Finally caught up on DVR and was surprised there isn't a post-game thread.

Things I liked:
(1) Saw multi-back sets more than usual. Can't say it was effective, but I liked the look.
(2) In the 1st half, Rice had a 3rd-and-long and I was dreading the predictable draw. Really liked the OC calling a screen, even though a UTEP d-lineman tipped the pass.
(3) Really liked the use of up-tempo by the offense.
(4) The big UTEP WR, Hamilton, was clearly initiating a LOT of contact against the shorter Rice CB's. I applaud the zebras for not calling PI on either Hamilton or Rice when the players were being physical.
(5) Hull ... wow on Senior day!
(6) Wow, the D-line is tenacious. And without Covington.
(7) Driphus Jackson re-discovering his running ability.

Things I didn't love:
(1) Rice got a lot of pass yards on balls that weren't great throws, which makes me nervous against other teams.
(2) Took a while to get rolling on offense.
(3) Davis is great, but I don't fully understand why he gets so many more carries than Dillard.

Other thoughts - interesting to hear the TV guys talking about DJ's injury and Hill's injury. Pretty gutsy performances by those guys considering what they have been playing through.

Congrats to the team, very good performance against a decent team. Go ODU!

Props also to the special teams units for very solid coverage all game long. And we easily won the punting battle in terms of time of possession. Also happy for Hairston to get all the kicks on senior day and come through with shining colors.

Wow we are a funny bunch. Shortest post game thread in a while after a solid win!
I am out of town and did not watch the game yet, but reading on here this could arguably be our best win of the year. Go re-read the game prediction thread and you will see most of us thought it would be a much closer game. Way to go team!

(11-22-2014 02:05 AM)mrbig Wrote:  Things I didn't love:

(2) Took a while to get rolling on offense.

Good thoughts.

The point above might be an argument that we made good 'in game' adjustments at least.

I was impressed with our TD drive before half to take the lead, and the first TD drive of the second half.

The game was over with a decent amount of time to play. I had the feeling that if we had kept playing we just would've been adding to the margin. Didn't seem like UTEP had anything left in the end, and we clearly did.

Just my impression.

I just want to say great game to the players and coaches. We are so much more athletic than we have been in the past.

Our linebackers lay the wood! Trust me.....those hits make a difference late in the game. Great job guys. Proud to be an owl!

(11-22-2014 08:00 AM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(11-22-2014 02:05 AM)mrbig Wrote:  Things I didn't love:

(2) Took a while to get rolling on offense.

Good thoughts.

The point above might be an argument that we made good 'in game' adjustments at least.

I was impressed with our TD drive before half to take the lead, and the first TD drive of the second half.

The game was over with a decent amount of time to play. I had the feeling that if we had kept playing we just would've been adding to the margin. Didn't seem like UTEP had anything left in the end, and we clearly did.

Just my impression.

Nice win. Very nice win.

I had a previous commitment but cut it short and managed to get home to listen to the game on the internet. I got home in time to catch the last fw minutes of the 3rd Q (just before UTEP scored) and the entire 4th Q. Got that shakey feeling when UTEP scored making it 17-13. But the radio announcers were praising the Rice D and the stats backed it up. As the 3 Q ended I got on GameTracker to check the current stats --I think UTEP had around 50 yards on that ground at the time. They ended up with 53. The Rice defense stopped UTEP's running game cold.

The TD after the fumble recovery was exciting. We recovered the muffed punt on the 22 (if I recall correctly), advanced it, had a first and goal, then penalties took us back to the 24 -- first and goal. Driphus managed to toss Hull a TD third and goal from the 5. As a Rice fan of 50 years I am used to watching us choke on opportunities to put games away. The team didn't last night. This team is a good team. DJ is a leader -- but anyone who has watched him knows that (recall the Army high school all-star game video?).

If we played ODU now we'd win by three TDs. But we can't have the game back.

Congrats to the team for last night and what a career night for Mario Hull.

