Pretender or contender? Owls find themselves in thick of Mountain Division championship hunt

---

by John Fredland

---

Both the Utes and Cougars have purchased crowns. Utah is 7-1 overall, 5-0 in the WAC and ranked 20th in the nation. BYU is 8-1, 4-0 and ranked 13th.

As the WAC schedule enters its final weeks, however, it seems as though the two teams' gala has been crashed by a title-suitor of dubious pedigree: the Rice Owls.

This may come as a significant surprise, especially after the Owls had turned in such poor performances against Ohio State University and the Air Force Academy back in September. But the Rice offense, almost as if graced by a visit from its fairy godmother, has been transformed from a pumpkin into a Porsche, and the Owl defense has shown steady improvement.

The result has been three of Rice's strongest performances in recent memory: a 38-21 victory over the University of New Mexico, a 35-17 victory over Southern Methodist University and a 48-21 victory over the University of Texas-El Paso. Together, these victories have lifted the Owls into what is essentially a round-robin tournament with Utah and BYU for the Mountain Division title and its accompanying berth in the WAC title game in Las Vegas on Dec. 7.

Rice (4-3, 3-1) begins the dance by hosting Utah tomorrow at 2 p.m., and then switches partners for a trip to BYU next Saturday. The Utes and Cougars will close the affair in Salt Lake City on Nov. 23, when they play the game that had been expected to decide the Mountain Division.

That the Owls are in such a position must lie comfortably in the realm of the unexpected for most observers. Still, Rice is approaching its opportunity to challenge the WAC front-runners with confidence.

"We're starting to slowly gain respect in the WAC and around Houston," Owl right tackle Mark Spinner said. "People may ask if we have a chance against a ranked team, but we're playing our best football right now, so, yeah, we think we have a chance."

"This is where we wanted to be," Rice Head Coach Ken Hatfield said. "We really felt we had two seasons going this year: the pre-season, with games against Ohio State [University], Tulane [University] and Kansas State [University], and the eight-game conference schedule. We have been improving and getting better each and every week. We fight and we struggle. It will be fun."

Utah brings a seven-game winning streak to Rice Stadium. A closer inspection of its accomplishments, however, will reveal one of the most questionable portfolios of any team ranked in the top 25.

The Utes own a grand total of zero victories against teams with winning records. Instead, their record has been built up by narrow wins over mediocrities, such as a 21-17 last-play survival of SMU, a 34-27 come-from-behind triumph over UTEP, and a 21-7 sleepwalk over TCU.

True, Utah has all of the offensive skill-position stars that any team might ever want: Juan Johnson and Omar Bacon have provided almost seamless replacements for injured running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala; quarterback Mike Fouts (the nephew of former San Diego Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts) is the sixth-ranked passer in the nation; and wide receiver Kevin Dyson is also well-regarded. But the whole has often been far less than the sum of those parts.

The Owls accord the Utes the respect appropriate for a conference leader and potential sleeping giant.

"Utah presents a big problem," Hatfield said. "Number one, they're confident. And number two, they're very good and have great skill people. Their defense has been very aggressive and has dominated at times, like they did against Tulsa last week. I'm glad we're playing them at our place, and not their place."

Over the three-game winning streak, Rice's much-maligned spread-option offense has turned into a scourge.

The Owls picked up 481, 463 and 415 yards on the ground, respectively, which has raised their average rushing yards per game to the fifth-best total in the nation, and has more than offset the lowest-ranked passing offense in the land.

Last Saturday, Rice tore through UTEP's defense for touchdowns on each of their first four drives.

The Owls credit their offensive success to having finally attained a mastery of the unique techniques required by the spread option.

"It's such a different style of blocking than what is involved in any other type of offense," right tackle Mark Spinner said. "Coach Hatfield came in with this system, and he's made it work in a lot of different places, but sometimes it takes a little while to get used to it. Now that we're in our third year of running it, it's really taken hold. What opens up the offense is when people start knowing why things are happening."

"We simplified the playbook, we execute better, and we're not playing Ohio State," Hatfield said. "Ohio State and Kansas State are two of the top defenses in the country. Since we're doing the same things over and over again, our freshman and sophomore linemen are just getting better and better. When you have to make adjustments on the sideline during the game, they know much better what to communicate."

This item appeared in the Sports section of the November 1, 1996 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.