Agreed great summary above.

Other minor things that stood out

Positive
- Liked to see the TE's used
- We ran 96 plays and had over 44-min of the clock. Texas only ran 36 plays. Strong was complaining at his presser about only having 52 at ND
- Liked coming out of game w/ the trick play. Trying to win and make a statement
- DJ did do a good job of not going down easily when running for his life. Most other QB's are sacked.
- Parks looked good (until it looks like his hammy got tweaked late)

Minor negatives not already discussed
- Run blocking already acknowledged as great but pass protection broke down many times; not sure if that was schemes or talent
- Too much meerkat. Had them on heels and we knew the play. Could have really worn them down even more; guessing gameplan was ball control to run clock which was accomplished but also the turnovers in red zone means it did not work
- DRMS pricing was horrible. Not just paying so much for the poor product on the field but the stadium itself is disjointed, not comfortable, terrace club is expensive for quality, etc., etc. If I was a Horn faithful, I would want to give Patterson a piece of my mind as well. The entire experience of watching people tailgate in parking garages, getting to seats, poor parking, etc. is terrible.

And finally, interesting for C-USA that FAU, Rice, and MTSU all had big games this weekend to put conference on the map. All three teams could have shocked but all three teams combined for 14 turnovers (compared to three combined for Texas, Alabama, and Miami) and to casual fan ended-up looking like they were not competitive and 'same old C-USA'. But reality is that C-USA looks better than prior years.

(09-13-2015 09:02 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:00 AM)Barney Wrote:  I think we would've won in Houston. The crowd noise and scoreboard noise was truly deafening, and led to procedure penalties early on. These then led to difficult down and distance problems which then led to turnovers and the punt returns.

Take away 4 bad plays and we win 28-14. We outgained them by a lot, but I'm not telling you anything you don't already know....

Sam Stewart is the best-looking freshman I can remember in a very long time. He is a very special talent.
Stehling was very poised and very accurate.
I thought DJ played an outstanding game, except for a few errant throws and one bad decision. He was operating in deafening noise and was nearly always under intense pressure. He was head and shoulders better than the UT QB's.
Dennis Parks kept us somewhat in the game.
I didn't think I'd ever see a Rice OL push around a UT DL like they did. Handling blitzing speed and pass blocking was a different matter.
Our defense was solid all night, except for the one gift long-ball.
The opening kickoff return play was thrilling.

I told my wife before the game that we'd outgain Texas and lose - - because of big plays, including at least one kick return. And that's exactly what happened.

???
That was the quietest 90k crowd I've ever witnessed.... It's like they filled a stadium with Rice fans. The only time it was reasonably loud was on 3rd downs. I thought it was pathetic.
DJ did not have a good game. In fact I would say he flat out choked. He looked confused. His passes were not crisp. He made bad decisions both with throws and a pitch that cost us 7. He's a 5th year senior and your comment is exactly what is wrong with Rice athletics. We have to hold our guys accountable when they don't play well.
Defense didn't keep containment on their mobile QBs who are terrible passers. 1 of their 2 long balls wasn't thrown well at all and our guy didn't even look for it. The other they beat us with pure speed.

I agree with some of the positives in this thread (RBs) but let's not go giving out praise where it isn't deserved. This team is supposed to be taking the next step and they showed last night that we haven't.

I could barely hear the radio announcers to start the game, and they even commented on how loud it was, despite UT missing 15,000 fans.

It seemed to quiet down as the game went on, but it was rocking to start things off, which really seemed to affect the team. Not sure why though - they should be practicing with heavy noise prior to a game like this to get used to it.

And agreed on DJ's game quality. Anyone trying to say that his play last night was even close to good needs to rewatch the game. One or two good plays do not negate the really bad turn overs. I disagree with "holding him accountable" if that means sitting him to start someone else. His overall body of work, IMO, shows that he can perform on a high level and lead us to victories. But if he has another bad showing at UNT, the decision to sit him should definitely be visited. Two points don't make a trend, but three do.

Stewart was great.

Clearly DJ had some bad moments, but also did make some plays to avoid sacks and convert 3rd downs. Obviously the former will outweigh the latter.

OL did its job. But let's recognize that this is a Texas team that is young/undersized or mediocre across the board. Further they chose to played a 3-3 set with safeties deep for much of the game, which makes it difficult to defend the run. They seemed more interested in getting their young guys reps in their base defense than showing any real fear about losing this game. When they got serious about stopping the run in the 3rd Q, they did. We'll know our line better after next week.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is "meerkat?"

Another question; did all three CUSA teams mentioned beat the line like RICE DID!! ??

