Rice - 2007, Enter the Dragon (well, the Big XII anyway)

[Butter]

This is a continuation of the Rice dynasty started here. I am playing this using NCAA 2004 for the XBox. The settings are currently 7 minute quarters, though I may up that for 2008, and tough All-American sliders maxxing out CPU offense (and increasing defense to 10-15) and cutting human defensive abilities to 5-8 (while keeping offensive capabilities around 10).

Here is how we've done so far:
Records:
2003 - 5-7, 4-4
2004 - 7-6, 5-3
2005 - 9-4, 6-2 - Lost in Hawaii Bowl to Cincinnati
2006 - 10-3, 6-2 - Beat Purdue in Silicon Valley Classic

Recruiting (national class rank):
2004 - 32
2005 - 10
2006 - 7

We are preparing for the 2007 recruiting season armed with a new tool: We are members of the Big 12 conference now. Right now, we are probably middle of the pack members along with Oklahoma St., Colorado, and Texas A&M. Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas State, and Texas are upper echelon members, while Texas Tech, Missouri, Baylor, and Iowa State are bringing up the rear.

Our hope for 2007 is to post a winning season, and go to a bowl. We have the talent to do it, and should be a preseason top-25 team with our returning talent. We will also be lucky to inherit Kansas's conference schedule, which avoids Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 South. We plan to schedule up, hoping to make all of our out of conference opponents (with the exception of crosstown rival, Houston) top-25 level, and bringing at least 1 of them to Rice Stadium.

It should be a fun season, with exciting QB Harvey Lyman returning strong (we hope) from a ruptured disc that put him out for much of the Nevada game, and the final 5 games of the year. His passer rating was near 200, so he certainly has the talent and ability to lead us to a 10-win season.

Next up: Recruiting, scheduling, and we start the season... with more injury problems? Stay tuned....

[tucker342]

Great stuff so far!

I'm kind of surprised the Big 12 let you into the conference so quickly... eh oh well!

[Butter]

2007 recruiting

Well, we luck out and don't have many needs this year.

Departing seniors - with career stats
-WR #83 - 71 rec., 1,031 yds, 14.5 ypc, 6 TD
-TE #87 - 2 pancakes, 1 sack allowed (DNP as senior)
-LG #50 - 17 pancakes, 3 sacks allowed (DNP as senior)
-SS #43 - 21 tackles, 1 INT (6 tackles as senior)
-SS Matt Sanford - 89 tackles, 7 sacks, 6 INT (28 tkl. as senior)
-P #85 - 213 punts, 40.9 avg., 32.7 net avg., 74 yard long, 57 punts inside 20

We are shown as needing 1 WR, 1 G, 1 MLB, 2 SS, and 1 P.

With our #17 finish last year, move to the Big XII, and improvement to 4 stars of prestige, we hope to land some big-time recruits.

The first glance at the list shows that lots of folks are interested in us, but very few HB's, where we could use some more speed. Strong safety's are all over us, wide receivers are lukewarm, and punters are usually rare anyway, and no one but 1-star folk list us in their top 3.

We do very well, but our punter is iffy.

Recruits are listed along with their depth chart position in parentheses.

5 star recruits
-#1 WR Tarence Gonzalez, TX - 81 (#3 overall player in country, #1 on depth chart)
-#2 MLB Kerry Daniel, TX - 82 (#6 overall, #2 on depth chart)
-#1 SS Andrae Pope, ND - 82 (#7, #1 on depth chart)
-#4 MLB C.J. Nichols, AZ - 79 (#23, 3rd string)
-#5 OLB Matt Whitehead, MS - 77 (#36, 3rd string)
-#4 SS Justin Scott, OK - 80 (#70, 2nd string)

4 star recruits
-#7 SS Brandon Cowan, NJ - 74 (3rd string)
-#13 OLB Larry Gentry, TX - 76 (3rd string)
-#18 OLB Jess Beck, AZ - 71 (Cut)
-#41 CB Donald Freeman, OK - 75 (5th CB)

3 star recruits
-#24 G Cris Fletcher, TX - 76 (JuCo player, soph. - 2nd string)
-#32 FB Chad Madison, LA - 70 (Cut)
-#91 HB Benny Williams, TX - 70 (Cut)

2 star recruits
None

1 star recruit
-#27 P Clark Robinson, TX - 61 (2nd string)

Our class ends up ranked #5, still only 3rd best in the cutthroat Big 12.

