'09 UTEP game page
Rice 30, UTEP 29

Owl defense forces turnovers, sets up offense for chip shots

Once again, for the second week in a row, the Institute Boys spotted their opponent a two-touchdown lead; and once again, for the second consecutive week, they found a way to climb out of their self-created hole and scratch out a win.

This time, they did so with about as meagre a statistical offensive output in victory as might have been obtained since the days of Jess Neely – somebody ought to check the record books. In this case, Rice quarterback Nick Fanuzzi put the ball in the air only 17 times all day, completing eight for but 55 yards.

Yet, when the Owls needed the offensive production, they got it, scoring each and every of the five times they penetrated the red zone, garnering four touchdowns – all picked up on the ground – and a field goal.

Running back Tyler Smith had something of a coming-out party in finally emerging fully from a two-years-long injury rehabilitation, picking up 132 yards on 23 carries, including a crucial first-down pickup to ice the game.

"Being able to get that first down; for me it was a redemption," the soft-spoken, hard-running sophomore said afterwards. "It was especially gratifying that it came playing against UTEP, since it was against them two years ago that I was injured."

"It’s good to take advantage of the opportunities the defense gives us," he added, speaking of the five fumble recoveries and one interception that the defensive and special teams units cajoled out of the Miners, including two recoveries of fourth-quarter fumbles by national rushing leader Donald Buckram, both caused by solid hits from Owl defenders.

Rice won 10 games last year with offense. This game was won with defense. It had to be that way. The Owls didn’t pick up their initial first down until less than 30 seconds remained in the first quarter. By then, they were down 13-0, by virtue of a 66-yard 10-play drive on UTEP’s opening possession, combined with a 48-yard, five-play thrust that put the Miners up by two TDs moments later.

It was more of the same as far as the way the Owls allowed the game to unfold from the opening kickoff – by giving up a touchdown on their opponents’ opening drive.

UTEP super running back Donald Buckram was having his way with the Rice defense on those two possessions, seemingly getter stronger and more determined as the Miners moved steadily down the field, and then simply unstoppable in the red zone.

Meanwhile, the Rice offense was not getting any traction at all. The Owl offensive line was not able to protect Nick Fanuzzi in the pocket, and Owl running backs seemed to be approaching the line of scrimmage feet first.

What got the Owl offense finally started a was a series of plays that went on the quick count. Taking UTEP’s kickoff with seconds to go in the first quarter, and down 13-zip, the Owls set up camp at their own 28.

The Miners stood back on their heels, as if expecting Rice to let the quarter clock run out, and get a chance to reconnoiter.

But in the space of 38 seconds, Tyler Smith dashed for 13 yards and then seven, and then Nick Fanuzzi quickly tossed to Patrick Randolph for 10 more.

That put the Owls in business at the UTEP 43 at the quarter, and from there, six straight running plays, aided by a UTEP personal foul, took the Owls to pay dirt – 72 yards in nine plays, eight of them on the ground, the drive went, but only consuming a fraction over two minutes of clock time.

A cascade of big-play turnovers led to points on the board

Then came the first of the Owls’ big play turnovers that led directly to points on the board. Rice’s Willie Garley slammed into UTEP kick returner Marlon McClure, and the loose  football was recovered by Max Anyiam at the UTEP 19. Three plays later the Owls had first and goal from the UTEP six, but the first down play, a Tyler Smith dive, netted only a yard, and then two end zone shots misfired to Beasley and Randolph.

So on fourth and goal from the five, Rice went for the chip shot field goal, or so it appeared. But that close to the goal, the time seemed right to try the fake. The snap went low and the holder rose up a bit early, so the play failed, but as it turned out, a false start penalty had whistled the play dead prior to the snap. Thus, the Owls got a reprieve, and Clark Fangmeier easily chipped across a 27 yarder to make it 13-10.

When UTEP responded with a 60-yard drive to go back up 20-10, and Rice had to give up the ball on its ensuing possession, things appeared to be turning for the worse once again.

The Rice offense simply couldn’t get much of anything going, but fortunately the cavalry arrived by way of the Owl defense. Two UTEP possession were shut down without further serious threat, and the Owls went into the halftime locker down by a surmountable 20-10 score.

