owl40

From Rice perspective.. I thought NT should feel like we did after Texas. We played well but lost turnovers and a few big plays and thus lost the scoreboard. I thought you outplayed us in the 1H and once the turnovers happened, the sideline and emotion got lost and the team fell apart. You were moving the ball at will against us. I don't know why you got away from the up-tempo gameplan. I don't know why your OC got away from what we were giving you and why there were not more throws to Harris. Corey Coleman at Baylor is going to be smiling all week after watching what Harris did to our secondary today. He is a really good player. If our QB and gameplan would have been same last week as this week, we would have won against the Horns. It was not b/c of the competition today. Both our OC and the QB had a materially better game today. We ran a bunch of wrinkles off our base package that many of us have been waiting to see. It resulted in many big plays. Good luck the rest of the way. Clean-up the turnovers and you will surprise some folks along the way. I know alot of negativity here just like there would be on Rice board if same thing happened but I do think you are closer than you think. There is talent on both sides of the ball.

We are very thin at DE and guys who are playing are undersized. Bailiff announced this week that one of the starters, Grayson Schantz, tore his ACL and another redshirt frosh who was providing depth is also hurt for NT. We were already depleted as both starters are gone from last year. We had a couple guys who play on offense that could move across but that would create even more problems on other side of ball. It did not hurt us as much as we thought given that we ran 96 plays to Texas 38 so they were not on the field very long and it was not hot. However, a mid-afternoon kick with 90+ degree temps and a few Mean Green long drives could make us very vulnerable up-front in 2H.

Both programs licking their wounds from disappointing performances on Saturday. We owned the stat sheet against the Horns but had 5 turnovers, two busts on special teams, and a QB who did not play well. If we fix those things, we should/could/would have won the game. Team is frustrated as they truly believed they were the better team. How they respond this week will be key for rest of season. Thought you would like an overview of the Owls this year after two games. Offense Overall, offense has been strong. Put up almost 200 more yards than Texas, 19 more first downs, and controlled the line-of-scrimmage for the first time in my lifetime playing the Horns. Although only in week 3, we are #5 in FBS in rushing offense, top 25 in total offense, and #2 in FBS in time-of-possession. Gameplan will be to run the ball out of the spread. Expect lots of zone read and speed option with play action off both plays once safeties and LB's cheat on run. Showed some quick pitches last week which was a new wrinkle in running game. It starts with our 23-year old 5th-year QB, Driphius Jackson (DJ) who has two bowl game MVP trophies under-his-belt. DJ is finally healthy after having bad ankle in Soph season and bad shoulder last year. Unfortunately, he has not played to his capabilities yet. Most think if he plays to what he did in Hawaii Bowl that we would have gotten a W last week. He is a leader. While the two other QB's that have taken garbage time snaps this year looked really good, there is no QB controversy although you could go over to the Rice message boards and read about how both of the other guys need more snaps. Bailiff will live and die with DJ's leadership, experience, and dual-threat capabilities. Most pleasant surprise this year has been the performance of Stewart and Walters at RB. Both are Freshman. Stewart had a Sportscenter Top 10 play on Saturday with athletic dive into the endzone. There was concern when last years starter (Davis) went down on third play of game against Wagner. Stewart and Walters are very fast and the third back (Dillard) is big and gets the tougher yards. Depth at RB is a strength of the team. There was concern at WR as we lost Jordan Taylor who is on the Broncos and Mario Hull who was cut by the 49ers. Dennis Parks stepped-up and had nice game against Texas but is dealing with a bad hamstring. Other guys are serviceable but not outstanding. We have not shown yet the ability to throw the ball deep and take any shots. Very possession oriented passing game. Rice now has three TE's in the NFL and many Owl fans would like to see current crop utilized more in the offense as they are all big guys who can catch. OL played great against Texas. Dominated line-of-scrimmage against a hyped DL at Texas. Andrew Reue is leader of group and All-CUSA guy. Defense We lost 8 starters but it is not as bad as most expected given one of our All-CUSA DL decided to take a six-figure job vs. play his last year of eligibility, one is on Texans (Covington) and other is on Bears (Callahan). It is ranked #35 in FBS. We are very young in the secondary. It was exposed against Texas. I would expect to see your OC throw deep balls all day on us. It is our kryptonite. We are solid on stopping the run. Alex Lyons at LB should be all-C-USA team. DL is not as