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November 2, 2007 > Sports > Football’s defensive woes continue

Football’s defensive woes continue

Owls lose 34-21 to Marshall, welcome struggling UTEP for homecoming

By Nathan Bledsoe | Thresher staff

Last year, the football team took advantage of every bounce of the ball and staged its fair share of dramatic comebacks on its way to a bowl berth. Apparently, that team was using this year’s supply of good fortune. Despite a late rally, Rice (1-7, 1-3 C-USA) was unable to overcome an early lead from the previously winless Marshall University (1-7, 1-3 C-USA) to fall 34-21 last Saturday in Huntington, W.V.

It was not the only thing that Rice lost: Any chance of a repeat bowl appearance was washed away with the loss, since the Owls are guaranteed to finish with a sub-.500 season.

However, the season will continue, and Rice hopes to rebound against struggling University of Texas-El Paso (4-4, 2-2 C-USA) tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Rice Stadium. The Miners come into the game with an outside shot at staying in the hunt for a conference championship, and beating the Owls is imperative if they want to compete for the C-USA crown. With their own postseason hopes gone, Rice now assumes the role of spoiler.

Beating UTEP hinges on a few crucial points for the Owls. Offensively, the Miners rank in the top five in C-USA in rushing, passing and total offense. They are also tied for second in scoring with 35.8 points per game. This does not bode well for a struggling Rice defense, which is last in the conference with 41.5 points allowed per game. However, the game could turn into a high-scoring affair — Rice is the only team in C-USA allowing more passing yards per game than the Miners.

While Rice has struggled on both sides of the ball this year, the team has been able to avoid penalties. Rice is first in the conference in penalty-yard average this season, both in avoiding penalties themselves and inducing them from their opponents.

On the other side, UTEP is the most penalized team in the conference, which may provide more opportunities which the Owls can take advantage of. Rice was unable to profit from almost anything last weekend against Marshall. The Thundering Herd, which was riding an eight-game losing streak stretching back to last season, piled on the Owls early, jumping out to a 24-0 lead before junior quarterback Chase Clement sprinted for a 20-yard touchdown with just over a minute left in the third quarter.

Marshall answered with a 22-yard field goal to push the lead to 27-7, but the Owls did not roll over quietly. Freshman receiver James Casey caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Clement with seven minutes remaining, adding to his career-best seven-catch, 101-yard day. Then, after forcing Marshall to a three-and-out, the Owls drove down to Marshall’s two-yard line. Clement then found sophomore wide receiver Toren Dixon wide open for another touchdown to make it a two-score game.

But the Thundering Herd was able to move the chains on its subsequent possession and eat up time before running back Kelvin Turner found a crease for an eight-yard touchdown run to seal the win.

A large part of the loss was due to Rice’s failure to stop Marshall on third downs in the second quarter — the Thundering Herd picked up the first down seven out of eight times en route to 17 points.

While the defense struggled, the receiving corps once again performed well. In addition to Casey’s seven catches, junior receiver Jarett Dillard also snagged seven balls for 99 yards.

Sophomore defensive back Andrew Sendejo, who has already received C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors once this year, had a career-high 18 tackles — three individual — from his free safety spot position However, he said he was displeased with the defensive performance.

“We’ve got to make plays, get off the field [and] give our offense a short field so they can score,” he said.

End of article

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