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Rice University Athletics
Go West, Young Men
9/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 7, 2006
Houston -
For the second consecutive year, the Rice Owls will take to one of college football's most venerated playing fields when they meet the UCLA Bruins on Saturday at the Rose Bowl. But any resemblance to the teams that met to open the 2005 season will be in name only.
For the Owls, the change is dramatic, as they head to Los Angeles sporting a new head coach, new looks on both sides of the ball, as well as new uniforms. The Bruins, who beat Utah 31-10 to open their season, have a new cast of talented players at the skill positions and a new defensive staff as well.
In other words, the video vault is fairly empty when it comes to reference points.
"I've looked at films of seven or eight of their games from last year," Graham commented, "and they don't help much at all. They have a different quarterback, different running back, different tight end. Defensively, they have a totally new defensive coordinator. They're very much a different team."
UCLA head man Karl Dorrell has been equally limited in his video choices this week, but he knows his Bruins are facing a much different challenge than the Owls of 2005 who fell 63-21. "Coach Graham has really got them playing hard on defense, and on offense, they really have some weapons that you really have to pay attention to," Dorrell said. "They have a really good tailback (Quinton Smith) that can run and has very good speed. They have a quarterback that has some experience and is very mobile, throws the ball well on the move. And it looks like it's a program that's really starting to blossom with their first-year coach."
Two of the three players who scored for Rice now line up in at different positions. Joel Armstrong was the squad's starter at quarterback and scored on a 23-yard run. He'll line up as a wide receiver on Saturday night. Marcus Rucker scored from a yard out, but he's now more worried about stopping the run as a starter at linebacker.
Rucker joined with sophomores Vernon James and Brian Raines to give the Owls three first-time starters in the three linebacking spots, but all played well. Raines was a tackling machine, racking up 17 stops on the night, which leads the conference and is second in the nation.
The Owls head west on the heels of a 31-30 loss to Houston in the 30th Bayou Bucket last Saturday night, a game that showcased the improvements instilled by Graham and his staff after months of hard work and constant reinforcement of their positive message to the players.
"The game turned out exactly like I thought it'd be," Graham said earlier this week. "I just kept telling the kids to trust their training. And once we settled down, they played pretty well. They gave incredible effort. We've made tremendous strides with this football team." "This team can win any time it steps on the field. But we've just got to learn how to finish, down the line."
This Saturday, the field will be one of the most historic in college football, and while Graham is aware of the setting, his message to his team is simple....focus and play you game.
"There won't be any better setting to play a football game," Graham admitted. "But when you're a ball player, and you love this game, though, it only has a momentary effect. I've coached games at Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Orange Bowl, Wisconsin - you walk out onto the field and look around, and you say, `Aw this is pretty neat,' and then when the game starts, it's still a football game. And then you play."
Kickoff for Game Two of the Todd Graham era of Rice Football is set for 9 p.m. (central).