depleted as many thought it would be. They looked pretty solid against Texas. Last year, Rice was at the top of FBS in explosive plays (I think defined as plays more than 30-yards) given up and trend looks to continue to the frustration of Owl fans. In other words, we don't give up a lot of 10+ play drives. We are good at getting off-the-field. Unfortunately getting off-the-field has also meant getting burned on deep balls. Special TeamsOur coverage teams have been a concern throughout the Bailiff era. We gave up two big returns against Texas. We have two frosh kickers who have looked pretty good so far and a good Sr. punter. Was happy to see good onside kick execution on Saturday and opened game with a trick play on kickoff return that worked well. I'm sure the big focus this week will be addressing punt coverage. It was not the entire reason why we lost to Texas but sure was a reason at the top-of-the-list. IntangiblesRice needs a signature win. Most thought last Saturday was the time it was finally going to happen as it was best time to beat Texas in decades. Team was emotional and ready to play. We have Baylor after North Texas. Mean Green always tough at home and historically we are not great on the road. If we come in like two-years ago, not ready to play after Texas emotional let down, and are peeking ahead to Baylor, we will get beat. I do expect DJ to have a good game for us at QB. He is a fighter and won't let his performance last week define his season. We tend to play well against teams with poor QB play and play really bad against teams with good QB's even if overall team not that good (e.g. ODU last year). Will put some additional info up this week after weekly press conference. I do think SMU is vastly improved and the early season L will not look as bad to Mean Green fans in November than it looks today.

Were not empty complements. Were genuine. I think UNT is better than the rest of teams on your schedule. Question is whether kids believe that and fight or do they quit. I'm just saying that so much of college football is when you catch a certain team with positive/negative momentum. It is a very different Rice team than was playing in early September. You caught Rice when they were healthy, off a bye-week, have put the pieces together, and not to mention impact of road team on an early kick. We may have been 20 points better today but don't think we are a 20-point better team just like we outgained A&M in total offense but still lost by 20+ to them. I think if we played them today we could be very, very close. We lost by 3 to ODU. Same game would have been double-digit loss to Mean Green on that day. On related note, I do think given we beat Marshall last year in championship game and they may have peaked already..that getting them in a few weeks might also be a lucky break for us. I think our chances in three weeks are much greater than if we played them three weeks ago. Timing in college football really matters. LSU and Ole Miss just showed that as well.

Some thoughts from being at the game today from a Rice perspective....I know many here are frustrated with the NT play but alot of this was timing of getting Rice. If you would have played us in week three when we lost to ODU and had seven starters out, the game today would have been an easy W for Mean Green as you are much better than ODU. With our NFL guys (Covington and Taylor) finally healthy plus a couple others...the team is coming together and Rice has really improved last few weeks and is now hitting stride. Consistent theme for Rice....awful in August/September and then improve in mid-October. In 2H, we have now outscoured opponents 86-21 in last four games. We are finally healthy, no turnovers, etc. and it is making a difference. We have to take care of business the next couple weeks but look forward to getting a shot at Marshall in a few weeks. Today, our OC had his best game calling plays. We are usually critical of him but he had great balance today even though our execution was not great at all times. Due to having Covington back, our LB's are now playing much better and have played solid run D over past few weeks. I do think forcing McNulty to throw was a difference maker. We are not a great football team by farthest imagination but I do think Rice will end-up being a top-50 team when it is all said and done. You should be able to beat the rest of teams on your schedule. Our kryptonite is a good QB who can make accurate throws or extend plays. We get exposed quickly. Clearly that is position where you are struggling. You had open guys running around our weak secondary and McNulty either did not have the time, was just focused on throwing to Harris, or did not see the open guys. Was surprised after the pick-six to not see a change. However, I did not see the NT team quit in the 2H. They were still playing hard. What I saw is that you are missing the weapons (other than Harris) and quality OL that you had last year. I do think if the effort stays and team does not fold the tents that you should be able to win the remaining games on your schedule. I do think you have a great coach. Team plays for him and kids are decent on fundamentals. Good luck from here on out.