Recruiting rankings
1. Texas
2. Tennessee
3. USC
4. Oklahoma
5. Rice
6. TCU
7. NC State
8. Fresno St.
9. South Carolina
10. Southern Miss.
11. Nebraska
22. Kansas St.
23. Texas A&M
39. Oklahoma St.
59. Colorado
68. Texas Tech
75. Baylor
82. Missouri
116. Iowa St.

We end up cutting 3 recruits to get under the 55 player limit. We also cut senior HB Lynn Barton, who had not seen much playing time since 2004, when he was a 1,200 yard rusher. Every time he hit the field the last 2 years, he was slow and unable to break tackles.

[Butter]

2007 preseason rankings and schedule

Preseason Top 25 (Big XII teams in red)
1. Texas
2. Oklahoma
3. Nebraska
4. Colorado St.
5. Ohio St.
6. Maryland
7. Wisconsin
8. Kansas St.
9. Alabama
10. NC State
11. Virginia Tech
12. South Carolina
13. Arkansas
14. Tennessee
15. Auburn
16. Washington
17. Miami
18. Michigan
19. Rice
20. Southern Miss.
21. TCU
22. UCLA
23. Syracuse
24. USC
25. Notre Dame
33. Oklahoma St.
39. Texas A&M
40. Colorado
47. Missouri
81. Texas Tech
92. Baylor
99. Iowa St.
117. Wyoming

Big XII Preseason All-Americans
1st Team
G Thomas Pittman (Sr., Kansas St.)
T William Bass (Jr., Kansas St.)
T Mike Gregg (So., Nebraska)

2nd Team
HB Carl York (Jr., Texas)
CB Quinn Lowe (So., Rice)

Preseason Heisman Watch
HB James Kidd (Jr., Wisconsin, last year's winner)
WR Keon White (Jr., NC State)
WR James Dalton (Sr., Akron)
HB Julius Bullock (Sr., Va. Tech)
QB Tim Grimes (Jr., Texas)

How can Grimes be the top QB on the Heisman list but not be a preseason All-American? I dunno either.

Rice 2007 Schedule (red denotes B12 North games, green denotes B12 South games)
@ Washington
v. Houston
v. Virginia Tech
@ Notre Dame
v. Missouri
@ Colorado
v. Baylor
@ Kansas St.
@ Texas A&M
v. Nebraska
@ Oklahoma St.
v. Iowa St.


As mentioned previously, we miss Texas and Oklahoma, unless we expect to see them in the Big 12 title game... which is a good goal, but probably unrealistic considering the strength of the conference. I'm hoping for a nice, solid 9-3 again, or something similar before we work our way up into the upper echelon of the conference.

[Butter]

Starting lineup for opening game (for our standard Flexbone formation, red denotes new starter this year)

Offense
QB - Harvey Lyman
WB - Zeke Roberts
WB - Markus Crocker
FB - Tony Bush
WR - Tarence Gonzalez (true freshman)
WR - Gino Helms
LT - J.P. Bridges
LG - Jason Lane
C - Napoleon Lynch
RG - Donald Armstead
RT - J.B. Whitehead (started at LG last year)

Defense
LE - Wade George
DT - William Phillips
DT - DeMarcus Frazier
RE - Jackie Livingston
LOLB - Rocky Fredrickson
ROLB - Nick Battle
MLB - Cedric Spivey
CB - Quentin Duncan
FS - Brian Cooley
SS - Andrae Pope (true freshman)
CB - Quinn Lowe

