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Rice Owls 2006 Preview

Rice Football Preview By: Matt Fargo
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college football previews : #105 Rice Owls Preview

by: Matt Fargo

Spring practices are in the books and fall camps will be here before you know it so that means getting an early jump on the 2006 NCAA football season. Knowing the teams now will save you time in August and Matt Fargo is here to help you get a grasp of what to expect this upcoming year. We go from worst to first in this 2006 College Football Preview.

#105 – Rice Owls 1-10 SU; 3-8 ATS

Fargo’s Take - The struggles of the Owls led to the departure of head coach Ken Hatfield who brought Rice out of a deep hole but couldn’t help falling back into. Last year was a huge disappointment in Houston but injuries and inexperience were the biggest factors in its one-win season. Of the 14 starters returning in 2006, nine of them are sophomores and juniors so given yet another year of starting, this should be a much better team – next year. New head coach Todd Graham does have some solid talent to work with and he is changing styles on both sides of the ball to be able to utilize that talent. The Owls were one of the best rushing teams in the country last year which is the case every season but expect more passing in 2006 to balance out the offense. Graham spent time as defensive coordinator with Tulsa before coming here and his knowledge will hopefully help out a defense that ranked 110th in total defense and 116th in scoring defense. SMU scored 27 points against the Owls and that was the lowest total that they allowed all season long showing just how bad it really was. CUSA is going to be a very tough conference this season with plenty of above average teams making it a difficult task for Rice to become a player.

Returning Starters on Offense – 8 The goal for the upcoming season is to become more balanced on offense and that will likely be placed on the shoulder of sophomore quarterback Chase Clement. He solidified the starting spot with a fantastic spring game and that now puts former starter Joel Armstrong at receiver, a position that is much in need of depth. Armstrong will start alongside super soph Jarrett Dillard. The running game is in fine shape with the return of Quinton Smith who will be running behind four returning starters on the offensive line. Opening up the offense should produce some positive results seeing that the wishbone attack was getting very stale and easier to defend with no sort of passing game to aide. Rice averaged only 21.9 ppg last season and to help the defense, that needs to increase dramatically.

Returning Starters on Defense – 6 This is the biggest project that Graham faces in his first season as this defense was horrible last year. The Owls will be turning to a new 3-3-5 scheme that will show off the strength of the unit which is in the secondary. Four of the six returnees are in the backfield but that leaves huge gaps up front and at linebacker where stopping the run will be another challenge. The Owls finished 109th in the nation in rushing defense as they allowed five opponents to rush for over 250 yards. For that to improve, Rice needs to utilize its quickness up front and hope that a trio of new linebackers step up immediately. The new look will put the players in the right positions but execution will determine if there is going be any development.

Schedule - CUSA is full of solid programs with six teams potentially ranked in the top 50 in the country. That will make for a tough inaugural season for Graham and company and the scheduling is not in the Owls favor. They start the season hosting rival Houston before tacking a daunting non-conference stretch of games against UCLA, Texas and Florida St. The game against the Seminoles commences six road games in a seven-game span with a game at Army being the only game that is winnable. The Owls close the season with back-to-back home games against East Carolina and SMU both of which will be difficult against improved teams. In total, Rice has only four true home games.

You can bet on… It will be another long year for the Owls but the program looks to be heading in the right direction. The football facilities have been overhauled and a new state of the art stadium video scoreboard should be able to attract better players down the road. They are still a year away from even thinking about contending in CUSA as this season is more about attitude than winning. Rice won only three games against the number last season and with new systems, a daunting schedule and a slew of road games, it will be tough to improve on that. The one thing in their favor is that they were so bad last year that they will be dogs more often than not and by a lot, thus setting up some big numbers to possibly grab in the right situations.