To answer some of questions above... Rice is one of smallest D-1 schools in country and exchanges spots w Tulsa and Wake Forest for those dubious honors. I think I've read you could put 100% of all living alumni in Rice Stadium and still have empty seats. Thus, we don't travel well in absolute #'s but as a % of alumni and students, we are well above average compared to other schools participation/engagement. I have seen some threads that people are making the trip to Denton and they will be vocal but it will be a small contingent. My guess is around 1k given the holiday and midweek. I do think the 'analysis' is objective. We have played below our potential all season. We have seen better OL's than what we will see on Thursday. If we turn the ball over more than NT, we could/should/would lose. That has been NT strength this season. I think all of that is objective. NT is a much improved team. There is respect and understanding from the positive strides the program has made from years ago getting whacked by 50 points during the Todd Dodge era. Everyone around the program deserves props for that impressive improvement. If both teams play their best game, I do think our experience is better than the home field advantage with overall talent being similar..but better football teams don't always win. I would ask all of you who is better...NT or Tulane? I think NT is better team this season but not on scoreboard when it mattered. That's why you play the game..

The Rice QB's are very mobile. The issue w/ McH earlier in season was poor decision making and lots of tipped balls and a couple of forced throws that ended-up w/ INT's. Of late, he has been much better...esp w/ deep ball accuracy where opposing D has challenged Rice to beat them over-the-top. We shall see if the first four games or last four games are the trend. Would like to see DJ get some more snaps as he is dangerous w/ his feet. Although NT does have a good OL, the 'thin' front 7 did play 'ok' against A&M whose OL is better than NT. NT is better than others in C-USA but is not the best that Owls have seen. I think key is less about the trenches and more about who turns ball over more as both teams have disproportionately benefitted from other teams miscues. IMO, that is going to be deciding factor.

Rice Scouting Report. Love the energy (and confidence) from the Mean Green Fans. Good for College Football and C-USA. Thought you would like a scouting report (from Rice perspective) on the Owls… Overall, we have beaten nobody but also won the games we should have won. We looked great against A&M in 1H but other than that, I think most Owl fans would say we have not lived up to the potential/hype yet. People finally saw team they expected on Saturday against UTEP but overall team has not played 4Q of football. Last year we were youngest team in all of FBS and this year we are one of most experienced w/ 23 seniors and 19 fifth-year seniors. We have beaten some bad football teams but we cannot control that. Overall, we are #20 in FBS in turnovers gained but NT is #2 and #1 in fumbles recovered. I think this will be key point for the game. Which team beats itself and capitalizes on other teams misfortune? Position breakdown. Offense. We run the spread but like to run first and pass second. Teams have approached us by stacking box w/ 8+ guys and dare our QB's and WR's to beat over-the-top. For the most part, that worked until last week as we had a bunch of deep balls completed. Rice is #15 in all FBS running the football but #62 in total offense. QB You will see three QB's. Taylor McHargue (McH) is 5th year senior starter. Finally showed what most expect against UTEP last week. Made nice deep ball throws plus some nice plays with his feet. Driphius Jackson (DJ) will get snaps and is really good w/ feet and future for program but still have not seen him as much as many Owl fans would like. Luke Turner runs the Wild Owl (wildcat) package and is former HS QB so has thrown a few times from that formation. Biggest thing for Rice is making sure McH makes good decisions. When he does, the offense rolls and when he does not we struggle… RB's You will see five guys (Ross, Petersen, Dillard, Davis, Turner) likely get touches. Ross and Petersen are both about 235-240 lb. guys and run hard. Lots of zone read and option and