Reeling football team hosts TCU

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by John Fredland

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The Owls, 1-3-1 overall and 0-1 in the Southwest Conference after dropping a 37-13 decision to the 13th-ranked University of Texas last Saturday in Austin, have lost three out of their last four games after a season-opening victory against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

They will face a fellow 1994 SWC co-champion -- and future Western Athletic Conference foe -- faring a little bit better in the defense of their championship.

TCU is 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the SWC. Its only loss has come against ninth-ranked Kansas University.

"The only game they have lost is to Kansas, which is a pretty good football team," Head Coach Ken Hatfield said. "When you go into Colorado and beat them the way Kansas did, that is impressive."

The Horned Frogs, who opened their SWC slate with a 31-21 victory over the University of Houston, are led by the dynamic offensive duo of quarterback Max Knake and running back Andre Davis.

Last season, as juniors, Knake was the leading passer in the SWC and Davis was the leading rusher.

This year both have picked up where they left off: Knake is second in the conference in passing efficiency, and Davis leads in rushing yardage and is second in all-purpose yardage.

"TCU has an explosive offense," Hatfield said. "They have great skill people. It will be a challenge for us to put pressure on Knake."

Defensively though, TCU has been inconsistent.

It has allowed some big performances -- 364 yards on the ground for Kansas, 417 yards in the air for Houston -- but played well against Vanderbilt University and held down the Cougars until the offense could put the game away.

"Their defense is better than last year," Hatfield said. "They are more aggressive and have more people around the ball. They have had some problems with injuries."

Hatfield downplays talk that the Owls will be concerned with avenging last year's game -- a game in which the margin of defeat was an apparent two-point conversion pass to Jeff Venghaus that was erroneously ruled out of bounds.

"I think more than any revenge factor, it's just the fact that we are going into the WAC together and that we are playing an opponent who we are going to play every year," Hatfield said. "This is somebody who is going to be in our conference, in our quadrant every year that we play, so I think it is important to play well against them."

Texas pulled away in the second half to beat Rice last Saturday.

The Owls matched the Longhorns blow-for-blow for much of the final SWC contest between the two teams, but Texas quarterback James Brown hit tight end Pat Fitzgerald with a 19-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter to break a 13-13 tie and put the Longhorns ahead.

Texas then added 17 fourth-quarter points to clinch the victory.

Prior to the late Texas surge, however, Rice had appeared fully capable of earning its second straight victory over the Longhorns.

The Owls continued the progress toward a balanced offense shown against Army the previous week.

They picked up 428 yards of total offense -- 275 on the ground and 153 in the air.

Freshman Michael Perry, playing in his first game at halfback after having been converted from defensive back, sparked the offense by gaining 123 yards -- a total believed to be a Rice freshman record -- on 11 carries.

His 60-yard run in the waning minutes of the first half set up a Mike Ruff field goal to tie the game at 13-13.

Perry added 122 yards on five kickoff returns and seven yards on one reception for a total of 252 all-purpose yards, which broke Trevor Cobb's mark for an Owl freshman.

"I was pretty nervous and had to settle down," Perry said.

"It came as a surprise that I had such a good game. It was hard to find and pick a hole, but I think I did a good job."

Hatfield said, "One of the good things we had noticed about Michael on his returns was that he always made one guy miss him every time. That innate ability or knack of being able to get by one guy is something you don't coach. We felt he could do that as a running back."

The Owl offense, however, bogged down when it reached Texas territory -- two promising drives ended up being short field goals, and another drive ended on a fumble.

"We look back at all our drives offensively, and only one time did Texas make the plays to stop us," Hatfield said.

Defensively, the Owls kept the Longhorns close for three quarters with a bend-but-don't break style.

Twice in the first quarter, they stifled Texas drives that had crossed the Rice 20 and forced the Longhorns to kick field goals.

In the second quarter, they stopped Texas on the Owl 34, but Bo Valles was called for roughing the kicker on a missed field goal attempt. Brown capitalized by hitting Mike Adams with a six-yard touchdown pass for a 13-3 lead.

Despite the loss, Hatfield was pleased with his team's effort, and he affirmed that the Owls can improve as the season progresses.

"Texas won the ballgame, and my hat is off to them," Hatfield said. "But I have never been prouder of a team that I've brought to Austin. I've never had one fight harder."

This item appeared in the Sports section of the October 13, 1995 issue.

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