(11-22-2014 06:51 AM)Owl75 Wrote:  Wow we are a funny bunch. Shortest post game thread in a while after a solid win!

Dood, the thread was started after midnight. This owl isn't as nocturnal as he used to be.

Their QB had a stretch of the game where his passing accuracy was like a Vegas win streak, and that made our pass coverage look worse than it was. Secondary was on assignment. Just one example I remember of blown coverage with a wide open receiver deep, who was fortunately overthrown.

After Driphus' interception set up a UTEP touchdown, the offense came right back and offset those points. That's the spirit!

Halftime adjustment example: screen pass defense.

I watched the game, and stayed off the game thread until later, when I read all about a game that had a faint resemblance to the one I watched.

I think Mr.Big's list covers things pretty well. I would add some comments (hey, isn't that what this thread is for?).

Seems to me that early in the season, Davis was more of a jitterbug, picking his way through traffic for extra yards. Now he is more of a straight ahead, move the pile guy, and we already had one of those in Dillard. No idea why the difference.

Saw a lot of uncalled holding by the UTEP O-line.

The up-tempo stuff reminded me of the old Meercat debate. Maybe Bailiff (or somebody) actually lurks here to pick up coaching tips. Maybe Walt, and others, should get a paycheck as a consultant.

But the best thing about this game? No more debate about why one should stay home from a bowl with a 6-6 team. Priceless.

Go Rice. Go ODU.

I was at the game, and liked a lot of it. The things that drove me crazy were:

1. up the middle on first downs.
2. unforced errors. I counted 6 illegal motion penalties at key points in the came that could have cost us as many as 14 point.

(11-22-2014 08:00 AM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  The game was over with a decent amount of time to play. I had the feeling that if we had kept playing we just would've been adding to the margin. Didn't seem like UTEP had anything left in the end, and we clearly did.

Just my impression.

Rick, I didn't go back to check the timing, but it was still anyone's game when we scored the TD to close the 3rd quarter and go up 24 - 13, especially given UTEP had scored on the previous 2 possessions, and were going deep to Hamilton at will. We put the game away mid-way through the 4Q (after Hamilton went down with the shoulder injury after another long grab), thanks to that muffed punt and fumble by UTEP, which gave us the ball deep in UTEP territory...and we almost blew that opportunity with all those penalties.

Again, it was a very good win-- and I'd be surprised if Jonathan's performance ranking doesn't have it as our best game of the season, but the game was closer than the final score.

The defense was outstanding and playing extremely aggressively and hard. They were flying all over the field and the hitting was as hard as I've seen in quite some time.

I am so upset that I missed the game. I pulled my back out and took a flexril to relax the muscle. It was so strong that it knocked me out around 7:15 and I just woke up about 15 mins ago. I haven't taken one in years and forgot how strong they are....ugh. I'm glad to hear that we won and look forward to reading the game thread.

Rice scored that last TD at 5:41 of the 4th. Up to then, it was a two possession game.

Rice took over the ball at 4:04 that is the garbage time we had. We ran 7 rushing plays to run out the clock.

I don't know how much Stehling or German would have benefitted from 7 handoffs. If we had tried passing to RUTS, and gave up an interception return for TD,sparking a comeback, I can just imagine the howling here for the entire coaching staff to be run out of town on a rail.

Bottom line, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

For those who care to see, here is the link to the stats and play by play.

http://www.riceowls.com/sports/m-footbl/...ice11.html

(11-22-2014 09:33 AM)FBChE Wrote:  I was at the game, and liked a lot of it. The things that drove me crazy were:

1. up the middle on first downs.
2. unforced errors. I counted 6 illegal motion penalties at key points in the came that could have cost us as many as 14 point.

12 penalties, FOUR defensive offsides in the first half drove me nuts in the stands.

(11-22-2014 10:14 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(11-22-2014 09:33 AM)FBChE Wrote:  I was at the game, and liked a lot of it. The things that drove me crazy were:

1. up the middle on first downs.
2. unforced errors. I counted 6 illegal motion penalties at key points in the came that could have cost us as many as 14 point.