rotating guys in to keep them fresh. Ross is the class of the group. He is finally healthy. I think stopping him will be #1 priority of the NT Defensive Coordinator. WR's Jordan Taylor has four Sportscenter top 10 plays in his first three seasons. He is the best WR by far and a gamer who will play on Sunday. Will line him up on outside, in-slot, etc. Other guys all have good speed (better than 4.5) such as Parks, Moore, Hull, etc. and can get deep. Have not shown great ball security or hands though and most close to Owls would say that after Taylor, most have disappointed. Parks is emerging. This will be key as I would expect Mean Green to stack box and know where Taylor is at all times and force other guys to beat you. The other members of the group have to step-up. TE's A big strength last year with McDonald and Willson who are now with 49ers and Seahawks respectively. We have a young guy (Celia) who has some promise and a big converted RB (Eddington) who most Owl fans would like to see more touches for. All-in-all, this position was a 'go to' over last few years and has been pretty non-existent so far this season. OL Historically, Rice did not pass the 'eye-test' Now they do. All around 300 lbs and have played together as a unit for a couple years. I know NT has a great OL but Rice is now more than respectable here. Nate Richards (center) is best of group and all-CUSA. Defense Rice runs 4-2-5. Injuries big concern here. All C-USA LB (Nwosu) has red-shirted, two-year starter at Safety (Frazier- son of Vikings head coach) is out, and now our starting NG was hurt against UTEP and starting DE hurt against NM St. We are a bit thin. DL Hope that Bauer is back at DE but some unheralded guys played well yesterday. UTEP's OL < NT so hard to tell how effective they will be. Covington is a beast and a NFL prospect. Best DL on team by far. Other guys (Winship, Leland, Henessee, etc.) need to play big game here. This is a weakness for Rice. LB Radcliffe and Kutzler have played well so far. Lyons and Elder will also get snaps. Not a strength of team w/ Nwosu getting his redshirt. But have made it not a weakness. Overall very average. DB's CB's are both Sunday guys (Gaines and Callahan). Gaines was pre-season player of year on D for C-USA. Teams don’t throw on him. Callahan was on frosh All-American team a few years ago. We will 'lock down' at CB on both sides. However, we are not strong at Safety. Houston and A&M exposed us. OK tacklers but 4.6 cannot cover 4.4 and we have been beat many times at Safety. Expect to see Mean Green test Hill, White, Porras, etc. (I.e. Our Safeties) with deep balls between hash marks. Special Teams. Coverage teams are ok. Return teams are ok. Nothing exceptional but also not a weakness like years past. Punting is average as well. However, we have one of top 2-3 kickers in country w/ Boswell. On Lou Groza list and many All-American teams. Holds NCAA record for career FG's over 50+ yards. If game becomes reliant on FG kicking, we have a big advantage. Coaching/Intangibles Bailiff is in year 7 at Rice. He gets the University, can recruit, is graduating close to 100% of his players, and is an overall nice guy. Some Owl fans have been very critical of his overly conservative approach on game day, lots of coach speak, and inability to translate 'likability' to 'W's' This is his breakthrough season as many expect a C-USA championship. Reagan at OC has been criticized for his play calling and Thurmond (DC) is liked as D has improved from ranked #100 to more of average/opportunistic D. Rice overall, is poor in 3Q and not shown good in-game X's and O's adjustments. However, w/ all the 5th year guys, we have heard Bailiff talk about 'how the entire playbook is implemented' and how they are coachable. Rice will show a lot of formations, looks, etc. that are hard to prepare for. Many strange/unorthodox formations with quads, unbalanced, motion into strange formations, etc. that make it hard to prepare for. IMO, the Mean Green advantage on TO takeaways and the home-field off-set the Owls advantage on experience (which I think advantages Rice on short week) and Rice's historically better performance as season goes on (although game is in Oct,much better in November than Sept). Should be a great game and good for C-USA. Look forward to great Halloween game.

