The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 1, 1973 Page: 4 of 8
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Boycott controversy, dangling axe worry Owls to defeat
by T. G. KAHUNA
It was obvious to ' all who
could see or even hear the Rice-
Texas game that the Owls were
not in Austin to play football.
Any time a team loses five
fumbles, has a punt blocked, and
drops no less than seven pas-
ses, they are not concentrating.
Much of this has to be attri-
buted to the Edwin Collins, con-
troversy last week. When the
entire team is wondering who
is going to quit, will there be
a boycott, what should we do
about this, who's going to get
the axe next, or will get back
on the team, it becomes impos-
sible to make the concentrated
physical and mental effort to
3'lay a good football game.
The result was that Texas
".humped us 55-13 and gave A1
Conover the most humiliating
moment in his life. Amazingly,
the Owls started out brilliantly,
executing traps and sweeps,
completing passes to take a
brief 7-0 lead. That was the
last enjoyable moment for Rice
fans, other than halftime. Nat-
urally Texas was able to adjust
to the things that were initially
successful for us, and the Rice
coaches, as usual, were unable
to come up with anything else
that would work consistently.
Darrel Royal's game plan
worked beautifully, in contrast,
as Rosey Leaks pounded the
middle of the line consistently
for four, five and six yards.
Then, when we became aware
of that, quarterback M a r t y
Akins (?) would fake to Leaks,
take three more steps and cut
upfield for ten to thirty yards.
Akins, the worst quarterback
statistically in the SAVC. also
completed five of six passes for
his first two touchdowns of the
year. Both were on excellent
short-yardage calls by the Tex-
as coaching staff, catching the
poorly prepared Owls totally
by surprise.
Bright spots for Rice were
few and far between. Rodney
Norton and Bruce Henley both
turned in fine defensive per-
formances, as well as David
Snellings. Cornelius Walker fin-
ally did not have a truly bril-
liant game, but that should have
been expected. Walker was tor-
mented all last week by the
press, both as spokesman for
the black player? (who all wore
black armbands in protest of
Collins' suspension during the
game), and as Collins' room-
mate. In addition, he was facing
All-America candidate Bill Wy-
man on every play, and usually
one or the other of the Texas
1
&
BP
*T...
9* IT* .
mickey meier
Not only did this maneuver score for Texas, ir.ey scored cgain on an instant replay.
intramurals, soccer, rugby
by BILL BELL
The finals of the intramurals
d>all playoffs will pit Xum-
:• J against the Knickerknoc-
l's. Number J reached the
als !iv upsetting the Tube-
iks 25-20 and forcing this
:tIoss seer to eat his words,
c Knickerknockers whipped
o 28-20 to earn their berth,
muring once more into the
i'm of the future, this prog-
■:;cator predicts a Knick vic-
■■*. Here's hoping.
The rest of the sports
Number J got off to a fast
start against the Tubesteaks
with a 20 yd. pass from Shible
Simon to Dan Loveless. Tube-
steak's final undoing, however,
was the interception. In all they
threw 5 interceptions and, on
their final possession, when a
touchdown would have won the
game, Eliot Shapleigh threw
his final interception to—you
guessed it—Dan Loveless.
The Knickernockers had a
rough time in edging the grad
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team Zoo, 28-20. Ron Sollock
bedeviled the vaunted Ivnick
defense with both running and
passing, although the Knicks
led all the way. They drew
first blood on a run by Frank
Allen, but were shocked by
bollock's pass to Rick Schell
for the first touchdown scored
against the Knicks this year.
With time running out, Zoo
scored their final touchdown on
another Sollock pass to bring
the score to a respectable 28-
20.
This week the final will be
played Wednesday at 4:00.
College football also starts
this week with Hanszen meet-
ing Wiess Thursday at 4pm,
and Richardson meeting Baker
Monday.
The* Rice soccer team drop-
ped from first place in the Tex-
as Soccer League this weekend
with a 3-1 loss to Texas, but
came back in Sunday to edge
Pan Am, '4-3. Currently the
Owls futbollers, the winningest
team on campus, have a 5-2
conference record and a 6-3-1
record overall. The win and
loss put the socer club in a
tie for 2nd with Texas, one
half game behind U of H (5-1-
1).
The Rugby team sent two
teams to the San Antonio Sev-
en's tournament tfiis past week-
end and performed credibly.
