Rice Owls 2008 Outlook
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Rice Owls
Head Coach: David Baliff (3-9 in 1 year at Rice, 24-24 overall)
Stadium: Rice Stadium (70,000)
2007 Record: 3-9, (3-5 C-USA West)
Postseason: None
Key Returnees On Offense: QB Chase Clement, WRs Jarrett Dillard, Tommy Henderson, Toren Dixon, TE Taylor Wardlow
Key Returnees On Defense: CB Brandon King, DEs Cheta Ozougwu and Scott Solomon, FS Andrew Sendejo
The Skinny: After returning to a bowl for the first time in 46 years, Rice fell on hard times in 2007, going 3-5 in conference play and 3-9 overall. Of course, Rice was marred by countless injuries in David Baliff’s first season but showed glimmers of hope on October 3rd when they defeated Southern Miss in Hattiesburg and gave Tulsa a scare in the final game of the 2007 season at home. With senior QB Chase Clement returning to Houston for his senior year after throwing for 3,377 yards and 29 touchdowns and a talented trio of receivers in Dillard, Henderson, and Dixon, the offense should be again a talented unit should they not be beset by injuries.
On defense, the Owls will have Scott Solomon returning after leading the team in sacks with 4.5 and Sendejo who had 5 interceptions to lead the team. Expect leadership to come from the upperclassmen as the Owls look to regroup from a disappointing season in Houston.
Doc’s Prediction: There should be no excuse for the Owls to have the kind of season they had in 2007 although the team had a large number of injuries that doomed their campaign and there really wasn’t any solid backups to plug into the gaping holes on both sides of the ball. With road games against Memphis, Vanderbilt, Texas, and Tulsa, plus the season-ending showdown with crosstown rival Houston, there’s no such thing as winnable games for the Owls.
Projected Record: 5-7 (4-4 C-USA West)
2008 Rice Owls
August 29th-SMU
September 6th-@ Memphis
September 13th-@ Vanderbilt
September 20th-@ Texas
September 27th-North Texas
October 4th-@ Tulsa
October 18th-Southern Mississippi
October 25th-@ Tulane
November 1st-@ UTEP
November 8th-Army
November 22nd-Marshall
November 29th-Houston