For those who were looking for more than what DRC had...here is more from Dodge (at bottom), Cam Montgomery and obviously from the Rice side.. Rice Head Coach David Bailiff Opening Statement "We're thrilled with this win. We got back on track and showed we're a pretty good football team. Our defense maybe has some injuries, but young players are stepping up and making plays. Our special teams continue to improve. I thought we absolutely played with great passion and great enthusiasm." On Turnovers Being the Difference "Our offense had no turnovers and I believed we had six from North Texas. That was really the difference in the football game, the turnovers and where they occurred. I thought our players did a great job in when we got up we stayed focused and played with effort. I think it's a sign that we're maturing and growing up as a football team. We had a great week of preparation and we need to build on this one. I told the team in there to enjoy it, and when it's over it's all about the next one. The next one is Tulsa. We want to enjoy this one tonight." On the Offense's Execution "It was almost flawless execution down the field (for Rice) on the first four drives. You got a great senior in Chase and great senior leader in Dillard. You have a great senior leader in David Berken. We have some other big play guys over there and they were all on the same page. It was one of those nights where you felt we all had one heartbeat." On the Defense's Second Half "As soon as the defense got use to the speed, the speed of the routes, I thought we settled down and played well. I'm proud of our defense. We didn't give up any second half points. I thought Ja'Corey Shepherd stepped up and made some plays. He ran those kickoff returns like he wanted to take one to the house. We went to the nickel and the six DBs where we had the one linebacker look. We did the dime with the nose guard and the two defensive ends where he had a 3-2 look. We had very little man, but we had some zone blitz Rice QB Chase Clement On Setting NCAA record for touchdowns for a quarterback-receiver combination with Jarett Dillard "You look back on that and you can really say the Lord had a plan. We came in here to an option offense and now JD and I have done what we've have. It's special and something to look back on and say wow look at the road we've been on - three head coaches, all the ups and downs, it's been a long ride but hopefully we can make this season special, not just because of this record but because of what we do as a team. We can go to bowl game, win a conference championship, all those things we want to accomplish." On TD Pass to Toren Dixon in First Quarter "Our offense is designed for everybody to have an opportunity to get the ball on every play. That was something we looked at. We ran that route so much at Texas last week. We thought Toren could get open if we run that route again because we knew North Texas would be working on it. " On TD Pass to Dillard by Jeramy Goodson in Second Quarter "For J-Good, we said if "If it's not there, throw it away." Then you look down there, he's covered, he throws it up, and Jarett does his thing and makes the catch. That was a lot of fun. I think tonight we just had a lot of fun on offense. On Rice's Receivers "That's why JD [Jarett Dillard] and James [Casey] have had so much success this year, because everybody is a weapon. We've got an opportunity to go to each receiver on every play. Everybody's got their unique skills that they bring to the offense. As much as we can do offensively, that's helped all of our players. It's been good for those guys to step up and realize they've got just as much a role as anybody else on this offense. " Rice WR Jarett Dillard On Setting NCAA record for touchdowns for a quarterback-receiver combination with Chase Clement "On Monday or Tuesday we said we want this record to go ahead and be over with. Now we can put this behind us and just focus on beating Tulsa next week. You really don't recognize what it is until it's broken. I really didn't recognize it until our equipment manager came to me and said she was sending the ball to the College Football Hall of Fame. And I thought, wow, for Chase and me from San Antonio, two guys under-recruited, we had one offer and we chose to come to Rice - to have a football in the College Hall of Fame. That brought my jaw down. I'm just in a state of shock." On Regaining His Rhythm and Confidence "It's just all about confidence. I know me - I pressure myself a lot, and if I drop one ball, confidence just drops. I had those two weeks where confidence was like a roller coaster. So I just said, get back to the basics, get back to when you're out there just playing ball. I just had to get back to that practice moment. I just took the Texas game as one step, and then this game I didn't even think about it. This game was just about playing football. If you don't think about the catches, don't think about anything, everything just seems to fall into place and that's what happened tonight." Rice RB C.J. Ugokwe On Regaining Offensive Momentum after Previous Two Games "I think it's really important. We have a great offense and we know that against the team we were going to face (North Texas), we would have a good chance to move the ball. That's what went threw our minds this week. Everything we had practicing all week went exactly that way during the game." Rice Defensive end Arnaud Gascon-Nadon On Gaining Defensive Momentum after First Quarter "They