The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 6, 1987 Page: 17 of 20
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rice University Woodson Research Center.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THRESHER Sports Friday, November 6, 1987 17
Early promise of Berndt Magic fades with fall
Well here we are 10 weeks into the
football season. I have watched or
listened intently for the past two and a
half months for everything to fall into
place for the Owls, at least for one
game. I have been searching in vain
for a manifestation, no matter how
minute, of Mr. Berndt's second year
"magic." Like the freshman Sid guy
who still doesn't have (and won't get)
a date to Esperanza, I am frustrated.
Think about it: things were really
shaping up nicely. Last season con-
cluded with two come-from behind
victories and a near upset. The mo-
mentum was there. This season
opened with four non-conference
games for the team to get its act to-
gether. Sure, the critics still picked
Rice to finish last in the Conference,
but proving them wrong was going to
be the fun part.
I can count the number of "fun"
quarters in games vs. the S WC on one
hand.
Why is the season going so bad?
Well, it's not really that bad. The
Owls have won two games so far, and
this is more than they have won in
entire seasons. But this year the ex-
pectations were higher. "We're going
to surprise some people," coach Jerry
Berndt said at the start of the season.
The Owls were going to improve
upon last year's 4-7 showing. Now
the best they can do is match last
year's accomplishment.
The team has one major problem:
Defense. Consider the following sta-
tistics: On average, Rice has allowed
313 yards per game rushing. The
average for the other seven teams in
the SWC is less than half the Rice
average—a mere 145 yards per game
Snell, Berry,Truax
fire up swim team
by Philip MUler
The Rice swim team hit the waves
for the first time this year, taking on
tough southwest Conference oppo-
nents. On Friday the men and women
were scheduled to race against the
Arkansas Razorbacks in the Rice
pool. Unfortunately, the Arkansas
women were tired from swimming
the night before. Fearing a loss, they
decided that they would not swim
against our swimmers.
The Arkansas men were feeling up
to testing their prowess against our
fearless non-scholarship male swim-
mers. The Rice men were defeated,
but several of them did very well.
Standouts included Junior John Graf,
who placed second in the fifty yard
freestyle (22.37), and Senior Rob
Koger, who took second in both the
two hundred yard freestyle (1:47.14),
and in the two hundred yard butterfly
(2:01.24).
The Southwest Conference relay
meet which took place on Saturday at
the U of H Natatorium was a tune-up
event for Rice swimmers. The men
and women both finished last against
conference opponents. Coach Kris
Wingenroth pointed out, however,
that these results were deceptive.
Because it was a tune-up meet, she
allowed her swimmers to swim in
events in which they do not normally
compete. In addition, the entire squad
competed for Rice. Other SWC teams
fielded their best squads, not caring
that the event counts for little. Coach
Wingenroth wanted to get competi-
tive times on her swimmers, and at the
same time to let the team get its feet
wet, so to speak.
There is a positive outlook on the
swim team this year. They have been
practicing long and hard, four hours a
day, for a successful season. Coach
Wingenroth is looking for important
leadership from a trio of seniors: Pam
Berry, Carol Snell, and ReginaTruax.
Rice boasts no superstars in the water,
but because of its depth, the swim
team should do well in its second
season at the Division 1 level.
This Friday the Owls travel to
Baton Rouge to battle the nationally
ranked Tigers of Louisiana State. On
Saturday they will compete against
Tulane and the University of New
Orleans in New Orleans. The Satur-
day matchups should be very close,
according to Coach Wingenroth.
PRO'S
SPORTS BAR AND GRILL
"THE COLLEGIATE SPORTS BAR"
4400 MEMORIAL AT JACKSON MILL
IN THE BAYOU PARK APARTMENT COMPLEX
868 - 1909
103 SATELLITE STATIONS - 4 SCREENS
FULL BAR - TEXAS SIZE SANDWICHES
COUPON
BUY ONE ENTREE,
GET ONE
FREE
With This Coupon, or Your
Running Number
(Second Entree must be of
Equal or Lesser Value)
(Not Valid with other
coupons or promotions)
*
N
SCOTLAND ST
J'
X
SMI ^Hl (
memorial drive 1west1
memorial drive ieasti
OWLOOK
by Joel Sendek
rushing. When teams run the ball as
much as they have against Rice, they
score touchdowns. After nine games,
Rice has allowed 46 touchdowns.
