In this, Rice’s 100th season of annual football wars, the old rivals meet again for the 79th time Saturday at Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, and in this year’s version of the 17th-ranked Bears, the Owls look to be facing one of the more talented groups of Baylor boys than they’ve seen in many a season.

In fact it could be argued reasonably that there have only been a couple or three Baylor teams of comparable ability to come down the pike in the 50-plus years since that 1957 tussle.

Since moving over from the University of Houston, BU head coach Art Briles has gradually built an ever-more-competitive outfit, taking the Bears from their annual position as Big 12 punching bag to a serious big-league contender.

According to Coach Briles, the key to Baylor’s recent success lay primarily in the building of a solid interior wall. "We start recruiting every year with the OL, DL, and just a couple of specific skill positions," he said. "We have to be strong and physical up front."

And the Bears’ depth in the offensive line is finally Big 12-caliber, Coach Briles opined. "We're really solid across the board, whereas three years ago, we weren't. Not even close. We've really done a good job stockpiling that."

Such a revelation comes at least as a slight surprise to the casual observer, given the fact that the vast majority of publicity in the past year or two has been visited upon a slew of talented skill-position Bear players.

Not the least of them is Heisman Trophy candidate QB Robert Griffin III, who, in wins over TCU (50-48) and Stephen F. Austin (48-0) has completed 83.7 percent of his passes, going 41-of-49 so far this season and has thrown as many touchdowns as incomplete passes – eight -- in the Bears’ first two games. RG3, as he is known around Waco and beyond, has become the Baylor career leader in a statistic known as "touchdown responsibility" – passing fer ‘em, running fer ‘em – and is tied for the national lead in points responsible per-game with Michigan’s Denard Robinson, Boise State’s Kellen Moore and Texas Tech’s Seth Doege.

Rice head coach David Bailiff is the first to admit that the talented Baylor quarterback thus far has appeared to be well-nigh unstoppable.

"He is one of the most exciting players I have ever watched in college football," coach Bailiff told scribes at his Monday press luncheon. "He was exciting last season but he has really matured and making great decisions with the football. He is doing an amazing job this season."

Griffin’s passing stats have been remarkable, but his running and decision-making abilities are what really sets him apart, DB added.

"A lot of them are called runs and a lot of them are when the receivers are covered, but he finds a seam in the pocket," he observed. "He is one of the few players in college football that can give ground to gain ground. You will see him give ground to get around the corner because he has that kind of speed. He has pulled it down. You saw him against TCU on the big third down where he threw it to the bubble and the bubble threw it back to him. They have some nice gadget plays that they have him involved in. He is a special, special player."

And the talent onslaught hardly stops with Mister RG3. Baylor has a stable full of talented running backs, for starters, led by senior Terrance Ganaway.

After the Bear running backs took turns toying with SFA Saturday, Coach Briles was ebullient. "Those guys are great, great athletes," he said. "They have great practices; they know their stuff, so when the ball's in their hand, they don't have any choice but to produce. It doesn't matter who we're playing; as long as those guys are playing they're going to be OK."

The receiving corps is led by Kendall Wright, who has a catch in all 39 career games, and is Baylor’s all-time leader in both career receptions (214) and career receiving yards (2,653). He also owns a share of the Baylor career receiving touchdowns mark with 19. Wright’s streak of 39 consecutive games with a catch is the third-longest streak in the nation among active division one players.

On the defensive side, Coach Briles scored something of a coup when he netted former SMU head coach Phil Bennett to serve as his DC. Coach Bailiff has a lot of history with the old Fightin’ Texas Aggie. "I think Phil, defensively, has gone in there and given them a lot of stability," Coach Bailiff said. "They are playing very sound, fundamental football. They are playing hard."

So against all that manpower, is there a key to maybe holding the fort, staying in the game and perhaps even stealing away with a win?

"When you go into Waco and play a team as explosive as the Bears are, you would like to get some takeaways or get on some short fields to really put some pressure on them," the Rice head man concluded. "We have to have an incredible defensive and offensive effort. It has to be a total team effort. When we get the football, we will have to eat minutes and keep Baylor's offense off the field -- and on defense come up with some stops and takeaways."

"Takeaways" –what are those? It seems the Owls thus far have been able to register creditable efforts against the likes of Texas and Purdue this season, staying in the game against the Longhorns for three quarters and then swatting the Boilermakers with a last-second win, and do it all without collecting a single turnover.  One could only imagine what three or four Baylor turnovers might do for the Owls' outlook on the field Saturday evening.

Senior Owl wide receiver Randy Kitchens isn’t cowed by the Baylor attack. He expects the Flock to have at least some degree of success playing keepaway.

"We have been doing really good at controlling the clock in the last couple games," he said Monday. "It definitely wouldn't hurt us if we could keep it out of Griffin’s hands. Whatever coach calls, I'll be ready to do. I wouldn't mind putting up a 100 yards receiving."

"We have some explosive players, and I can't say that we've reached our full potential as an offense yet, but we have done some great things. It will be a good week for us to really show what we got out there."

Bear in mind, this is a legitimate Top-20 team the Owls will be facing Saturday. Last year the Bears registered some impressive wins against top-quality foes, and this season they haven’t yet skipped a beat.