play pretty much the same type of offense that our offense plays, so we should have been more prepared to play that type of offense. But we were looking for something, looking for a break, looking for somebody to step up. I think when we brought our nickel and dime defense, everybody started to play together. That was a good momentum [shift] for us. Football is a game of momentum. Once you get a play, everything starts to get in place. You don't know why, but you start playing better, and the other team starts playing worse." On Rice's Second Half Defensive Performance "We played real well after halftime. We came on strong, we had a couple of stops and a couple of turnovers. We did a good job in the second half." On His INT Return for a TD in Third Quarter "I started my pass rush and I saw the quarterback cranking up in my direction. So I stopped and backed off a little bit to see where he was throwing, because I knew it was coming my way. And it was a ball for me. It was a tight spiral just in my hands. I just did what I had to do. The play was going pretty slow, actually. I really saw the ball pretty well." North Texas Head Coach Todd Dodge Opening Statement "We are all embarrassed. As a football team, all of the players and coaches combined--we're all embarrassed by our performance tonight." On the Game as a Whole "We didn't tackle very well. I think it begins with that whether it's their (Rice's) receivers after the catch, their running back, their quarterback. I felt like we had really improved, I guess we didn't. We didn't tackle. We didn't give ourselves a chance because of our lack of tackling." End of Non-Conference Play "Yes it's very alarming. We're all we've got. I promised them last week when we started preparations for Rice that we wouldn't look at anything past that. If I had any answers I would give them to you, I would give them to my football team first. As we talked about, we're all we have. We are the coaching staff. They're our players. We have to come together as a team. We have to go back to work on Tuesday for our next task and that's Florida International. We're embarrassed. If you're a competitor, I want them to be. I want it to hurt. IF it doesn't hurt, the players, coaches, any of us, if it doesn't hurt your guts then you don't deserve to be in this business. But, on the flip side of it you can't run and hide. We have to stand up and be men. We have to wrap ourselves around each other as a team and we have to come together as a team for the next one." On Special Teams "I'll have to look at the video before I look at any of the execution of the blocking but we couldn't hold on to the ball. We're trying different people. We had problems with all [of them]. I think we may have found one in [#10 DB] DaWaylon Cook who did some nice things. Casey--he's one of our top two or three football players and he just got in a funk tonight. We have to keep searching, but we have to catch the football. It starts with that on our kickoff return and on our punt return. [Rice Head Coach] David Bailiff--they've got an outstanding offense. They do a nice job. He (Bailiff) said to me, `Sorry it got to this,' and I said, `You don't have to be sorry if we can't catch a punt or a kick, that's our own [fault].' They're good enough to score enough points without us handing it to them." On Rice QB Chase Clement and WR Jarett Dillard "Obviously they are the top [duo] in the country over their careers and probably one of the top duos regardless. They do a tremendous job. We knew it coming in. We didn't do a good job of containing Clement--he scrambled around and made plays. We had one key on defense [and that was to contain Clement]. We had our hands on him. We are just not a very good football team right now. We have potential, but that doesn't mean we've done anything yet. There is a lot of soul-searching to do--we've got 48 hours and then we come back on Tuesday again. These coaches, these players--you can't run and hide." On Blocked Kicks throughout the Game "I was visiting with the offense [during the first extra point] so I don't know what happened. On the second on, when they were freezing him before half, it was the height on that. The first one he kicked it and got it up, but on the second one I don't think he got any height on it. I believe we had a little leak [in the blocking] on the first kick, although I don't know where it came from." On Rice and Coach Dodge's Expectations Entering the Game "They did what they do--they got it in the hands of James Casey; they got it in the hands of [Jarett] Dillard. They probably did more--they got #3 [Toren Dixon] involved early. They have to feel good about themselves offensively going into conference play as far as getting people involved. The running back ran well. In all of that--the first thing we had to do was contain Chase Clement, not just as a pocket passer." North Texas RB Cam Montgomery On What North Texas needs to Improve on "We couldn't execute. We have to come out and execute the plays that coach calls better. We have to make them work throughout the game. It hurts but we want to get back to work; we're eager to get back to work. We want to get to practice and get better. It doesn't eat at our confidence but most of us want to get better. We know we're better than that, we have a desire to get better." On Rice's Football Team "They were a good team. They played hard. We just didn't execute as well as we should have." On the Offense Moving Forward "I think we'll be great. We think we'll be great. We just need to learn how to get better--it's a learning experience. We need to come out and practice harder." On Turning Around the Negative "I believe we can be the opposite of [how we played tonight]. We just need to come together as a family. We need to execute the plays that they call. They're called at the right time we just have to make them work. So, yes, I believe we can turn this thing around in a week, I don't think it will be a long process at all. Everybody that the coach puts on the field will give us the best chance to win. I just think the people that are put out there--we need to play with more heart"