(09-13-2015 10:01 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Agreed great summary above.

Other minor things that stood out

Positive
- Liked to see the TE's used
- We ran 96 plays and had over 44-min of the clock. Texas only ran 36 plays. Strong was complaining at his presser about only having 52 at ND
- Liked coming out of game w/ the trick play. Trying to win and make a statement
- DJ did do a good job of not going down easily when running for his life. Most other QB's are sacked.
- Parks looked good (until it looks like his hammy got tweaked late)

Minor negatives not already discussed
- Run blocking already acknowledged as great but pass protection broke down many times; not sure if that was schemes or talent
- Too much meerkat. Had them on heels and we knew the play. Could have really worn them down even more; guessing gameplan was ball control to run clock which was accomplished but also the turnovers in red zone means it did not work
- DRMS pricing was horrible. Not just paying so much for the poor product on the field but the stadium itself is disjointed, not comfortable, terrace club is expensive for quality, etc., etc. If I was a Horn faithful, I would want to give Patterson a piece of my mind as well. The entire experience of watching people tailgate in parking garages, getting to seats, poor parking, etc. is terrible.

And finally, interesting for C-USA that FAU, Rice, and MTSU all had big games this weekend to put conference on the map. All three teams could have shocked but all three teams combined for 14 turnovers (compared to three combined for Texas, Alabama, and Miami) and to casual fan ended-up looking like they were not competitive and 'same old C-USA'. But reality is that C-USA looks better than prior years.

[quote='Barney' pid='12368782' dateline='1442120452']
I think we would've won in Houston. The crowd noise and scoreboard noise was truly deafening, and led to procedure penalties early on. These then led to difficult down and distance problems which then led to turnovers and the punt returns.

Leaving the stadium, I was thinking the same thing - this is one of those years we would have won, if the game had been played at Rice Stadium.

Despite some major problems on special teams and the turnovers, I thought our guys showed a lot of character and toughness coming back from the 21-0 deficit. We've got a lot of talent - especially at running back.

As for Texas - I'm stunned at how far they have fallen. The Notre Dame game was not a fluke. The talent drop-off at UT is hard to believe. Despite winning the game, it was a very somber crowd leaving the stadium afterwards. Many came up to me and said they thought we were the better team.

As a side note, while walking among the tailgaters before the game, I had a nice conversation with a long-time Texas fan. He shared that he was in attendance at the 1994 Rice win in Houston. More importantly, he was in attendance at the Peter Gardere "stolen game" in Austin. In fact, he was a student at the time, and was sitting even with the goal line where that final play occurred. He said it was not even close - Gardere was stopped a full yard short of the end-zone. Finally, I've met an actual eyewitness from the game who corroborated what our radio guys reported - that Rice stopped him short and should have won the game.

(09-13-2015 10:11 AM)At Ease Wrote:  Stewart was great.

Clearly DJ had some bad moments, but also did make some plays to avoid sacks and convert 3rd downs. Obviously the former will outweigh the latter.

OL did its job. But let's recognize that this is a Texas team that is young/undersized or mediocre across the board. Further they chose to played a 3-3 set with safeties deep for much of the game, which makes it difficult to defend the run. They seemed more interested in getting their young guys reps in their base defense than showing any real fear about losing this game. When they got serious about stopping the run in the 3rd Q, they did. We'll know our line better after next week.

Agree with above about their safeties playing down. Thought Charlie's DC called a pretty conservative scheme against us, which made sense, given the talent disparity on the edges, secondary vs our receivers.

Liked that we ran the ball until they consistently stopped it. Very excited to watch Stewart and Dillard vs UNT. Stewart was a beast, but really liked to see DD fight for extra yards as well.

Will add that I felt DJ put himself into a number of those scrambling for his life type moments on 3rd down. Time and again he ran out of a well contained pocket for the edge, only to leave his tackle / TE on an island against an edge rusher that was as fast as he was. Felt like he stared down his WR1 all game and didnt go through the route tree, missing a bunch of easy completions over the middle that we saw in the stands, and even the UT fans around us noticed.

- I was concerned coming into this game about giving up big plays on special teams, and that's exactly what happened. Need to address it. Even Wagner piled up return yards.

- Loved the opening kickoff trickery, with the big block to spring Stewart. Unfortunately, the refs immediately called a holding penalty to kill the momentum. But it was a good way to send a message by Bailiff, that we were there to win.

- I thought Texas defended the option well, as well as anybody will this season. Early on, the UT scheme was baiting us into calling a play with the meerkat, and they would disguise their real blitz until the very last second. Eventually we adjusted and started moving the ball.

