Texas Tech Opponent Prospectus // Rice Owls
by Seth C on Jul 6, 2009 10:00 AM CDT
in Texas Tech Football
Email
Print
General Information
| Opponent | Rice University |
| Nickname | Owls |
| Location | Houston, TX |
| Enrollment | 5,145 |
| Conference | Conference USA |
| Head Coach | David Bailiff |
| 2008 Record | 10-3 (7-1) |
| Starters Returning/Lost | 14/10 |
| Blogs | The Rice Football Webletter Houston Chronicle |
| Links | 2009 Prospectus (pdf) 2009 Depth Chart |
Statistics
 |
 |
|
| Statistic | Rice | Texas Tech |
| Pass Offense | 327.23 (5) | 413.15 (1) |
| Rush Offense | 143.69 (62) | 117.84 (94) |
| Total Offense | 470.92 (10) | 531.00 (4) |
| Scoring Offense | 41.31 (8) | 43.77 (3) |
| Pass Efficiency | 162.94 (7) | 158.76 (9) |
| Sacks Allowed | 2.23 (83) | 1.00 (4) |
| Pass Defense | 269.46 (110) | 242.23 (94) |
| Rush Defense | 182.77 (99) | 140.38 (61) |
| Total Defense | 452.23 (111) | 382.62 (79) |
| Scoring Defense | 33.31 (103) | 27.85 (74) |
| Pass Efficiency Defense | 135.04 (86) | 130.56 (72) |
| Sacks | 1.69 (80) | 2.62 (18) |
| Tackles For Loss | 4.31 (114) | 4.85 (95) |
| Turnover Margin | 1.15 (7) | 0.62 (22) |
Top Returners
| Category | Player |
| Rushing | Jeramy Goodson (12 / 69 yds / 0 TD) |
| Passing | John Thomas Shepherd (8-15 / 78 yds / 0 TD / 0 Int) |
| Receiving | Toren Dixon (50 rec. / 598 yds / 5 TD) |
| Tackles | Andrew Sendejo (94) |
| Sacks | Scott Solomon (4.5) |
| Interceptions | Andrew Sendejo and Christopher Douglas (3) |
A Few Things
- Need Improvement from Defense: Texas Tech was not good defensively last year, but Rice was absolutely abysmal. The good thing is that Rice returns quite a few starters and experience. It's easy to say that if the same team returns, you can expect the same results, but players mature and teams improve.
- Replacing A QB and Two WR's: Rice finds themselves ina similar situation to Texas Tech in that the Owls are replacing QB Chase Clement, WR Jarrett Dillard and TE James Casey. That's a ton of offense (sounds familiar?) and perhaps its a little more daunting for Rice as Clement and Casey were also big parts of their rushing attack (along with C.J. Ugokwe who is absent from their roster despite being a junior).
- Defensive Ends Step Up: DE's Cheta Ozougwu and Scott Solomon are the leaders of the group they combined for 8.0 sacks last year, including 14.5 tackles for a loss. Again, it's tough to look at the overall defensive numbers and think that they played well, but they were both sophomores.
- Casey Does It All: I'm not sure if Rice has figured out how they can replace all-world TE James Casey (it's like replacing Crabtree, you really don't). Casey did a little bit of everything for Rice, which included catching 111 passes for 1,329 yards and 13 touchdowns. You heard about Dillard because he was so good for so long, but Casey was a helluva player for Rice.
- Sendejo Returns . . . Again: Andrew Sendejo is one of those guys who's been at Rice for a really long time and he's got one more year for the Owls. If Sendejo's name sounds familiar, it should as he intercepted a pass when Rice and Texas Tech met up in Houston. Sendejo leads the team in tackles and interceptions.
- Young Offensive Line: Something to remember when the 2009 season starts is the relative youth of the Rice offensive line, as you're going to see 4 sophomores and 1 junior start. This will be one of those games where if there's not a certain amount of success by Texas Tech, it may be an indication of a very long season.
4 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I'm lonesome here.......
Gee, Seth, I thought more comments would have been made on this by now. I guess most of the DTN bloggers really aren’t concerned about this game. I am with you. We should win easily. But, Rice is RICE! They have surprised UT before and if Tech is not too careful and do not take the Owls seriously, they could steal one from the Raiders. While not too concerned here, I am leery of them and I hope Tech is, too.It appears they lost quite a bit of their production from last year, so while the new players may be talented, they should not be at the level of Tech’s new players.
Prediction: Tech-55, Rice-17, with them scoring one late against the backups to close the gap, sorta……
TTpilk
I'm wondering if
I post this where you have to jump to the rest of the story, most folks don’t take the effort? I don’t know. I think the games where I start getting worried starts next week (Texas and then Houston).
Go Raiders . . .
Double-T Nation
Well my only concern
stems from the fact that our pass defense at this point will in some way get a test even though the Rice team offensively isn’t as good as last year. The passing game i assume will be their primary source of offense (considering they don’t return a RB either) and this will tell us early on if they will hold up the next 2 games. (and i say hold up in the “homerest” of terms)
There is partying.....and then there's Texas Tech.
My fear
is that this team will be looking at the UT game and overlooking the first 2 opponents. If that happens, the Red Raiders could have a disastrous result in one of these games. If our guys can focus on each opponent, drub them like they should, then that bodes well for the UT game. Its gonna be a hostile environment for the UT game and the UH game. UT is loaded this year as they are every year – but they return a Heisman candidate QB.
Both of our first 2 opponents have lost their QB’s and top receivers as has Tech. Neither of these first 2 teams play the level of competition that Tech faces in the Big 12 every year. Tech should win these games handily if they remember who they are playing.
It might be better if they prepared like they are playing the Longhorns or Sooners each of these first 2 games. An area where we could improve is to play at the same level whether its UT or Rice…
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