From a Rice Fan to the UNT fans at the game… - UNT can move the ball. Rice could not stop them. - UNT players quit today. There was intensity at the beginning. You could see/feel it. Once they got down two scores after the first fumble on special teams, they mailed it in. That is most concerning to me if you are UNT fan - Give Rice some credit. They did have ~350 yards of offense against Texas and scored more points against a ranked Vandy team than anyone else so far this year and put up ~400 yards on them. Rice's offense is a Top 25 national offense. Unfortunately their D and Special Teams are bottom 25. - Rice had not played four quarters of ball this year. They finally put it together for the first 3 quarters and then they mailed it in after game was in hand. - UNT has some talent on the field. I was disappointed w/ their lack of discipline as they got frustrated w/ the cheap shots. - UNT QB was on-the-money and solid player until he got hit a few times and then seemed to lose his rhythm. Fitzgerald is a good player. - Takeaway all the turnovers that started the snowball of momentum and it is not miles away from an evenly matched game where last team to have the ball wins. - Will be interesting to see how UNT players and coaches respond this week for the rest of season. One thing to lose badly to LSU, K-State, etc. but obviously another to lose like that to Rice. Hope they have some resolve. I was on the field after the game and it did not seem like they were as mad and/or disappointed as they should be. Saw alot of UNT guys laughing and joking around, talking to Rice players, etc.. Good luck as you get into the Sunbelt. We will be following you. Would be interested in views from UNT board after seeing us and seeing Tulsa on whether you would be surprised to see the Owls pull the upset on them. Lots of hatred in Houston for what the Todd Graham did to Rice by leaving them at the alter after saying he wanted to get married 24-hours before bolting to Tulsa. Owls not mad that he bolted but how he did it was really classless.

Some scouting from the Rice side for the UNT fans.... Things Rice does well - Clement (QB), Dillard (WR), and Casey aka “Thor” (TE, RB, and QB in short yardage) are All-American caliber (Chase on Davey O’Brien watch list, Dillard on most All-American teams, and Casey was first team Freshman All-American last year. Dillard had ~150 yards in receiving against Texas last week and he and Chase will break all-time NCAA TD record either this week or next week for a QB/Receiver tandem. They are special to watch and class guys as well. Dillard and his 42 inch vertical will be playing on Sundays next year. - Clement can run and pass. Handles offense well. Went to same High School as UNT QB. - Team believes it should win (attitude and chemistry much better than last year as it was Owls third coach in three years) - Disciplined, not a lot of penalties - Puts pressure on D with no-huddle offense; Offense controls game tempo - New Coach (Bailiff) recruiting much better talent. Stealing kids from BCS schools rather than other C-USA, Sunbelt, WAC, etc. schools. Things Rice does not do well - Run the ball consistently (other than Clement) - Pass protect/Run block consistently - Defense has marginally improved from last year but is currently ranked #111 in D-1 compared to UNT at #116. Would not be surprised to see 100 points and 1000 yards combined. - A few key injuries with best CB (King), best Defensive player (Raines), some D-lineman, and other starting LB (James) are all out; Depth was a strength at beginning of year but Memphis game really hurt (no pun intended). - Soft in the middle; Tackling has been poor; lots of missed ones - Special Teams punt and kickoff coverage is always an adventure - Kicker has short range and Punter is very inconsistent Key for UNT will be to not let Clement have time to throw and force Rice to run the ball. Don’t let Casey, Dillard, and Clement beat you. Make the supporting cast beat you. On defense, Rice is thin and inexperienced at LB and Texas exploited the Rice secondary which was cheating up to support the run and missed tackles at line-of-scrimmage. Take advantage of Special Teams opportunities. Having watched the Owls for many years, this is the best team they have had in the last ~14 years since they were co-champs in the last year of the old SWC. They are better than the team that finally went to Bowl game in 2006. Unfortunate how they played the last two quarters against Vandy and last 3 quarters against UT. They are better than they showed in those two games but ultimately the national stage will judge them more on those BCS games rather than the remainder of the schedule. Some of us Old Timers remember that Rice has never beaten UNT in football and do remember the disaster in 88. Hope UNT fans show-up. Will likely be a sparse crowd.