Rice Owls mauled in opener

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by Jason Katz

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"My biggest disappointment is that we defeated ourselves," said Rice Head Coach Fred Goldsmith. "We made mistakes that weren't physical."

The biggest problem for the Owls appeared to be their lack of consistency on defense.

"I was very disappointed that defensively we made too many errors," Goldsmith said. "It was not just our obvious lack of physical prowess, but mental errors that plagued our team."

The Rice defensive line was unable to pressure the Ohio State quarterbacks, and the Buckeyes were able to pick apart the Owl secondary.

Though the defense on many occasions stymied the Buckeye's offensive assault on their first two downs, Ohio State was able to convert nearly 70 percent of their third-down opportunities.

Of all the third-down conversions, perhaps the most critical came when the Buckeyes were forced into a third-and-15 situation.

Rice had blitzed quarterback Bret Powers on the two previous downs and opted to pressure Powers once again. Ohio State read the Rice blitz formation correctly and converted on a 48-yard touchdown pass to Joey Galloway.

"That was awful," Goldsmith said. "Ray Charles could have seen our blitz coming."

"We had them where we wanted them on third-and-long," said free safety Nathan Bennett, "and then we let them out of the cage."

The Buckeyes rolled up over 240 yards in the air, despite a merely adequate performance by their quarterbacks.

"Because of our poor pass defense, we made Ohio State look like Brigham Young," Goldsmith said. "We have got to develop a pass rush, because I am sure we will be running into quarterbacks like [Bobby] Hoying."

Bennett and linebacker Jeffrey Mercer shone as the only bright spots on the Owl's defense team.

Bennett broke up two passes, nabbed an interception and made nine tackles in Saturday's game.

"I think Nathan will be the premiere safety in the league this year," Goldsmith said. "He did a tremendous job for us at free safety."

Mercer was credited with 19 tackles against the Buckeyes, the most by a Rice player in over four seasons.

The poor performance of the kickoff return team was a sore spot for the Owls, as their efforts often resulted in poor field position for Rice.

Twice, due to miscommunication and poor ball-handling, Rice began offensive drives inside their own 10- yard line.

"I was not pleased at all with the kickoff return team," Goldsmith said.

While the Owls' offensive performance was far from stellar, it was more promising than that of their defense.

Quarterback Bert Emanuel led Rice in total offense, accumulating 105 passing yards and rushing for 58 yards on 14 carries.

The Owls managed 269 yards, but had only one series of more than ten plays and converted only three of 14 third-down opportunities.

Rice's only score came via a 43-yard pass from backup quarterback Josh LaRocca to receiver Herschel Crowe with 24 seconds remaining in the game.

"Unlike the defense, the offense was very close to clicking," Goldsmith said. "They were the victims of bad field position, though."

Goldsmith described a key play in the game as facing a fourth-and-two situation at the Buckeye 21-yard line just before halftime.

Emanual had successfully engineered a 75-yard drive, only to be stopped on their attempt for a fourth-down.

"If we [had made] that first down and gone in and scored to make it 17-7, I think [would have been] a ballgame," Goldsmith said.

Instead, Ohio State was able to march down the field in the remaining time and take a 20-0 lead into the locker rooms after kicker Tim Williams converted on a 39-yard field goal.

Though he was used sparingly, Rice running back Yoncy Edmonds showed promise.

Edmonds gained 37 yards on 10 carries in his first collegiate start.

"Yoncy ran pretty well for his first real action," Goldsmith said. "Remembering back to Trevor's beginning ... I think he is right on schedule."

Edmonds admitted that he and the entire offense should improve upon their showing against the Buckeyes if they expect to record a successful season.

"Every aspect of my game needs improvement," Edmonds said.

"I started to get in the groove as the game went on," he added, " but bad field position meant that I would have limited rushing chances."

Goldsmith said that the Ohio State game could have been a great victory for the Owls, but the loss was not unanticipated.

He said that even though the game was a lopsided defeat, the young Owls can chalk it up as a learning experience.

Goldsmith felt that the team will know what to expect of itself if it is to compete at the national level.

"Our more dependable veteran players played well enough to win the ball game," Goldsmith said. "Now the others have to catch up."

This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 10, 1993 issue.

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