- Driphus didn't have the game we needed from him to win. Basically, he turned it over 3 times, can't do that. That said, he made some good plays, including some clutch passes on 3rd and longs to get us back in the game. He missed at least one big pass play to an open WR. He'll be better, not worried about him. Hoping for a big game vs UNT (a big game for Rice) and then he'll get another crack at the big boys vs a Baylor team that didn't impress vs Lamar.

- Stewart had a coming out party. With him and Walter we'll have an explosive running game for years. Not sure I've seen a more exciting pair of freshmen. But yesterday was about Sam. Looked like an every down back. Is he our number 1 now? Any word on Davis?

- The offensive line looked good vs a talented defense. Very encouraging.

- The defense played aggressive, it's our scheme. I'll take it. This will lead to some big plays through the air. I'm worried against offenses like WKU, but overall this defense looks pretty fast. Banks could've intercepted that first TD pass if he had turned around. I like our young secondary players, Banks, Ibe, White, etc.

- Stehling looked like a cross between Big Ben and A. Rodgers for a drive there. It was against UT reserves playing a vanilla defense, but he proved to me that he's the best pure passer on the active roster, and has some mobility. Should be an interesting battle between him and German in the spring (and can't forget Granato).

- Overall, this was an encouraging performance in many ways, but still a very disappointing loss because we believe we were the better team. If Texas hadn't played with the urgency they had after the ND loss, or if this game was at HRS, Rice probably wins. If Heard doesn't start, or if we'd punted it out of bounds, we'd probably win. If we don't fumble that option pitch, we might've had a chance to tie it late. We couldn't keep the pressure on them in the second half after their first play bomb TD, pressure was off again. Could've easily been a different second half if we'd gotten a stop there.

- We saw the same too familiar pattern of Rice vs big programs, where we get totally out-coached and out-manned early on. We adjusted and came back, but by then we had no room for error. Hopefully vs Baylor we don't fall behind by 3 scores in before getting out 2nd first down.

(09-13-2015 10:30 AM)Minnewaska Owl Wrote:  As a side note, while walking among the tailgaters before the game, I had a nice conversation with a long-time Texas fan. He shared that he was in attendance at the 1994 Rice win in Houston. More importantly, he was in attendance at the Peter Gardere "stolen game" in Austin. In fact, he was a student at the time, and was sitting even with the goal line where that final play occurred. He said it was not even close - Gardere was stopped a full yard short of the end-zone. Finally, I've met an actual eyewitness from the game who corroborated what our radio guys reported - that Rice stopped him short and should have won the game.

Hard to believe that there's no video anywhere of this. I was there too, and he didn't score.

Frustrating game. We definitely belonged with them athletically. Yardage disparity shows that much. Rice beat Rice yet again. Terrible turnovers and special teams. Our passing game is just so limited. Edmondson needs to go. Parks is great. Stewart is legit. Lines played well for the most part. Will win some cusa games. Need to play mistake free to beat anyone else. Ut isn't good. They will get pummeled this season. Missed opportunity...

I managed to convince two of my good friends to come to the watch party. they were my roommates at Rice. Once in a while I would drag them to a football game while we were in school.

One of their comments last night was that Rice football hasn't changed much. The same self inflicted gunshot wounds that killed us in 2009 still haunt us today.

Just sharing an outsiders perspective. Shows that while we who watch every game every week have seen things slowly improve, there is a lot that needs to be done. And outsider perception is still a long ways from where we want it to be.

(09-13-2015 12:34 PM)Antarius Wrote:  One of their comments last night was that Rice football hasn't changed much. The same self inflicted gunshot wounds that killed us in 2009 still haunt us today.

What I find particularly frustrating is that not only are we still shooting ourselves in the foot, we are still shooting the same toes--kicking game, deep secondary, execution errors on offense.

(09-13-2015 12:37 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:34 PM)Antarius Wrote:  One of their comments last night was that Rice football hasn't changed much. The same self inflicted gunshot wounds that killed us in 2009 still haunt us today.

What I find particularly frustrating is that not only are we still shooting ourselves in the foot, we are still shooting the same toes--kicking game, deep secondary, execution errors on offense.

One word: Coaching

(09-13-2015 01:05 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:37 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:34 PM)Antarius Wrote:  One of their comments last night was that Rice football hasn't changed much. The same self inflicted gunshot wounds that killed us in 2009 still haunt us today.

What I find particularly frustrating is that not only are we still shooting ourselves in the foot, we are still shooting the same toes--kicking game, deep secondary, execution errors on offense.

One word: Coaching

Not that I completely disagree with either of you, but 5 turnovers lost this game. We could have overcome the special teams blunders and the deep balls if we don't turn the ball over.