This is nearly double the amount that
any other SWC team has allowed. In
fact, the other seven teams have only
allowed 129 touchdowns, combined!
Thanks to Rice's potent offense, only
one SWC team—Texas Tech—has
scored more touchdowns than Rice.
Unfortunately the Rice offense is
certainly not good enough to compen-
sate for the inexperienced and injury-
ridden Rice defense. Averaging 504
yards allowed per game, it is no sur-
prise that the Owls are last in the SWC
in total defense.
There have also been too many
mental errors. This is why Rice is
leading the Conference in penalty
minutes. And the Owls can't even put
their mistakes to good use. Consider
the Arkansas game—at one point, the
Owls were called for having too many
men on the field. Now why couldn't
they have had that extra guy out there
where Mark pitched the ball to no-
body and set the Razorbacks up with
a first and goal? Was Mark looking
for the 12th man that they use in
practice? O.K., I know, everyone
makes mistakes. The point is that the
defense is not entirely to blame.
Now let's consider some factors
over which the team has no control—
such as fan support. At Saturday's
game, I was appalled to see, outside
of the Rally Club, only a few dozen
people in die student section for the
opening kickoff. Oh, I know why no
one came to see the kickoff—the
game started at noon. How silly of me
to think that people would miss that
delectable brunch to get to the game
on time. One person said to me after-
wards, in a mocking self-righteous
tone, "I'm glad I came late so I didn't
have to witness the Owls screwing up
the first play of the game." The re-
sponse to this empty, hindsight logic
is proven fact that if the home team
does not achieve the threshold num-
ber of fans in the bleachers to offset
the fans of the opposing team, then
it's bad karma for the home team, and
mistakes are made. Maybe the Owls
should hire scab fans from Minnesota
to come and watch the home games.
Either that or play in the Metrodome
under the guise of the "Rice
Twinskies."
Some say Rice should drop out of
the Southwest Conference. There is
some validity to this argument, con-
sidering the relative size of the stu-
dent body here compared to UT or
A&M. However, just being in the
SWC is a status symbol. Rice could
kick the shit out of Harvard, Yale or
Princeton on the football field. In the
classroom, too, for that matter. The
bottom line is this: would you rather
watch Rice play the Longhoms or the
South by Southwest Idaho State Uni-
versity Potatosackers?
The Rice Owls are competitors.
They can and will win SWC games, if
for no other reason than the thirst for
victory, which is painfully apparent
on the players' faces after the games.
I congratulated Todd Jones on his
dazzling 20 yard touchdown run
against A&M, in which he broke at
, least four tackles. His reply: "Yeah,
but we lost." The Owls are not going
to give up.. Jerry Berndt is not going
to give up. Neither should the Rice
students.
OFFICE WITH A VIEW
The Peace Corps is an exhilarating two year ex-
perience that will last a lifetime.
Working at a professional level that ordinarily might
take years'of apprenticeship back home/volunteers find
the career growth they're Icroking for and enjoy a unique
experience in the developing world.
International firms and government agencies value
the skills and knowledge mastered during Peace Corps
service.
INFORMATION TABLE:
Thurs. and Fri.., Nov. 12 & 13, 8:30-4:00,
Rice Memorial Center
SCHEDULED INTERVIEWS
Friday, Nov. 13, 8:30-4:00
Career Planning and Placement Office
Please sign up in advance and
bring completed resume
Peace Corps
The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love.
For more information, call:
1-800-442-7294 ext. 113
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View two places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Raphael, Michael J. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 6, 1987, newspaper, November 6, 1987; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245677/m1/17/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.