July 20, 2006

The casual fan may not know the place when he or she comes to Rice Stadium on Sept. 2 for the Game for the Bayou Bucket between Houston and the Rice Owls. New turf, a mammoth new scoreboard, new uniforms, and the removal of the hated wooden bleachers from the historic stadium will greet the crowd.

But what the Rice fans in attendance that night might be more pleased to see will be a football team which has little resemblance to the 1-10 squad from 2005. There is little doubt that the energetic young man on the west sideline is the main reason.

On January 1, 2006, Todd Graham took the reins of a once-proud program that had fallen on the hardest of times in recent years. With only one win in its last 17 games, Rice looked to have been a team that had forgotten how to win. As the Owls' new head football coach, his challenge was to not only change the win-loss column, but to change the mindset of a community which had begun to reluctantly accept mediocrity in the football program.

Enter Graham, who was part of dramatic turnarounds at West Virginia and at Tulsa in this decade. He immediately set out to change the whole mindset around the Rice football program. First, the new staff hit the ground running in recruiting what has been called the best class among the six schools of Conference USA's western division.

At the same time, Graham added the newest technology available for teaching and scouting, plus a more intense off-season program under new strength and conditioning leader Yancy McKnight. The Owls going to be the best conditioned unit in C-USA; that was a given, having seen the results of McKnight's previous stops at Oklahoma State and Louisiana Tech.

But those more intense off-season workouts would also be the avenue toward changing the mindset of the Rice team. The signs that appeared throughout the Rice football complex left little doubt.

"Rice Will Win."

Whether Graham and his squad can make good on that guarantee is still up in the air, but the mental battle has a formidable opponent once again. A team that seemed to dread the next week is now anticipating the start of fall drills and then the 2006 season. All the newness of the program can do that for a team.

Not that the physical cupboard is bare for 2006. Graham can call on 46 returning lettermen, including nine offensive and six defense starters.

On offense, Rice will have a veteran offensive line and two of the best skill-position athletes in C-USA: senior running back Quinton Smith and sophomore wide receiver Jarett Dillard. The basic offense will change from an option-based attack to a much more sophisticated passing game.

Sophomore Chase Clement finished spring ball as the starter at quarterback. He showed new offensive coordinator Major Applewhite the arm and leadership skills that will be needed for the Owls to succeed. In Dillard, and inside receivers such as Tommy Henderson, Mike Falco and Joel Armstrong, Clement will have some very athletic targets.

In Smith and youngsters such as Bio Bilaye-Benibo and C.J. Ugokwe, Rice has the makings of a very effective running game.

Up front, there are veterans such as senior Rolf Krueger, juniors Robby Heos, Lute Barber, and David Perkins, and sophomores Austin Wilkinson and David Berken to clear the way.

On defense, new defensive coordinator Paul Randolph can pick from 16 players who started at least one game in '05 to populate the 3-3-5 stack alignment. The strength should be in the second were veterans such as Chad Price, Andray Downs, Ja'Corey Shepherd and Brandon King are poised to lead.

With only three defensive linemen in the new alignment, the Owls have some strong returnees to man those slots, headed by senior tackle Courtney Gordon, and juniors Jonathan Cary and George Chukwu.

It's at linebacker where the question-marks abound. Sophomores Vernon James and Brian Raines will man two of the positions. The third LB will be senior Marcus Rucker, a senior who had shown flashes of brilliance at running back throughout his career but who will now be expected to make a major contribution on the other side of the ball.

On special teams, Rice will have one of the better punters in the league in Jared Scruggs, a senior who has averaged a school-record 42.6 yards per punt through his career. Junior Luke Juist will assume all the place-kicking duties after handling only kickoffs last year.

In the spring game, fans got a glimpse of the new-look Owls, as far as the offense was concerned. Clement, the backup quarterback in the old option offense, emerged as the starter entering two-a-days. The sophomore completed 32 of 43 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns, and Smith and Bilaye-Benibo each had 100-yard rushing nights. The Owls should be able to move the ball.

But the attacking style of defense that Graham and Randolph favor was still hidden in the spring finale. Installing the base defense was the spring priority. Changing the approach to how the Owls actually play defense is the August agenda.

Rice will waste no time in jumping into the C-USA season. The Owls will host the Cougars in that Sept. 2 opener, then embark on one of the toughest stretches of games that any team in the country will face.

On Sept. 9, the Owls will return to the Rose Bowl to face resurgent UCLA, then host defending national champion Texas on Sept. 16 in Reliant Stadium. On Sept. 23, the Owls will fly to Tallahassee to face Florida State, ranked in the top five in most national polls.

A Sept. 30 date at Army will close the non-conference schedule before the Owls return to C-USA play. Rice will also host UAB, East Carolina and SMU, but must travel to Tulane, UCF, UTEP and Tulsa.