But, know something? The last time a lightly-regarded Rice team went into Waco to play a ranked Baylor eleven, it was 1991. And that year, the 4-7 Owls knocked off a then-undefeated, number-eight-ranked Bear team, 20-17.

--PTH

'Uncharacteristic' linebacker
Latest Owl defensive hero shows true grit, having made long journey back home 

Senior Rice linebacker Justin Allen:  'I wanted to be a Rice Owl from the beginning' (PTH photos)   'I had a bunch of friends put a video of the block on my Facebook page, so that was kinda cool'   'I'm more of your uncharacteristic linebacker ... not really what you'd call your normal, huge bruiser'

HOUSTON (Sept. 20) – "Do you have a couple of hours?"

Rice senior linebacker Justin Allen had just been asked to describe the circuitous journey he took in his college football career, beginning as a schoolboy in the Central Texas town of Leander, venturing all the way to a place called Moscow to play division one football at the University of Idaho, and then, after a couple of years’ success there, finding himself amid what must be considered his natural domain, that of our Institute on South Main Street.

The thing is, it seems, he wanted to be a Rice Owl all along.

And he had ample antecedents to warrant such a decision. His grandfather, Frank Allen was a two year letterman for the Owls in 1949 and 1950 – a couple of the finest teams ever to don the blue and gray. The 1949 Owls won the Southwest Conference championship and the 1950 Cotton Bowl with a 10-1 record – which subsequently led to the move from old Rice Field, capacity 37,000, to the then brand spanking new, 72,000-seat Rice Stadium.

That made gramps, of course, a teammate of such legendary Rice players as Froggy Williams and Joe Watson. And Frank Allen carved out a legend or two himself as he went along. He was the first Owl to intercept a pass at Rice Stadium in the very first game there, a 28-6 Rice win over the Santa Clara Broncos played before an opening night crowd of 67,000 on Sept. 23, 1950.

And Justin’s uncle, Frank Allen Jr., was a member of the 1971 Rice team.

Justin explained, "My dad's whole family went to Rice. I'm actually going to be like the 13th member of my family to graduate from Rice, so its just a blessing to be here. It's a great education. I couldn't ask for anything more."

How come, then, the two-year detour up to the land of sky-blue waters?

"Out of high-school, I only had two offers," Justin noted. "It was either Idaho or Air Force." Not being particularly interested in a military career, Justin chose Idaho." I went up there with Rob Vickery and their staff – I actually saw them this week when they played A&M. Since we had the off week I went up there to watch them play and I was able to talk to them some."

Undersized, maybe, but no shortage of grit, desire

As one might expect, what with the service academy offer made to him as a schoolboy, Justin Allen, though exhibiting great stats as a star two-way player at Cedar Park High, graded out among recruiters as being slightly undersized and off-speed, but with no shortage of grit and desire.

"I kind of come across as being a litle undersized for my position, not the classic linebacker mold," he said. "I'm more of your uncharacteristic linebacker ... not really what you'd call your normal, huge bruiser but I'm always around the ball and I like to fly around."

Be that as it may, he went straight into varsity play for the Vandals as a true freshman, lettering on special teams and as a reserve to an experienced bunch of upperclassmen at the linebacker spot.

Then, in 2008, his sophomore year, he moved right into a starting linebacker position for the Vandals and wound up third on the team with 68 tackles for the season, not to mention three tackles for loss, one sack, recovered one fumble and had one interception.

But the distance away from home remained a negative, and Justin felt removed from family members with whom he grew up very closely. Primary among them was Grandpa Frank.

"I'm real close to my grandfather -- as you might guess. So when he came down with Alzheimer's a couple of years ago I felt I had to come back to Houston if at all possible. That’s why I transferred; the coaches here gave me a shot, so now I'm here. And I'm happy I made it."

"I wanted to be a Rice Owl from the beginning, but it just didn't work out that way."

Once eligible, transfer immediately made presence known

Once on campus, he had to sit out a transfer year during the 2009 season, but when 2010 rolled around, Justin set about to making his presence known.

Justin was thrust onto the field in a backup role due to injuries, early in the season. For starters, he picked up eight tackles in a substitute role at home against Northwestern.

Early on, his effort and his enthusiasm made it clear to his coaches what a grit man he was, and further, that he wasn’t about to take any, er, ‘stuff’, off of anybody. The guy was clearly a competitor. He needed to be on the field.

Justin wound up starting the last three games of the season and finished fourth on the team with 61 tackles for the year. He was credited with a career-high 12 tackles, 11 of them solo, against Tulane, and was a solid factor in the Owls’ season ending home wins over ECU and UAB.

And we all know how he picked up this season where he left off the last.

His game winning block of a last-second field goal attempt by Purdue last week was one for the archives, and gave a huge surge of adrenalin to the Owl players and fans alike as they continue a very difficult September schedule Saturday at Baylor.

"It was fun," Justin was quick to say. " I had a bunch of friends put a video of the block on my Facebook page, so that was kinda cool. A lot of people enjoyed it and it's fun to see."

"But we have to move on and need to have some carry over because now we know what we can do and what we're capable of doing. We have to progress from that, get better every week and come into Baylor with an attitude that we're going to take over the world."

To that, Grandpa Frank, Froggie and Joe and the boys most certainly would approve.

--PTH