The Rice Owls finished a disappointing 2-10 last year following a 10 win season that was capped off by their first bowl win since the 1954 Cotton Bowl! 18 starters return for head coach David Bailiff and expectations are much higher for the 2010 season. The Owls have added a few transfers also that should be immediate contributors. Rice will do well to receive a bowl invite this year. View the full conference breakdown in our 2010 Conference USA football predictions article.
Losing NFL talent on the offensive end is never an easy thing to cope with, but it is even more difficult to handle at a non-BCS school like Rice. Just three starters returned on offense for Rice last season and the numbers reflected that. John Thomas Shepherd started the year at quarterback, but gave way to Nick Fanuzzi after suffering an injury. Fanuzzi finished the year at QB and passes for nearly 1600 yards and 11 touchdowns. He will have some competition for the starting position this year with Miami (FL) transfer Taylor Cook and redshirt freshman Taylor McHargue battling him for the spot. The running back position should show much greater production with the addition of Michigan transfer Sam McGuffie. McGuffie played his high school ball in Texas and was a prized recruit, but transferred back to his home state after seeing limited action in his first season with the Wolverines. Charles Ross returns at running back and had a team high 11 touchdowns last year. He will likely take a back seat to McGuffie in 2010. Who the starting quarterback will be throwing to is somewhat of a mystery. Patrick Randolph is the top returning receiver as he grabbed 39 passes for 356 yards and four scores in 09'. Whoever fills the spot of the number two receiver is anyone's guess. Junior Roddy Maginot is a name to keep in mind. The offensive line returns all five starters and should be one of the top units in Conference USA. LT Scott Mitchell earned 2nd team all-conference honors for his play last season.
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The defensive side of the ball will need to make tremendous strides if Rice wants to return to a bowl game. Opponents gashed this defense for over 43 points/game and 464 total yards. They had a hard time stopping both the run and pass. Nine starters are back for defensive coordinator Chuck Driesbach and this should be one of the most improved defenses in the conference. DE Cheta Ozougwu is a difference maker in the trenches and accounted for 10.5 tackles for loss in 09'. Scott Solomon lines up opposite of Ozougwu. He contributed 6.5 sacks a season ago and was third on the team in tackles with 63. LB Travis Bradshaw actually led the Owls in tackles with 121. That was almost double the amount of tackles collected by departed FS Andrew Sendejo (64). Justin Hill returns to start at the other outside backer position. The secondary should be much improved with their 7 of their top 8 returning. Chris Jones has to replace Sendejo at free safety and this is a position to keep an ey e on. Chris Boswell takes over the field goal kicking duties following a red shirt season. He had a decorated high school career in Texas connecting on 39-43 field goals and not missing an extra point.
Rice will play their opener in Reliant Stadium against the Texas Longhorns. The Mean Green of North Texas will host the Owls in Week 2. Three straight home games follow with games vs. Baylor, Northwestern and their conference opener against SMU on Oct. 2nd. The Bayou Bucket will go down on Oct. 16th when Houston hosts Rice. These two schools are just over 6 miles apart and have played each other since 1974. They begin a three game road trip the following week that could play a large role on how their season plays out. I predict a 5-7 finish for the Owls.
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