K/P - John Rice (new starter at punter)
KR/PR - Tarence Gonzalez (94 speed)
Second KR - Quentin Duncan

All of our main starters are in the 80's, ratings-wise. Except our TE, but he doesn't play a whole lot anyway, except when we show the wishbone. We would've liked to have recruited another speed HB, as Roberts tends to tire quickly, but for now 3rd HB Kevin Jenkins will have to do. We also hope to keep backup QB Tim Bridges holding the clipboard this year.... where he belongs. Lyman will hopefully be as effective mixing the run and pass as he was when healthy last year (1 INT in 7 starts is pretty danged good).

Our defense is essentially the same unit that has underachieved for 2 years, seemingly falling apart at the worst possible times. We hope to avoid that again, but some of these Big XII games are going to be rough, I'm sure, especially on the secondary. Our biggest defensive problem likely has been the lack of a cohesive scheme. I tend to call whatever feels right at the time, and our zones can get burned badly for long passes at the wrong times.

[Butter]

Week 1: Bye

Notable Scores (red denotes Big 12 team)
(14) Tennessee 20, Texas A&M 17
(11) Virginia Tech 24, Oregon 15

Our future opponent Va. Tech starts off strong with a win over the Ducks. Luckily, we're going to get them at home.

[Butter]

Week 2, #19
@ #16 Washington

The scene at Husky Stadium is frenetic. Washington is looking to have their best season in years, starting off ranked #16. We're just looking to weather an extremely tough road test and come out with a W. Washington is historically a good rushing team, but their prolific offense is usually matched with a fairly mediocre defense, and this year is no different, with the offense ranked a B+ and the defense a B- prior to game time.

UW receives the kick, as we always kick when we win the toss and the computer usually receives. They return it to the 24 yard line. A couple of runs later, it's 3rd and 7. On the 3rd play of the game, UW QB Ramon McKenzie drops to throw and fires one blindly at the zone defense where it's picked off by CB Quentin Duncan. He has green in front of him, and 40 yards later it's 7-0 Owls! What a start!

Next possession, McKenzie fires another pick! He's letting the pressure get to him, and losing his composure in the pocket. This time, it's MLB Cedric Spivey who grabs the pick at the UW 21. We forge ahead for 6 plays, but are stopped at the 2 and John Rice trots on to make it 10-0 with a cinch 19 yard FG.

We force a quick 3-and-out out of the obviously panicked Huskies, and the dejected home fans are powerless to watch as we get a good punt return from Gonzalez to set us up at the Husky 40. A 36 yard pass to Gonzalez capitalizes on the UW disarray, and 2 plays later, FB Jerome Mayo is rumbling in from 1 yard out and a 17 point lead.

UW is just absolutely disheartened out there, and in the second quarter, we go on scoring drives that look like this:
7 plays, 31 yds., 1:38 TOP - 48 yd. Rice FG set up by 11 yard pass to Brandon Hargrove
4 plays, 57 yds., 1:13 TOP - 32 yd. TD pass to Hargrove after 28 yd. pass to Gonzalez.
8 plays, 75 yds., 1:29 TOP - 14 yd. Shotgun option pitch to Zeke Roberts, set up by 24 yard pass to Gonzalez.

That last score comes with just 21 seconds left in the 1st half, and UW leaves the field dejected, down 34-0!

I try and keep the kids focused, figuring that our 1st drive of the 2nd half would be a grinder to try and salt the game away. Tarence Gonzalez has other plans as he gets a wall down the right sideline and goes 101 yards for the score!

UW doesn't really threaten the rest of the day, and we end with the most impressive showing of the Coach Butter era!