12 penalties, FOUR defensive offsides in the first half drove me nuts in the stands.

Yeah, frustrating to me also.

Yet, these are uncharacteristic of this team. I guess Showers was doing something on his snap count that was working.

Just out of curiosity, did we have as many defensive offsides in the second half as the first, or did we adjust?

(11-22-2014 10:17 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(11-22-2014 10:14 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(11-22-2014 09:33 AM)FBChE Wrote:  I was at the game, and liked a lot of it. The things that drove me crazy were:

1. up the middle on first downs.
2. unforced errors. I counted 6 illegal motion penalties at key points in the came that could have cost us as many as 14 point.

12 penalties, FOUR defensive offsides in the first half drove me nuts in the stands.

Yeah, frustrating to me also.

Yet, these are uncharacteristic of this team. I guess Showers was doing something on his snap count that was working.

Just out of curiosity, did we have as many defensive offsides in the second half as the first, or did we adjust?

I don't think we had any in the second half. So that's a positive.

When UTEP pulled within four, I felt some doubt, too; but realized that feeling was in part due to the pyschological trauma of years of being a Rice fan. I was at that Iowa St. game.

Objectively, the game wasn't really that much in doubt. The offense promptly reextended the lead, and how much in doubt was a game when the losing team never had a lead?

As for the penalties, most of them resulted from eagerness and aggression, which is what we want to see, so I'm not too concerned about them. After all, statistically penalties don't negatively correlate to wins.

I wish the runs up the middle had been more productive, but I don't a problem with the call, especially in the fourth quarter where it made sense to start the clock and keep it running. Also, Driphus wasn't having his best night and the option wasn't working well, so it was necessary to maintain a run threat.

(11-22-2014 10:27 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(11-22-2014 10:17 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(11-22-2014 10:14 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(11-22-2014 09:33 AM)FBChE Wrote:  I was at the game, and liked a lot of it. The things that drove me crazy were:

1. up the middle on first downs.
2. unforced errors. I counted 6 illegal motion penalties at key points in the came that could have cost us as many as 14 point.

12 penalties, FOUR defensive offsides in the first half drove me nuts in the stands.

Yeah, frustrating to me also.

Yet, these are uncharacteristic of this team. I guess Showers was doing something on his snap count that was working.

Just out of curiosity, did we have as many defensive offsides in the second half as the first, or did we adjust?

I don't think we had any in the second half. So that's a positive.

There was a second half coaching adjustment in that regard, I think. In the first half when we bit on Showers hard count, it seemed like the interior linemen were literally jumping out of their stance and moving forward. In the second half the same guys were still reacting to the hard count... But stayed in their stance and only pressed/leaned forward... Never actually moved into the neutral zone.

Driphus has only thrown 5 interceptions all year and never more than 1 in a game. I am really looking forward to what he can do next year as a Senior,

Random thought: does anyone know what happened to Brandon Hamilton? Thought he showed a lot of promise earlier in the year, both as a back and a return man. Then he disappeared.

Unleash Driphus! At 17-13, it seemed like the first time all year that Jackson seemed to freelance a little. What the coaches are doing to "protect" him remind me of what they did to Clement in 2007. Clement and the other triplets seemed to take it upon themselves to 'rise above the coaching'. I hope Driphus learns to do that next year.

Brian Womac made some plays. There's some hope for the future. The defense played great overall. I saw a little of UTEP's games against TT and NT and UTEP's running game was unstoppable. They were anything but last night.

Although it was barely mentioned in the game thread, the decision to call a time out with 53 seconds left in the 2nd quarter showed an extreme lack of intelligence. When it's 2nd and goal and you have all 3 time outs there isn't the slightest chance of running out of time - if you want a time out let the clock run down to 25, then call it. You still have 2 time outs left with the entire playbook still at your disposal. All we did was allow UTEP 50 seconds to possibly drive down the field and score - just because they didn't doesn't take away from the boneheadedness of that timeout.