The first team lost to the Dal-
las Harlequins 8-4 in the first
game and then came on to
beat Texas AM 24-0 and Alpine
16-0 before finally being elimi-
nated 12-0. This week the club
travels to Fort Worth to play
the Ft. Worth Rugby Club.
guards.
The Collins-Conover contro-
versy no only affected
the team morale and con-
centration, it also had an ef-
fect on our passing game, which
was 13-30 with those seven
dropped passes. In addition,
prior to this game Rice had
only fumbled seven times total.
Lack of concentration caused
us to almost equal that number
against Texas.
That's about all there is to
say about a 55-13 loss. It was
poorly played and poorly
coached and it could be said that
we were lucky the score was so
close.
What happens next week is
only a matter of speculation.
Hopefully Conover will finally
owlook
accept Collins' apology and the
team can concentrate on foot-
ball. If not, look for a repeat
performance in Lubbock. Tech
murdered SMU last week. Pre-
viously, two bad breaks cost
them their only loss this year,
in Austin. Coach Jim Carlen
boasts a stout defense which de-
molished the same SMU offen-
sive lihe which murdered our
defense. The Tech offense, led
by quarterback Joe Barnes, who
can pass and run well, can score
from anywhere on the field, by
run or pass. All this plus po-
tential superstar Lawrence Wil-
liams at flanker could lead Tech
to the fourth consecutive 400-
yard plus game against the
Owl defense. Our prediction:
Texas Tech 41, Rice 14.
Where is Big Al?
All major college football coaches are under con-
stant and intense pressure. And for losing coaches, it's
much worse. From the events of the last few weeks
it would seem that Al Conover is letting these pres-
sures get to him. No longer is the ever-quotable Rice
coach the spontaneous Big Al who gained his job thanks
to ii rapport with his players.
The Big Al that spontaneously threw a chair through
a window, led the Aggie band, and did cartwheels on the
sidelines, is now expected to keep these actions up.
Unfortunately, "planned spontaneity" is a poor replace-
ment. His antics after the Kramer-Swierc TD pass
against SMU were obviously forced, coming after the
extra point rather than in the moment the ball was
caught. Conover has become gimmick-conscious, and
fakes spontaneity rather than letting it happen.
When Conover remarked that Ara Parseghian at-
tempted to run up the score against Rice he showed very
poor judgement. Other coaches came to Parseghian's
defense, and the Irish coach commented that he had
ceased to respect Rice football. Parseghian also gave
Conover some useful advice. "You win football games
with blocking and tackling, not with gimmicks or rhet-
oric."
Another example of poor judgement by Conover
occurred last week in the Edwin Collins incident, pre-
ceding one of the most humiliating, one-sided defeats
in recent Rice football history. Edwin Collins was wrong
in cursing Big Al, and should have been disciplined.' But
the punishment should have been more reasonable. Col-
lins knew that he had acted hostily and foolishly. He
apologized the ve^y next morning to Conover, who boxed
himself in by not accepting the man's apology, dismissing
it as insincere. The players backed Collins, going twice
to Conover and once to President Hackerman to ask
for his reinstatement. Conover stubbornly refused to
relent. He could not bring himself to forgive.
Edwin Collins probably has as many non-jock ac-
quaintances as any other football player. He is the kind
of athlete that both students and faculty like to see at
Rice: a good player who does not confine himself to the
realm of football. Baker College is better off for having
had Ed as a member. Collins was one of only two Baker
football players who did not move to Richardson in 1971.
That speaks for itself. No one who knows Col-
lins could believe the story last week in the Chronicle
by Charles Carter. The facts were misrepresented; the
underlying provocation was not even investigated. Col-
lins had spoken up, in a team meeting only giving the
views of many other team members. Unfortunately, he
infuriated Conover by rather undiplomatic phrasing.
Later Conover took over an assistant coach's job
handling-the disciplinary running. He personally over-
saw Collins' running and drove him, in a Peterson-like,
way, to the breaking point. Then the cursing bout began.
Conover now fears that he is losing his authority
over his players. To win football games and regain the
players' respect, we need to see the Al Conover of 1972,
the popular fun-loving Big Al. .Not the grim, authori-
tarian Coach Conover. We c#n give Big Al a • second
chance, which is more than he has done for Collins. But
should he remain as he is, continuing to create ill will,
he may be the last football coach Rice University ever
has. It's a shame. He started off so well.
—hal morris
the rice thresher, november 1, 1973—page 4
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Jackson, Steve. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 1, 1973, newspaper, November 1, 1973; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245176/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.