Stats
Rushing
Rice - 35/128, UW - 21/28
Rice HB Zeke Roberts - 9/66, 1 TD
Rice HB Markus Crocker - 11/24
Rice QB Harvey Lyman - 3/21
Rice FB Tony Bush - 5/20
UW HB Kevin Brantley - 8/28
UW FB Khaleed Bass - 4/28

Passing
Rice QB Harvey Lyman - 7/11, 183 yards, 1 TD/1 INT
UW QB Ramon McKenzie - 11/24, 156 yds., 4 INT

Receiving
Rice WR Tarence Gonzalez - 3/88
Rice WR Brandon Hargrove - 3/48, 1 TD
UW WR Edwin Crossley - 5/71

Other
Sacks - Rice 7, UW 0
3rd Downs - Rice 4/10, UW 1/11
Rice DE Wade George - 2 sacks
Rice CB Quentin Duncan - 1 tkl., 1 INT, 4 pass defl.

Win, 44-0
Record: 1-0

Other scores
(1) Texas 59, Middle Tenn. St. 7
Colorado 24, (4) Colorado St. 20
(2) Oklahoma 28, New Mexico St. 0
Western Michigan 31, Missouri 13
(20) Southern Miss. 28, Texas A&M 10
Houston 27, Kansas 24
Central Florida 44, (12) South Carolina 41 (3 OT)
Oregon 10, Baylor 7
(10) NC St. 17, (13) Arkansas 14
Oklahoma St. 23, (3) Nebraska 14
BYU 28, Iowa St. 12
(8)Kansas St. 34, UAB 16
Texas Tech 25, Arizona St. 7
(24) USC 21, (11) Va. Tech 14
LSU 38, (22) UCLA 25

[Butter]

Week 3, #12
v. Houston (1-0, #80)
Battle for the Administaff Bayou Bucket

Houston shocked the Bucket out of our hands with a miracle Hail Mary last year. We're a bit better prepared this year, and a little more focused. Houston squeaked past Kansas last week (since KU essentially inherited our schedule after switching places with us).

UH's 1st kickoff return was a nice one setting them up at their own 36. Their first play from scrimmage is a simple toss sweep... Oh, sh*t, it's a HB pass! 33 yards later, they're in business. Their second play from scrimmage is a simple toss sweep... oh, sh*t, it's ANOTHER HB pass! 23 yards later, and UH is inside the 10. 2 plays later it's a simple slant route to a UH WR and it's 7-0, Coogs.

We trade punts with them, but get something going in the late 1st quarter. After a grinding 12 play, 62 yard drive, we finish it off with a 6 yard TD pass to Gino Helms to even the game at 7. Less than 30 seconds later, Quentin Duncan nabs his 2nd pick of the year at the UH 41, and sets us up nicely. We then run into a 4th and 3 at the 34, and decide to go. We run another option play, and Zeke Roberts springs it, stiff arming 2 Cougars out of the way on his way for 6. We get the ball again after a UH 3-and-out, and wind the rest of the clock with a 10 play drive that ends with a 38 yard John Rice FG. At the half, it's 17-7, Owls.

The second half is all Owls, as the hapless Cougars turn the ball over 2 times in the half, and fail to progress past the 30 in any one drive. Meanwhile, we score thrice more and put the exclamation point on the best start in my coaching career.

Stats
Rushing
Rice - 42/206, UH - 21/45
Roberts - 11/80, 2 TD
Crocker - 10/71
Bush - 5/32
Lyman - 8/15
UH HB Tony Johnson - 17/54

Passing
Lyman - 9/13, 119 yds., 2 TD
UH QB Drew Leach - 9/17, 78 yds., 1 TD/2 INT
UH HB Tony Johnson - 2/2, 56 yds.

Receiving
Roberts - 3/43
UH WR Santonio Crawford - 4/84

Other
3rd Downs - UH 4/10, Rice 8/13
LT J.P. Bridges - 5 pancakes
LG Jason Lane - 4 pancakes
SS Andrae Pope - 5 tkl., 1 TFL
UH MLB Ross Black - 9 tkl., 2 TFL, 1 sk.

