Can Rice offense click in first game of season?
The key question for the Rice offense is, can it establish the run against a suspect Houston defense. The Owls typically have had trouble getting their option game untracked in the first game of the season, and the Coogs have been recently successful in shutting it down, at least partly, in recent years. Last year, everybody ran on the Cougars except the Owls. U of H ranked 103rd in rushing defense in NCAA Division 1A, at 208.7 yards per game. The Coogs return six starters this year, and the jury is very much out on the question of improvement. UH returns only two starters on the DL, but is more experienced at the linebacker and especially at secondary, where speed-burner Stanford Routt returns after earning All-America kudos in track this spring. Rice brings a relatively experience squad, going into the game considerably moreso than has been the case the past two seasons. “We will have 18 seniors playing in the game this week, and all of them will play,” Coach said. “We have good expe
