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September 1, 2006 > Sports > Passing attack, stack defense to debut against UH

Passing attack, stack defense to debut against UH

By Nathan Bledsoe | Thresher Editorial Staff

A trailer in front of Rice Stadium has “Renaissance Rice,” the athletic department’s new slogan for football, printed on the side. Surrounding the title are pictures of big names from big eras in Rice football, from Jess Neely, Rice’s winningest coach, to Tommy Kramer (Lovett ‘77), an All-American quarterback who shattered passing records in the 1970s. Along the bottom of the mural on both sides is the phrase “We Will Win” in large, block letters. The coaches’ and players’ attitudes are no different: The team ends many of their preseason practices by yelling “conference champs” in unison.

Renaissance or not, tomorrow’s season opener against the University of Houston indeed marks a historic day for Rice football. In addition to being head coach Todd Graham’s first game, tomorrow will welcome a new playing surface, new aluminum bleachers and a new jumbotron scoreboard. Rice will also debut its radically new spread offense and 3-3-5 stack defense, with many Owls having learned new positions — or at least new responsibilities.

After the game against Houston, picked to finish third in the Conference-USA West by the conference coaches poll, Rice will face an extremely difficult non-conference schedule, with games against the University of California-Los Angeles, the University of Texas and Florida State University.

Originally, tomorrow’s season opener was scheduled much later in the season. However, having a home game at Rice Stadium early on was important to the coaching staff, since the next game in the stadium is October 14 against UAB. They successfully moved the Bayou Bucket, which holds more uncertainty and anticipation than those in years past. College Sports Television (CSTV) recognized that by choosing the game for national broadcast.

Rice, although picked to finish last in the Conference-USA West division, unveils its new system, and Houston looks to finally capitalize on potential it has shown for the past two seasons.

The Houston athletic department is hyping quarterback Kevin Kolb as a Heisman candidate, and UH is eager to start its season against an Owl team equally eager to disprove its low preseason ranking. Both teams enter the season with the lofty goal of winning the West division and going on to the Dec. 1 conference championship game televised on ESPN.

The obstacles Rice faces as it tries to rebound from last year’s disastrous 1-10 season seem insurmountable. However, teams more maligned than the Owls have overcome similar circumstances. The Army team Rice plays in week five lost 16 straight games before its four game winning streak near the end of last season.

The game in West Point against Army will be crucial, as it is the lone game between the three powerhouses and the beginning of conference play. Another game fans may find interesting comes Nov. 11, when the Owls travel to Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane team that Graham helped build into last year’s conference champion. The season finale is a home game against longtime rival Southern Methodist University, a game that historically has proven to be competitive.

The western division winner of Conference-USA looks to repeat as champion over the Eastern winner, but even the loser of the championship game should make a bowl, with C-USA having four bowl tie-ins. However, with Rice’s small enrollment and alumni base, the team would likely have to win the C-USA title game to be invited to a bowl game.

In offensive coordinator Major Applewhite’s new spread offense, sophomore Chase Clement takes the reigns as the starting quarterback. Former starting quarterback junior Joel Armstrong remains in the starting lineup at the slot receiver position, but he has taken some snaps at quarterback throughout the preseason.

Armstrong is not the only player forced to play a new position. Even players listed at the same position as last season have had to learn a completely new set of techniques and responsibilities — like the wide receivers, who often serve more as blockers in an option offense. Expect to see a constant shuffle of jerseys at the receiving spots, as every receiver has a chance to see playing time. Four of the new recruits are wide receivers, and no redshirts have been declared.

“All four [freshmen wide receivers] have a chance to play,” Applewhite said.

While many teams redshirt most recruits to give them time to learn the playbook, all of Rice’s players are learning a new system at once, so that particular rationale does not necessarily apply.

Changing the schemes of the offense and the defense may be a large task, but the transition has not discouraged the team or the coaching staff. Graham said he believes the players have the capacity to absorb the new system.

“A big thing in camp is we’re going to ask these guys to understand a lot schematically,” Graham said. “Our greatest asset here at Rice is we have smart kids with great character.”

Although practice is open, the team has been understandably reluctant to disclose information about the new offense and defense, hoping to surprise early season opponents. In order to succeed, the team must stay healthy, as depth is a definite concern.

“The number one thing for this team is that we don’t have a lot of depth, so we have to stay healthy,” Graham said.

Second-team all conference running back senior Quentin Smith returns for the Owls, as do all-conference freshman team members wide receiver Jarrett Dillard and offensive lineman Austin Wilkinson. Wilkinson also garnered honorable mention freshman all-American honors.

In the new system, look for Dillard to shine. Coming off a season in which he made 35 catches for 524 yards, Dillard has the coaching staff singing praises for his hard work, raw ability and growing understanding of defensive coverages. Also, look for Smith to take full advantage of the wider running lanes the new scheme should create.

The most notable departure on either side of the ball is defensive end John Syptak, an all-conference player and the Owls’ leading tackler a year ago. Improving upon defense is critical, as defensive struggles plagued even the best Rice teams of recent years.

“We’ve got to play championship defense,” Graham said. “We have to be able to stop people and get the ball back for our offense.”

Defensive players looking to make immediate impact in the new stack defense include sophomore linebacker Brian Raines, a former safety who put on 25 pounds over the summer in order to make the position switch. True freshman Andrew Sendejo will start at the spur safety position Saturday night, and seniors Chad Price and Andray Downs have made a combined 59 consecutive starts in the defensive backfield.

An entirely new coaching staff also means an entirely new philosophy on special teams. With the new staff, look for players from the starting sets to make contributions to the special teams squads.

“Our best players are going to be on our special teams,” Phillips said.

Playing the best athletes in special teams can give teams a serious edge, to which Frank Beamer at Virgina Tech and Bob Stoops at Oklahoma can attest. Both of these successful coaches of BCS contending programs pride themselves on making a difference through the special teams and playing their best players on the special teams. Look for the Owls to do the same.

“We have good special teams type players,” Phillips said, “Our deep snappers are NFL [skill level] guys.”

Senior punter Jared Scruggs has consistent ability that makes him a potential NFL prospect — his 42.6 yard per punt career average is the highest in Rice history. Junior place kicker Luke Juist must improve his consistency from past seasons, but his leg strength is well above average.

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