The Rice defense continued its marauding ways in the third quarter, forcing UTEP into two straight turnovers on consecutive possessions. First, Chris Jones jumped on a Jason Williams fumble after the Owl defensive interior blew up a rushing play for a loss of 14. But the offense couldn’t do anything with the gift, starting at the UTEP 35, but winding up at midfield in three plays, and having to punt the ball away.

Mark Brundage pinned the Miners back to their own 7 yard line, and from there on second down, UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe rather inexplicably attempted to push the ball downfield. But Jarrett Ben made a spectacular one-handed interception at the 40 and returned the ball 14 yards to the UTEP 26. More great field field position for the offense, it was – and this time, the Flock took advantage.

From there, Tyler Smith got the call twice in a row, sandwiched around a defensive offsides, and he answered, scoring from 12 yards to cut the lead to 20-17. At that point, the big ‘mo’ clearly appeared to be favoring the Owls.

The Rice defense consistently was shutting down UTEP’s star rusher Donald Buckram at the line of scrimmage. His second half stats showed 32 yards gained, and two fumbles lost. To say he was a non-factor would be incorrect – those fumbles were key to the Rice effort. "It just gets to the point where you say enough is enough," linebacker Justin Hill said of the Rice defensive attitude adjustment that shut down Buckram, "and we just finally got to that point where we said we're not going to let them run over us anymore."

Still, it looked as if the Owls might let the game slip away when Nick Fanuzzi tossed an errant pass that was picked off by UTEP’s Roy Zell Smith at midfield and returned to the Rice 22. An unsung hero was Pierre Beasley, who saddled up and ran down the UTEP defender before he could break free to go the distance. Nonetheless, the Miners quickly advanced as far as the Rice five, where they faced first and goal. Once again, Buckram got the call – twice – but picked up scant yardage on first down, and then was dumped for a loss of four on third and goal from the eight.

Owl fans heaved a sigh of relief when the defense ran off the field having held UTEP to a 29-yard Logan Barrett field goal – with the way the Owl offense had been sputtering, it appeared any more of a deficit that might have proven to be too big a hill to climb.

Mired in own end, Owl offense failed to move the ball

Aggravatringly enough, though, after the Owl offense failed to move the ball on their next possession, UTEP managed to break the ice once more. Once again, it appeared that the Owls had UTEP stopped when the Miners faced fourth and 19 from midfield. But on the ensuing punt, an Owl defender was quite obviously blocked into the UTEP punter – quite obvious to everyone but Mister Magoo in pinstripes. The Owls were flagged for roughing the kicker and that gave UTEP new life from the Rice 34.

A holding penalty put the Mineros back to the Rice 40 and from there it was third and 16. But Mike Price decided to go for broke instead of throwing underneath coverage to position for a field goal try which would’ve put the Miners two scores up. And UTEP’s Donovan Camp found a seam and got a step on his defender, hauling in the ball in stride and taking it in for the score.

With a 12 point, 29-17 lead, the gambling UTEP head man decided to go for two. The play never got off the ground, however, as Scott Solomon nailed Vittatoe for a loss -- which, it turned out, proved to be the difference in the game.

At that point, only 12 minutes remained, and UTEP’s 12-point lead looked daunting, to say the least, given the lack of Rice offensive production on the day. But Charles Ross, this time playing the role of kick returner, was up to the task, returning the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to midfield. First play, Tyler Smith found a small hole and broke through for 16 more yards. Two plays later on third and five, Nick Fanuzzi hit Charles Ross coming out of the backfield, and he rambled for 17 more.

The Miner defense suddenly stiffened, and consecutive Ross and Smith rushes netted only a yard apiece. Then, in a huge play, on third and eight from the UTEP 13, Nick Fanuzzi found his receivers covered,and foresaking his safety, tucked the ball under, and charged for 10 yards to the UTEP 3 yard line. Next play, Charles Ross plunged over, and that made it 29-24 with nine minutes to go in the game.

The Rice defense wasn’t through forcing big play turnovers, yet. On the ensuing kickoff, Travis Bradshaw made a huge open field hit on star kick returner Jeff Moturi, and separated the UTEP speedster from the ball. Once again, Chris Jones was johnny on the spot, pouncing on the loose pill at the UTEP 26.

First play, Nick Fanuzzi scrambled again, this time for nine yards to the 17. Tyler Smith got 10 more, and then it took piledriver Charles Ross two plays to punch the ball over for a from goal to go at the seven. Just like that, the Owls led 30-29, and all of a sudden it looked like there was now too much time left to go on the clock.

