Second-half collapse costs Owls road victory

By Brody Rollins     9/18/08 7:00pm

The football team outgunned Vanderbilt University early before running out of ammunition in the second half of a 38-21 loss Saturday night. Rice gained nearly 100 more yards of total offense than the Commodores in the first two quarters and looked to carry a seven-point advantage into the half before a late score by Vanderbilt tied the game and stole whatever mental advantage the Owls had. The Owls are reloading for this Saturday as they look to beat the well-rested and undefeated University of Texas at 6 p.m. The seventh-ranked Longhorns are 2-0 after defeating Florida Atlantic University and University of Texas-El Paso. The Longhorns' game against the University of Arkansas last week was postponed because of Hurricane Ike.

When the Owls step on the field tomorrow, they will be facing one of the best offenses in the nation, led by junior quarterback Colt McCoy. In Texas' victory over UTEP two weeks ago, the Longhorns scored 42 points, with four of the six touchdowns coming off passes from McCoy. Before last week's loss, Rice was tied with Texas and Texas Tech University for scoring 30 or more points in six straight games. Rice hopes to end the Longhorns' streak this Saturday.

In last year's 58-14 loss, the Owls gave up 560 yards of offense to Texas, which used a balanced attack of running and passing plays. If the team is to have a chance in this year's contest, they will need to stifle at least one aspect of the Longhorns' offense and focus on forcing turnovers.

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Last Saturday, the Owls were at a disadvantage almost from the opening whistle. They were missing four defensive starters who were out with injuries, and senior defensive back Brandon King was also injured during the game. In light of the injuries piling up already so early this season, and after seeing several players go down with problems early last season, head coach David Bailiff said he and the rest of the coaches will manage the players with caution.

"Last year we learned that we're not going to press anybody that's not 100 percent healthy to play," Bailiff said.

Against Vanderbilt, Rice had to put up with a physical, punishing rushing attack. The Commodores' grinding style of play finally wore down the Owls' callow defense in the second half as they scored on the their first two possessions, accumulating nearly all of those yards on the ground.

Rice started off the half in poor fashion, following up a three-and-out possession with a shanked 19-yard punt and giving the Commodores the ball at the Rice 42-yard line.

"We gave up good field position too often in the game," Bailiff said. "I was frustrated with our kicking game, especially our coverage. We've been practicing it throughout the week and we'll have to work harder at it."

After an incomplete pass to begin their first possession, the Commodores picked up all 42 yards on two consecutive rushing plays to put them up 28-21.

The Rice offense was able to move the ball off and on in the second half but ran into trouble when they were unable to pick upyar dsonfirs t down. The Owls' first two possessions of the second half ended with sacks when the Owls were faced with a third and ten. By the time they got the ball for the third time, they were already down 31-21.

At times in the second half it looked as though the Owls were on the verge of establishing a solid rhythm, only to see it interrupted by a dropped pass or a sack.

"[The Commodores] started mixing up their fronts," senior quarterback Chase Clement said. "They started changing between three down and four down [linemen], and that was kind of screwing with some of our protection. We had opportunities, we just didn't take advantage of them."

The loss at Vanderbilt leaves Rice 2-1 on the season, but the Owls remain atop the C-USA standings, followed by the University of Tulsa and the University of Houston. The Owls' position in the standings will not be challanged until Oct. 4 when they begin a string of games against conference opponenents, starting with a game against rival Tulsa.

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