(09-13-2015 11:31 AM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 10:30 AM)Minnewaska Owl Wrote:  As a side note, while walking among the tailgaters before the game, I had a nice conversation with a long-time Texas fan. He shared that he was in attendance at the 1994 Rice win in Houston. More importantly, he was in attendance at the Peter Gardere "stolen game" in Austin. In fact, he was a student at the time, and was sitting even with the goal line where that final play occurred. He said it was not even close - Gardere was stopped a full yard short of the end-zone. Finally, I've met an actual eyewitness from the game who corroborated what our radio guys reported - that Rice stopped him short and should have won the game.

Hard to believe that there's no video anywhere of this. I was there too, and he didn't score.

Is this the 1989 game y'all are referring to?

(09-13-2015 12:37 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:34 PM)Antarius Wrote:  One of their comments last night was that Rice football hasn't changed much. The same self inflicted gunshot wounds that killed us in 2009 still haunt us today.

What I find particularly frustrating is that not only are we still shooting ourselves in the foot, we are still shooting the same toes--kicking game, deep secondary, execution errors on offense.

Yup.

I also highly doubt my friends will be interested in coming back to watch the next game. Which is a bloody shame.

(09-13-2015 01:36 PM)Pan95 Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 01:05 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:37 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:34 PM)Antarius Wrote:  One of their comments last night was that Rice football hasn't changed much. The same self inflicted gunshot wounds that killed us in 2009 still haunt us today.

What I find particularly frustrating is that not only are we still shooting ourselves in the foot, we are still shooting the same toes--kicking game, deep secondary, execution errors on offense.

One word: Coaching

Not that I completely disagree with either of you, but 5 turnovers lost this game. We could have overcome the special teams blunders and the deep balls if we don't turn the ball over.

Or we could have overcome the turnovers if we hadn't had the special teams blunders and hadn't allowed the big plays.

At least some of the turnovers were the result of atrocious situational awareness. With half a minute left in the half, down 7 and within at least marginal field goal range, you don't throw any ball that can possibly be picked on second and 10. Throw it away and live to fight another down. I'd say a similar thing about the early second quarter pick, but that one didn't really hurt us because UT gave the ball right back.

I have a question. I was at a rugby coaching clinic and got home late, so I missed the start of the game on TV. We got the long KO return to start and then, per the play-by-play, burned a TO before running our first offensive play. What the hell was that about?

Two of those turnovers were inconsequential (one coming in garbage time, one being immediately nullified by a fumble). I think we were outplayed in enough other facets of the game that the outcome would have likely been the same without those misplays.

(09-13-2015 01:47 PM)At Ease Wrote:  Two of those turnovers were inconsequential (one coming in garbage time, one being immediately nullified by a fumble). I think we were outplayed in enough other facets of the game that the outcome would have likely been the same without those misplays.

The interceptions in the first half really did us in. Both were atrocious throws and came at the worst possible times.

We also got lucky that the INT return by Texas resulted in a fumble. So we benefited from a timely turnover as well.

(09-13-2015 01:40 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:37 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 12:34 PM)Antarius Wrote:  One of their comments last night was that Rice football hasn't changed much. The same self inflicted gunshot wounds that killed us in 2009 still haunt us today.

What I find particularly frustrating is that not only are we still shooting ourselves in the foot, we are still shooting the same toes--kicking game, deep secondary, execution errors on offense.

Yup.

I also highly doubt my friends will be interested in coming back to watch the next game. Which is a bloody shame.

I have seen the tendency to shoot ourselves since 76. I have concluded that we all have a little masochism in us.

(09-13-2015 01:49 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(09-13-2015 01:47 PM)At Ease Wrote:  Two of those turnovers were inconsequential (one coming in garbage time, one being immediately nullified by a fumble). I think we were outplayed in enough other facets of the game that the outcome would have likely been the same without those misplays.

The interceptions in the first half really did us in. Both were atrocious throws and came at the worst possible times.

We also got lucky that the INT return by Texas resulted in a fumble. So we benefited from a timely turnover as well.

But that's my point. One of the INTs in the 1st half, despite being atrocious, didn't do us in. It turned a 3rd and long into a first down because of the Texas fumble. Really, that turnover gave us points even, since it turned a long FG attempt into a first down that later yielded a Stewart TD run!

The other INT was awful too, but since we did not call a timeout to give us more time, I think it's very optimistic to think that INT really cost us many points. With ~20 seconds left at the UT 27, we're really only looking at a long FG attempt, so a loss of an expected 1-2 points. Hardly the difference maker in the game.