When the two point played failed, that meant all the Miners needed was a field goal for a lead, and most probably a win, and they had eight minutes to get one.

Sure enough, Brandon Yelovitch’s kickoff was returned by Donovan Kemp 36 yards to the UTEP 40, and at that point it looked like the Owls were going to need some more points to be able to pull this one out. But fortunes turned on a dime. When Willie Garley slammed Buckram for no gain on second down, and Scott Solomon stormed in to sack Vittatoe on third down, it suddenly looked as if UTEP were going nowhere.

However, a ticky-tacky facemask personal foul was called on Scott, and that gave UTEP a first down at the Rice 40. Immediately, Vittatoe hit his favorite receiver Jeff McCurry for 28 yards to the Rice 12, so within a matter of a couple minutes, the Miners were already within chip shot field goal range.

Willie Garley was there again and again

On first and 10 from that point, the call once again went to Buckram, and he found a hole, but he was rocked by – guess who – Willie Garley at the Rice three, forcing the ball loose and tumbling akimbo toward the pylon. The football cleared the pylon on the end zone side with about 3 inches to spare, and -- go to the rulebook – the result was a touchback.

Knocking on the door, UTEP had thus fumbled the ball out of the end zone, and Rice took possession at the 20 with five minutes left in the game. Talk about twists and turns in the plot of this one.

The Owls played conservatively, trying to milk the clock, sending Tyler Smith into the line three times, and a Mark Brundage punt into a suddenly-arising wind subsequently carried only 36 yards to the UTEP 39.

UTEP had the ball back, and still 2:45 remained in the game. First play, Vittatoe hit Johnnie Moore for 14 yards and a first down at the Rice 47. One play later, facing second and two at the Owl 39, Vittatoe went to Buckram once more, and this time, Cheta Ozougwu applied a crushing blow, ripping the ball free and in the direction of Terrance Garmon, who fell on it at the Rice 38 yard line.

The Owls were making life miserable for the UTEP star throughout the second half. He was being pounded at the line, he was being stretched out, he was being ripped constantly. "'We could tell after that first drive that he really wasn’t securing the ball too well," Travis Bradshaw commented afterwards. "We talked about it on the sideline."

So with two minutes to go in the game, and the Miners left with only one time out to burn, the Owls needed just one first down, but they needed it in the worst way.

Once again, Fanuzzi saddled up Tyler Smith. He got two yards on first down three on second. UTEP called its last timeout with 1:12 remaining at the game, with Rice facing third and five at its own 43.

Smith again got the call, taking handoff and plying the line between guard and tackle. The OL came through, springing a brief bit of daylight, and once Tyler broke the line of scrimmage, he twisted first left and then right, staggering forward for 12 big yards to the UTEP 45.

"I saw on the play beforehand where the safeties and linebackers lined up so that helped me out a lot," Taylor said, "and it gave me a better advantage to see where the holes are."

That was it. Time for victory formation.

An amazing statistic: UTEP had lost just three fumbles all year before losing five of six in their loss to the Owls. "A friend of mine said we invent ways to lose, and that's the way it has been, particularly this month," UTEP  coach Mike Price said. "We just couldn't do anything right in the second half. Too many errors in the kicking game and fumbles."

"I think their defensive linemen, particularly their ends, just whipped us," the Playboy of the Western CUSA said. "They came underneath us, they knocked us down, they rushed the passer and they tackled the quarterback. It was just really poor. It looked like we were playing Texas."

"I don’t believe I’ve ever been a part of one like that, but that’s what turnovers will do for you," a jubilant Rice head coach David Bailiff said afterwards. "For two weeks in a row, we've sure started slow but we've ended well. It's been a point of emphasis getting a fast start. These last couple of weeks we'll have to keep emphasizing it as long as we keep winning football games. That was one of the more exciting games I've ever been a part of, with things going both ways, and when we create obstacles on ourselves we have to overcome them."

"Our players never quit, and I think we made more plays throughout the game than they did, and with the six takeaways, our defense came alive tonight and with that last knockout by Bradshaw, where it went across the endzone and then out of the endzone, that was a fine moment to see that happen."

--P.T.H.

Owls aim to keep heading upward
Win against UTEP would help bolster off-season attitudes

HOUSTON (Nov. 19) - The first question that comes to mind after your team snaps a season winless streak is... what next? What do we do next to build on the win?

