The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 9, 1987 Page: 15 of 20
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THRESHER Sports Friday, October 9, 1987 15
Third quarter woes ruin early Owls success
by Steve Nations
Twenty-two and holding.
That's how many consecutive foot-
ball games Rice University has lost to
the University of Texas. Every year
the frustration grows, and last Satur-
day in Austin the Longhoms added
another notch on the belt of frustra-
tion that the Owls have worn since
1965. This year Texas rode 31 sec-
ond-half points en route to a 45-26
victory over Rice.
"Defensively we played well for 60
plays," said Head Coach Jerry
Berndt. Unfortunately the Owls lined
up defensively 67 times. "There were
seven plays that we defensed poorly,"
Berndt added. Those seven plays re-
sulted in 35 U.T. points, though, and
spelled doom for the Owls.
The Longhorn offense scored five
touchdowns, and three of those plays
actually started in U.T. territory. The
five touchdown plays included runs
of 58,57,59, and 34 yards, and a pass
of 38 yards, with one other touch-
down coming on a 29-yard intercep-
tion return. "I think we were scared of
their speed and we were overpursu-
ing," said defensive back Everett
Coleman.
"They came out running," said
cornerback William McClay. "We
knew after they beat Oregon State 61-
16 that they had confidence in their
running game." Texas had two rush-
ers over die 100-yard mark against the
Owls. Eric Metcalf collected 159,
while fullback Darron Norris had 123
for U.T. °
The bulk of Rice's offense came
through the air. Quarterback Quentis
Roper was 12 of 30 passing for 183
yards and one touchdown, and Mark
Comalander was 10 of 17 through the
air for 120 yards and one touchdown.
Each was intercepted once. The rush-
ing game accounted for only 106
yards. The tailbacks were especially
ineffective for Rice. By unofficial
count the triple option only once
ended up in the hands of the tailback
as U.T. did a good job of taking away
that portion of the Rice offense. Todd
Jones carried the ball only four times,
picking up 25 yards.
The critical play, according to
Berndt, came early in the fourth quar-
ter with Texas holding on to a 31-26
lead. Facing a third down and 10 situ-
ation, Texas quarterback Bret Staf-
ford threw a pass to flanker Gabriel
Johnson streaking up the sideline,
while Rice defensive back Nigel
Codrington was defending. Codring-
ton was called for pass interference on
the play, giving UT a first down near
mid-field which they eventually con-
verted into a touchdown. After watch-
ing the game films, Coach Berndt was
upset with the call.
"It was the wrong call. It's the kind
of bush call you're going to get in
Austin," he said. So instead of having
a fourth and 10 and the punting team
on the field, Texas had a first down
and eventually a touchdown.
Another problem Rice had was the
entire third quarter. "We had to play
four good quarters to beat them and
we didn't," said Bemdt. "We played a
poor third quarter."
The Owls were leading 17-14 at
halftime, but the visitor's locker room
Horny Frogs fear
squashing by Owls
by Wes Gere
Tomorrow at noon (not 1:30 as was
previously scheduled) the Rice Owls
play the team with undisputably the
worst name in the world of sports—
the TCU Homed Frogs. Unfortu-
nately, it'snotacontestofnames, and
TCU has a lot of experience and talent
going for it this year. The one thing
that may save Rice is that TCU can't
seem to keep their most important
players out of t)*6liospital.
The FfOgS are returning almost
their whole team from last year, and
many players who were young and
inexperienced then have improved by
now. They have 17 starters returning
from '86. One of these is running
back Tony Jeffery, perhaps the star
player of the team and soon to break
all-time TCU records in rushing and
scoring. Two weeks ago he won As-
sociated Press' SW Conference
player of the week for gaining 207
yards against BYU on only 19carries.
Last year he had 343 yards and five
touchdowns in their season opener.
A second star who is now back after
missing last season is senior defen-
sive tackle KentTramel, who entered
the year with 315 career tackles. Yet
another is their main quarterback
Scott Ankrom, who was out for al-
most a year with a quadricep pull,
who said of his two-year history of
injuries, "Surely to goodness I have
all of this stuff behind me." Yep, he
(J said it. But it wasn't even true, since
he was out again last week with a
pulled hamstring.
With these key men back in action
and with so many experienced play-
ers, the Frogs look to be much better
than in the last two seasons, when
they lost to Rice. Fifth year head
coach Jim Wacker says "we are also
must be jinxed at Memorial Stadium.