Win, 38-7
Record: 2-0

Other scores
(10) Nebraska 41, Utah 9
Boston College 48, Texas Tech 14
(1) Texas 27, Minnesota 13
(21) Oklahoma St. 21, East Carolina 14
Missouri 38, Virginia 35
UTEP 21, (17) Colorado 9
(19) Va. Tech 17, Clemson 13
Buffalo 38, (7) Alabama 37
(11) Auburn 36, Baylor 21
(2) Oklahoma 48, Miami (OH) 10
Texas A&M 29, North Carolina 27

[Butter]

Week 4, #11
v. #17 Virginia Tech (2-1)

The Hokies come in off a close win over Clemson, and a loss the previous week to Southern Cal. They're ranked highly in the rushing game, and their defense is good, but not great. We figure to have problems running the option if history is any guide.

VT receives, and we trade turnovers with them. Our 2nd possession ends with Harvey Lyman fumbling after being blindsided by the Hokies' right end. VT gets the ball at the 18, but lose 7 yards on 3 plays and end up kicking a 42 yard FG to lead 3-0.

Again, we trade punts. This time, Tarence Gonzalez decides to try and field a long punt on the run. Not a good idea. He muffs it (backwards, no less), and Tech's got it at the 2 yard line. 2 plays later, their TE makes a nice grab for a 10-0 Hokie lead early 2nd quarter. Not a great start.

Our next possession, Lyman goes down with a leg injury of some sort. Doesn't look too serious, but a few plays later we're informed that it is a groin pull, and he'll be out 3 weeks. Ouch. Time for some Timothy Bridges magic.

And by "magic", I didn't mean a throw for an interception with under 2 minutes left in the half, while simultaneously being nailed and having to leave the game with bruised ribs. VT adds a 44 yard FG with :40 left in the half, and we're down to 3rd string QB Angelo Gaffney running the show for the rest of the game. We fumble while attempting to run out the clock, but they don't score... and we mercifully sit in the halftime break wondering how to salvage this one. 13-0 VT at the half.

It's really a good thing we didn't hitch our wagon to Gaffney's star, because he is erratic. A decent runner, but VT long ago decided to shut down our running game and make us beat them in the air. We finally penetrate the scoreboard with a 44 yard John Rice FG with under 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, set up by a 22 yard Gaffney to Hargrove connection.

Again, we continue to trade punts with the Hokies, and time is becoming scarce. We get the ball at our own 27 early in the 4th quarter. We face 3rd and inches around the 37. Stuffed. I decide to go for it, echoing the oft-repeated mantra: "if we can't make 6 inches in 2 downs, we don't deserve to win!"

We get stuffed again. VT kicks another FG, and Gaffney adds a 7 yard TD pass with 2 minutes to go. We miss the onside kick, but they miss another FG. Still 16-10. Fittingly, our final possession ends with an interception around midfield with about :40 to play.

Stats
Rushing
VT - 22/(-2), Rice - 31/51
Rice FB Tony Bush - 5/22
Rice HB Markus Crocker - 4/22
Rice HB Zeke Roberts - 9/12
Rice QB Tim Bridges - 2/13
VT FB Wesley O'Neill - 3/18
VT HB Julius Bullock - 8/11

Passing
Rice QB Harvey Lyman - 2/3, 29 yards
Rice QB Timothy Bridges - 1/7, 6 yards, 2 INT
Rice QB Angelo Gaffney - 8/19, 148 yards, 1 TD/3 INT
VT QB Dante Riggs - 16/34, 181 yards, 1 TD/3 INT

Receiving
Rice WR Brandon Hargrove - 3/50, 1 TD
VT WR Doug Morris - 6/47

Defense
Rice CB Quentin Duncan - 5 tkl.
Rice CB Quinn Lowe - 5 tkl., 3 TFL
Rice SS Andrae Pope - 2 INT
Rice DT DeMarcus Frazier - 2 sk.
Rice MLB Deshon Hobson - 4 tkl., 1 INT
VT DE Lennie Hobbs - 6 tkl., 2 sk.
VT FS #26 - 2 INT

