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College Football Countdown | No. 62: Rice


UNT15

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"Rice gets program set for sustained success"

You'd have to go back 15 years to find the last Rice defense that played with such aplomb, and another 30-plus years before that to find a defense that played with such aplomb during a winning season – because winning Rice seasons are admittedly few and far between, rarer even than the Owls' occasional defensive stinginess.

Yet it wasn't the offense that carried the Owls to the third 10-win season in program history, the second under eighth-year coach David Bailiff, in 2013. It was the defense: Rice finished fourth in Conference USA in total defense, trimming its per-game total by roughly 15%, and finished fifth in scoring, allowing one fewer touchdown per game.

Last year's defense allowed only two opponents, both from the SEC, to score more than 34 points; five opponents did so in 2012, with the Owls dropping four of five, and a combined 16 did so from 2010-12. In the Conference USA title game, Rice held high-octane Marshall to 371 yards of offense on 4.76 yards per play – the Thundering Herd's second-worst performance in each category during an otherwise explosive season.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/07/03/rice-owls-2014-countdown-preview-roster-depth-chart-schedule-football-four/12072583/

1404340004000-rice1.png

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"Rice gets program set for sustained success"

You'd have to go back 15 years to find the last Rice defense that played with such aplomb, and another 30-plus years before that to find a defense that played with such aplomb during a winning season – because winning Rice seasons are admittedly few and far between, rarer even than the Owls' occasional defensive stinginess.

Yet it wasn't the offense that carried the Owls to the third 10-win season in program history, the second under eighth-year coach David Bailiff, in 2013. It was the defense: Rice finished fourth in Conference USA in total defense, trimming its per-game total by roughly 15%, and finished fifth in scoring, allowing one fewer touchdown per game.

Last year's defense allowed only two opponents, both from the SEC, to score more than 34 points; five opponents did so in 2012, with the Owls dropping four of five, and a combined 16 did so from 2010-12. In the Conference USA title game, Rice held high-octane Marshall to 371 yards of offense on 4.76 yards per play – the Thundering Herd's second-worst performance in each category during an otherwise explosive season.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/07/03/rice-owls-2014-countdown-preview-roster-depth-chart-schedule-football-four/12072583/

1404340004000-rice1.png

Oh, you have a defense? That's cute...as you'll recall we play a little defense too

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