The trouble started five minutes into
the second half when quarterback
Quentis Roper had a pass intercepted
by Texas free safety John Hagy and
returned 29 yards for a touchdown. To
Hagy's credit it was a fine play, but
that doesn't make it any easieT to
accept. The reason for the intercep-
tion was a difference in the reads that
Roper and receiver Darrell Goolsby
had on the play. When Goolsby cut in
a different direction than Roper ex-
pected, he was forced to double pump
on the throw, giving Hagy justenough
time to get to the ball and make the
interception.
The third quarter woes continued
as soon as U.T. got the ball back. On
a third and one from the U.T. 41-yard
line, tailback Eric Metcalf took apitch
on the right side and rambled 59 yards
for another Texas touchdown.
Running from the shotgun on the
next series Roper fumbled the ball
while being sacked, and Thomas
Aldridge recovered for the Long-
horns on the Rice 13-yard line to set
up a chip-shot field goal.
Rice's third quarter woes also
showed up on offense. The Long-
horns began to figure out Rice's most
effective ground play, the triple op-
tion. Texas forced most of the option
plays to go to fullback Lorenzo
Cyphers right up the middle where he
was stopped for short gains. Early in
the game, however, the triple option
was working very effectively for
Rice. In fact on the very first play of
the game Roper ran 34 yards on the
option keeper.
As easily as U.T. ran through the
Owl defense in the third quarter, they
had as much trouble in the second
quarter. Texas amassed a total of five
yards rushing in the second quarter on
11 carries. Sure it's a meaningless
statistic, but it sounds good. The Owls
scored twice in the second quarter to
take the lead. Following aTexas punt
that rolled dead on the Rice four-yard
line, the Owls dug down for all they
had. Rice marched 96 yards, picking
up three third down conversions and
one fourth down conversion. The big
play was a 49-yard pass from Roper to
Goolsby that set Rice up on the U.T.
19-yard line. Cyphers eventually took
the ball over from the one.
Later in the period Texas punter
Alex Waits let the snap go right
through his legs and roll 25 yards
backwards. John Isaac recovered the
pigskin on the U.T. nine. Even though
Rice couldn't get the touchdown.
Glen Ray Hines booted a 26-yard
field goal to give Rice the 17-14
halftime lead.
Texas almost took the lead back
going into the locker room. With just
15 seconds left Stafford launched a
Hail Mary that found its way into the
hands of Gabriel Johnson and wound
up on the two-yard line. But with no
time outs left .Texas was forced to run
a play and throw the ball out of
bounds. A penalty sent the Long-
horns back to the seven, where they
set to kick a field goal. The snap was
bad, and holder Rob McManis tried to
run the ball in. He was tackled at the
one, preserving Rice's lead at least for
the halftime.
The frustration that has been grow-
ing for 22 seasons will one day ex-
plode right in the faces of the burnt-
orange bucketheads of Texas. It
didn't happen last Saturday, but one
day it will.
Todd Jones sings out loud after first quarter touchdown
-M. Gladu
very aware that we have to regain that
'knowing how to win' frame of
mind." No kidding: Wacker has a 16-
31-2 record at TCU, 1-3 this year.
Last week's Longhorn game, in
spite of the loss, showed impressive
play from several Owls. Receiver
Darrell Goolsby caught seven passes
for 132 yards, a career high, with a 27-
yard TD pass from Mark Comalander
and a 49-yarder from Quentis Roper.
Roper also had career highs of 12
" completions and 212 total yards, plus
a 34-yard run, his longest at Rice. He
continues to compile kickoff return
yardage also, and is now 19th in the
nation in average yardage.
The QB machine continues to per-
form, says Bemdt: "I thought the
quarterbacks showed a lot of poise.
Mark Comalander played as well as
he has played since I've been here."
The 303 yards passing last week was
the most since Bemdt took over.
Also impressive was the versatile
freshman Donald Hollas, who in
addition to quarterback play against
LSU and Southwest Texas (leading
TD drives in both games) is now also
playing defensive back. He made six
unassisted tackles and was in on nine.
One thing that may hurt Rice's
chances is the doubtful condition of
veteran defensive tackle Eric Johnson
due to back injury. If he is out for the
TCU game, it will be a blow to an
already uncertain defense.
Bemdt grasped the situation of
both teams coming into this game
when he said, "They're probably
going to be a little bit like a wounded
lion coming in here. They know they
can't lose a game... Their backs are to
the wall, but ours are also ."This is a
decisive game. We can't lose to
frogs, especially homy ones.
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Raphael, Michael J. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 9, 1987, newspaper, October 9, 1987; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245674/m1/15/: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.