarterback Landry Jones tossed six touchdown passes against the Golden Hurricane, making the entire afternoon rather forgettable for the folks from Tulsa. Kinne had, shall we say, an off-day in the loss to OU, completing just 12-of-26 passes for 106 yards and two intercepions

But last Saturday, playing at home for the first time all season, the Hurricane overwhelmed Sam Houston State, 56-3, as Kinne threw the ball all over the lot, and ran quite a bit to boot.

For his performance against the Bearkats, Kinne was named honorable mention quarterback performer of the week by the College Football Performance Awards. That marks the second time this season that Kinne has earned such honors from the CFPA. Now we’re not quite sure just who this outfit is, but when you’re in Conference USA, you take what you can get in the way of accolades.

Against Sam, Kinne completed 12-of-15 passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns, and led the Tulsans in rushing with 58 yards on five carries. It is the third time this season that Kinne has led the team in both passing and rushing stats.

In point of fact, it’s pretty safe to surmise that Kinne probably isn’t quite good as he looked against Sam Houston, while not nearly so bad as his performance indicated against OU.

At least he’s healthy.

Rice head coach David Bailiff has no idea what what to expect with regard to the playing status of his presumptive first string quarterback, Nick Fanuzzi. Rumors have been flying all week regarding the Alabama transfer’s likelihood of coming back from a bruised shoulder suffered in the OSU game two weeks ago, a contest which proved to be something of a coming-out party for the sophomore transfer.

If Nick can’t go, expect the same Rice quarterback tandem seen last week against Vanderbilt, with senior John Thomas Shepherd and sophomore Ryan Lewis alternating snaps. And it wouldn’t even be  totally bizarre, under sufficiently desperate circumstances, to see the Rice coaching staff pull the redshirt off freshman quarterback Taylor McHargue, who apparently has been impressive in practices, and who is said by some to be the walking reincarnation of Chase Clement.

Come to think of it, both J T and Ryan took their share of big hits in Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt. So might we expect something competely different, come Saturday?

When you’re 0-4, and with three plenty tough games ahead, so you’re staring down the gunbarrel of starting the season losing your first seven outings, there’s a tendency to scrape through every shelf in the cupboard for something edible.

But David Bailiff says he hasn’t reached that point, just yet.

"We're playing better. I see a lot of wins in this football team," Coach Bailiff said Monday. "We're playing some good teams. Sooner or later, that schedule is going to pay dividends and we're going to win a game," DB said.

Rice opponents' combined record thus far:  8-8

While it is the case that the Owls have teed it up for the last three weeks against three stout BCS programs, sall coming off of ‘08 bowl-game-culminating campaigns, the combined record of Rice’s opponents thus far this year is not all that impressive. Other than the win against Rice, UAB is 0-3, Texas Tech is 1-2, Oklahoma State is 2-1, and Vanderbilt is 1-2. Let’s see... that adds up to four wins and eight losses. Throw in the four wins over Rice, and Owl opponents are still playing no better than .500 ball this year so far.

But Tulsa head coach Todd Graham warned that Saturday’s contest will be the toughest one yet to be faced by his 3-1 team. Perhaps he believes that; perhaps he just knows how to say the right things at his weekly press conference.

"I promise you they've got a good football team – and they know they've got a good team," Graham said of the Owls. "They're playing good defense. They're much improved. Coach Bailiff has done a great job. They have great character. They're not going to panic. They're focused and they're ready for us to come in there. They'll play our tails off."

Well, he’s certainly right about one thing: this Rice team certainly does possess great character. That counts for a lot, but experience has shown that it also can be stanched to a great degree, given sufficient inexperience and injuries – even if the critical measure of talent is there.

Speaking of character, it’s germane to note that the Owls were 0-4 with Graham three years ago before making a huge turnaround, winning seven of last eight games to earn the Rice’s first bowl game invitation since the early ‘60s.

A number of Rice upperclassmen played on that team. "Absolutely our seniors realize what they did three years ago," Coach Bailiff said. "They can build on it now."

--P.T.H.

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