Other
Sacks - VT 3, Rice 7
3rd Downs - VT 1/13, Rice 5/13
Turnovers - VT 5, Rice 8
VT K Mark Carty - missed 3 FG from 40+

Loss, 16-10
Record: 2-1

Other scores
(23) Notre Dame 30, Texas A&M 10
(18) Oklahoma St. 31, Tulane 10
(6) Kansas St. 45, (25) Washington 17
(10) Nebraska 27, Louisville 14
Houston 16, Missouri 14
(1) Texas 36, Washington St. 6
Boise St. 66, Texas Tech 10
Purdue 19, (13) USC 10
(2) Oklahoma 27, Indiana 9
Kent St. 35, (15) Michigan 20
Iowa 16, Iowa St. 6
(8) Tennessee 20, (14) Colorado St. 3
Northwestern 45, (19) Arkansas 24

[Butter]

Week 5, #15
@ #19 Notre Dame (3-0)

We only drop 4 places with our loss to Va. Tech, and hope to climb back to the top 10 starting today with a win over the Irish. ND has been solid but unspectacular so far this year, beating 3 inferior teams, including B12 brethren A&M, to earn their unbeaten mark. We play today without starting QB Harvey Lyman, out 2 more weeks with a groin problem.

ND takes the opening kickoff straight down the field, and finishes an 8 play, 79 yard drive with a 29 yard play-action pass to TE Herbert. 7-0, Notre Dame. We keep the ball for a while on our first possession, but come up short. Bridges is proving wholly unspectacular, missing high, wide, and short of many receivers. The next good scoring chance is Notre Dame's, and with just 1:28 left in the half they finish their 2nd TD drive of the game with a 22 yard pass into the corner. This play was set up by a 60 yard pass that beat our Cover 3 like a drum.

The ensuing possession sees us go 3 and out, and ND throws 2 nice passes down to the 2 yard line, and kicks the FG with just :02 on the clock to lead 17-0 at the break.

We start off the 3rd quarter right, with a beautiful 48 yard TD pass to Gino Helms off a play action pass out of the Flexbone. Gonzalez had returned the kickoff all the way to the 40 to set us up. We continue to gain momentum, as Quinn Lowe returns a post pattern INT 65 yards into the ND red zone. Next play, though, Bridges fumbles the ball away. ND's next play is a quick slant that Duncan jumps the route on, and picks off the pass returning it for another 6. 17-14, Irish.

We trade punts a bit, then ND has a defensive lapse, allowing Markus Crocker to turn the corner on an option pitch, and 33 yards later we take a 21-17 lead! 21 unanswered points in the 2nd half give us a sketchy lead.

ND's QB Avery Hammond can't avoid the big INT, and we pick off 2 more passes in our own territory to seal the game.

Stats
Rushing
Rice - 31/101, ND - 24/99
Rice QB Tim Bridges - 15/6
Rice HB Markus Crocker - 8/73, 1 TD
Rice HB Zeke Roberts - 7/20
ND QB Avery Hammond - 3/15
ND HB Kelley Reese - 15/70

Passing
Bridges - 5/18, 97 yds., 1 TD/1 INT
Hammond - 11/23, 249 yds., 2 TD/5 INT

Receiving
Rice WR Gino Helms - 2/67, 1 TD
ND WR #83 - 6/154, 1 TD

Defense
Rice CB Quinn Lowe/FS Brian Cooley - 2 INT each
Rice CB Quentin Duncan - 6 tkl., 1 INT
ND RE #95 - 7 tkl., 4 TFL
ND DT Del Pearl - 4 tkl., 3 TFL

Win, 21-17
Record: 3-1

Other scores
Coming tomorrow...