HOUSTON (-14) at RICE -- Rice's new coach, Todd Graham, has had a lot of success in stints with West Virginia and Tulsa as a defensive coordinator. But it is on the offensive side that he is making the biggest imprint on the Owls this season. Graham is transitioning this program from the wishbone it played for many years under Ken Hatfield to a spread offense that will rely an awful lot on passing the football. This kind of thing is an extremely difficult to implement right away, as Nebraska, Army and even Florida could have told you in recent seasons. Since Rice's players weren't recruited for their prowess in the passing game, it becomes especially problematic. Would much prefer the continuity of Houston's offense, behind four-year starter Kevin Kolb, who threw for 3248 yards last season and has more yards through the air than any other active Division 1-A quarterback. With plenty of weapons to access, Kolb is going to put a lot of pressure on Rice's secondary, which is actually the strength of a defense that forced just 11 turnovers last season. Count on Houston's defense - one that is not a dominant bunch but nonetheless a unit that returns ten starters - to exercise a certain degree of control over the spread attack, which will be mistaken-prone early in the schedule. And remember - though this is a "home' game for Rice, sufficient support for the Cougars will be present.
THE PLAY: HOUSTON **** |
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