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The Rice Thresher
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Jose Luis Cubria thresher editorial staff Losing five of six games to open a season is usually a recipe for disaster. That could be the case with the Rice football team, which has seen its conference championship and bowl aspirations all but vanish thanks to a 1-5 record and an 0-3 start in Western Athletic Conference play. The latest loss was perhaps the most difficult one of all, a 27-24 heartbreaker to Fresno State University on Oct. 5. But the Owls, who have this week off and won't return to action until Oct. 21 when they host the University of Hawaii, aren't feeling sorry for themselves or playing only for pride. Instead, they've decided to completely erase the poor start from their memories and to play their final five games as a different team. "This is a new season," head coach Ken Hatfield said. "The first one's over. We won the first game and played spotty since then, but we played as well [against Fresno State] as we have in a long time. We played our hearts out. "But I've forgotten what happened in the first part of the season. That was a learning experience, and now it's behind us. It's dead. We're going to bury it and put it in a coffin. It's gone." If the Owls win the rest of their games, they'll finish the year at 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the WAC. But for now, Hatfield's only concern is Hawaii. "The goal is not to be 6-5," Hatfield said. "The goal is to be 1-0 in our new season. _ There aren't any new kids on the block anymore. There aren't any freshmen. Everyone's experienced. We're ready to take on our five-game season." With six wins, Rice would be bowl-eligible, but it's likely that winning out still wouldn't be good enough for the Owls to get a bowl invitation. Though Hatfield is not even thinking about the postseason right now, he thinks a bowl game would invite a red-hot Rice team. "We'd like to be a bowl team, but we haven't been one in 41 years - so, so what?" Hatfield said. "But if we win the next five, we'll have six wins. So we still have a goal. We can get it. "If we win the last part of our season, we'll be in a bowl. A bowl will be begging for us if we go 5-0 in the last part after playing so well [against Fresno State] on national TV. They'll want us. We just have to do our part, and that means focusing on Hawaii more than anything else." The odds are stacked against Rice running the table the rest of the way. The schedule itself presents a formidable challenge, with road games against 11th-ranked Texas Christian University and first-place University of Texas at El Paso looming large. But if last week's loss proved anything to the Owls, it's that they'll be in every game as long as their top two quarterbacks are at full strength. For the first time since the season opener, redshirt freshman Jeremy Hurd and junior Corey Evans both played - and played well. Hurd, who had been out of action since the first week with a broken finger, was thrilled to be playing in just the second game of his college career. "It felt great," Hurd said. "Honestly, I was nervous the first series. The first time I got the ball, I was real nervous. When the coaches told me I was going in, I just thought 'Uh-oh.' _ But I was real happy that Corey was doing such a good job, so I wasn't even thinking about going in." Against the Bulldogs, both players showed why the Rice coaches are so excited about the one-two punch. Hurd was the game's leading rusher with 97 yards on 10 carries, and Evans was right behind him with 94 yards on 18 attempts. Also, both made their share of highlight-reel runs. In particular, Evans sprinted down the sideline for a 15-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and Hurd slithered his way to a 31-yard scramble in the second quarter. With both in the lineup, the Owls think anything's possible the rest of the way. "I'm real happy to have Jeremy back," Evans said. "Whoever's in the game, we don't miss a beat at all. We've put some good drives together. _ We know we can play with the best teams in the country. All we can do now is try to win out. We know we can."
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