The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 9, 2009 Page: 9 of 16
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Friday, January9,2009
the Rice Thresher
SPORTS FEATURE 9
9
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mai
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During the third quarter
Texas Bowl, Che
era
to ce-
irds. But Dillaid, more
: class thau cleverness,
the ban bade to
and wWe opejri,
■ to give
^ v. j» ^.ead.
ClementandDillard, just as you'd ex-
pqgt. On their own wavelength, at a dif-
ferent speed, combining for their NCAA-
recofd jjtst touchdown conversion*. But
this flea-flicker saw their roles switched!#
for it was raiaid as the gunslinger and
Clement as the crafty catcher.
Is there anything these two can't
do?
Actually, expand that thought - is
there anything this team can't do?
Three years ago, Rice football was
lower than a Flo Rida groupie, sitting
pretty at l-io under then-coach Ken
Hatfield. The next year Todd Graham
returned Rice to the postseason for
the first time since the 1961 Bluebon-
PPPWPWBI—MPBLplands of his
°ttiers^ and outside of James teammates. Dillaid and Casey were
vid
State, himself and Florida
the Owls looked Hke Calista the scariest tandem since Bonnie and
" against the likes of Texas Clyde, while Junior wide receiver To-
a State- ren Dixon - who finished with eight
« mat weren't enough, Hurricane catches, 58 yards, and an all-impor-
Ike made sure to wash out a few days tant fourth-down conversion - con-
of much-needed rest for a team just tinued to show why Dillard's loom-
looking for some footing. ing departure may not hurt as much
It seemed everything was against as we thought. And junior running
them. No one's had it this hard since, hack C.J. Ugokwe, whose broad shoul
Casey Michel
Thrlsher Staff
a complete unknown - an ESPN host
tempted his analysts to^uesswho the
Rice coach Is" only to watch them all
ftul — and a 3-9«eason seemed *hj force
us back to college football purgatory.
As the 2008 campaign dawned,
expectations were tempered, outlooks
were middling, and our confidence
was shakier than my great aunt Ida.
It's not as if you could blame the fans,
or even the team. Rice football has
had such a culture of ineptitude that
moving beyond counting victories on
one hand was considered miraculous.
well, the men's basketball team
last season.
But as you, me and, yes, even
some ESPN analysts saw this season,
the Owls slipped on their glass cleats,
picked apart their competition and
bufned more records than Godzilla in
a Virgin Music store.
All those previous disturbances, all
those infuriating obstacles, were noth-
ingbut building blocks, ties that bound
the team and their talents into one.
For a team that's overcome so much,
I'm almost ashamed that I thought the
Texas Bowl would be a close contest.
On December 30, everything was
clicking. Clement picked apart the
stringy Western Michigan defense,
landing a remarkable 30 of his 44
ders carried a ground game all year,
bludgeoned his way to 54 yards on 17
catties, iUysirating that our running
game will survive until Safin McGuffie
takes the reins.
Meanwhile, the defense - long
the ugly stepchild to our beautiful of-
fense - was spectacular to the point
of redundancy. Time and again, Rice
kicked sand in the Broncos' eyes
whenever they tried to climb from
their hole, forcing four four-and-outs
and snagging a pair of interceptions
along the way. And while the Owls'
bid at their first shutout in 13 years
failed late in the fourth quarter, West-
ern Michigan required seven red-zone
plays and a questionable penalty just
to score their first points.
yen though the Bron-
cos' marching band had a better
touchdown jig, the MOB held itself
to a higher standard than usual.
Rice dominated in every sense
of the word. With a spectacular
venue, an energized fan base and a
coach who's staying put, Rice foot-
ball may have never been higher
than when those final Texas Bowl
seconds ticked into oblivion.
Now back to the question of
Clement and Dillard. After the Texas
Bom^ triumph, complete with Clem-
ent's ten-gallon MVP trophy, these
two can't come back for one more
round, one more game or one more
shot at the ionghcttas. Thar time at
Rice has come to a bittersweet aid,
and where they land in the NFL is up
to better football minds than mine.
These two came into Rice un-
heralded, undersized and nearly
Unheard of. Now, they leave as the
most remarkable duo the program
has ever seen.
I'd say that that's quite the re-
versal, wouldn't you?
■Casey Michel isaBrownCoilege
junior and former sports editor. 1
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Chun, Lily & Farmer, Dylan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 9, 2009, newspaper, January 9, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443122/m1/9/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.