Owlook

And the obvious answer?  Win another!  When the Owls take on a 3-7 UTEP team at Rice Stadium Saturday afternoon, 2:30 pm, Rice has a chance to build a two-game winning streak - a good chance, as Atticus Finch would say, fist pounding into hand. But you know what happened to Tom Robinson.

Both teams come into the game on the heels of a disappointing won-loss record, but authorities from both schools just this past week have given votes of confidence for the coaching regime installed in their respective operations.

Both Mike Price in El Paso and David Bailiff in Houston have been given the Underwriters Laboratories seal of approval for continuing on into next year’s campaign without rewiring, so improvement within the existing system appears to be the order of the day for both squads.

It's no secret that Rice alumni have been less than thrilled with the performances of Rice's offensive and defensive coordinators this season. If any possible change in coaching personnel is off the table, then it sure would help support their attitudes, would the Owls manage to pull off at least one more victory before calling it a season.

Assuming the University of Houston will be loaded for bear and ready to run it up at Jeppesen Stadium one-week hence, it would certainly appear that the Owls’ best chance for another notch on the belt would lie in their contest with UTEP this Saturday.

Mind you, we’re not conceding a loss to the Coogers by any means, but we’re under strict instructions from the head man to take it one week at at time. Thus, the goal: go 1-and-0 this week against UTEP. The Miners, after all, have tended to be a much stronger team at home than on the road.

Witness their rousing 58-41 home victory over the self-same UH, which  knocked the Cougars out of the undefeated ranks six weeks ago. And compare that to the Miners’ less than impressive road losses to SMU, Tulane, UAB and Memphis over the course of the season. Talk about esquizofrénico.

Based on the Owls’ steadily improving overall performance starting with the SMU game two weeks ago, culminating last week in the Flock’s first victory of the season, it's reasonable to surmise that Rice is a team on the way up; that some of the lessons that we wish had been learned in August, are finally being absorbed in November.

Meanwhile, UTEP is a team that’s frankly bouncing all over the place. Who knows which version will show up on the floor of Rice Stadium Saturday?

A review of last week's game videos showed that the Rice offense did, indeed, exhibit some new-found creativity in its play selection and execution.  Rice quarterback Nick Fanuzzi appears to have hit his stride, the running backs are running hard, the receivers are finally getting separation and making difficult catches, and, on the defensive side, line, linebackers and secondary all seem to have upped their game during the month of November.

But UTEP's actual  beat down of the University of Houston shows what a  clicking Miner team really is capable of doing. The skill players are there, and their names are familiar.

Veteran quarterback Trevor Vittatoe has been a thorn in the Owls’ side the past two years; he put up 44 points against Rice last year, losing nonetheless. And his favorite receiver, Jeff Moturi, has been on fire the past three weeks.

Then there’s running back Donald Buckram, who is only second in the nation in rushing with 1,422 yards, including 475 of them in the past two games.

"You watch him on video and he’s really an amazing player," Rice head coach David Bailiff said. "I don’t know that anybody’s contained him, but I know that we’ve got to sure slow him down for us to have an opportunity to win this football game.

"He’s really a special player; he’ll hit that hole like a NASCAR driver in the smoke; he’s not afraid about getting hit; he’s fast; he’s got great vision. They’ll throw him screens; they’ll try and get him the ball any way they can."

Another thing...UTEP’s losing record is a bit deceptive in that four of their losses have wound up within a single touchdown on the short side. Compare that to the lopsided losses the Owls were suffering all during September and October.

Then again, there’s that Miner road bugaboo. UTEP has lost 13 of its last 16 Conference USA games away from El Paso. They’re not exactly road warriers when they get away from the Chamizal.

UTEP head coach Mike Price was succinct in his appraisal of Saturday’s contest. "They beat Tulane," he said of Rice, "and Tulane beat us -- so they should be favored. We are at their place; we should have to fight like crazy to win this one – and that's what we intend to do."

The Miners' mentor, renowned NCAA-wide for his late-evening escapades, said he hoped that the Owls had gone out and partied every night this week, in celebration of last week's initial victory. "But I don't think that's the case," he admitted.

Coach Bailiff says you can bet there’s been no celebration going on. "I anticipate them coming on really on a mission to finish this season," he said of his troops.

"We’ve been tackling a lot better. I’m pleased and very confident going into this football game."

--P.T.H.