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September 9, 2005 > Sports > Rice plays four of first five on road

Rice plays four of first five on road

By Adam Tabakin | Thresher staff

The 2005 college football season will end with the two best college football teams in the country playing in the Rose Bowl, and Rice will start its own season at the historic venue Saturday night against the University of California-Los Angeles.

Rice’s move to Conference USA from the Western Athletic Conference means the Owls will play three teams for the first time. Before Rice begins conference play, however, it opens with three non-conference games against UCLA and the University of Texas on the road and the United States Naval Academy at Rice Stadium.

“In the first four weeks we actually play [under] four different leagues’ officials,” head coach Ken Hatfield said. “We’ve got the Pac-10 [officials] in the first one, we’ve got the Big XII [officials] in the second one, we’ve got Navy’s officials from the Big East in the third, and then finally [we] get our Conference USA [officials] in the fourth week. While the rules are the same nationwide, sometimes the interpretations are different.”

Although playing at UCLA and at Texas in the first two weeks seems daunting, junior guard Cory Laxen said he welcomes the challenge.

“That’s good for us,” Laxen said. “We’re going to be underdogs in the first two. It’s a position you’d like to be in. It’s going to give us a challenge and give us an opportunity to show people what we’re made of.”

While most of the country’s teams began their seasons last weekend, the Owls had an open date. Rice simulated game situations in an all-out scrimmage, but sophomore quarterback Joel Armstrong said that it was no substitute for an actual game.

“It makes you hungry, like [being held] away from a meal and watching everybody else eat,” Armstrong said. “When you get to that meal, you’re going to eat a lot.”

The Owls open conference play with road games against the University of Alabama-Birmingham and East Carolina University.

“We’re really going to have to watch teams and see how they play because this will be the first time playing them,” junior running back Quinton Smith said.

The schedule will become more familiar Oct. 15, when Rice returns home to face former WAC brethren University of Tulsa. After an bye-week, the Owls then renew their rivalries with the University of Texas-El Paso at home and Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Homecoming will be Nov. 12 against Tulane University, and the Owls will play their final home game the following week against the University of Central Florida.

For the first time since 1995, when the two teams played the final football game in the history of the Southwest Conference, Rice will end its season against the University of Houston in the game for the Bayou Bucket. The Owls and Cougars had opened their seasons against each other since 1999.

“It’s kind of weird,” senior linebacker Adam Herrin said, “Every year you start out with a rival team that you’re used to seeing around at public places, and this year we’re going all the way out to [Los Angeles] and playing somebody Rice hasn’t played in a long time.”

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