the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 12/4/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Ariel Shnitzer Freshman running back Charles Ross (28) goes down just short of the score in Rice's 30-29 defeat over UTEP Nov. 21, the team's second win in as many games. Ross led the Owls in touchdowns this season with 11, one of the season's few bright spots.

What a difference a week can make.

After the football team's 30-29 win over the University of Texas-El Paso two weeks ago, things were looking up for the Owls (2-10, 2-6 Conference USA). Not only did the win come over a superior team and not only did the win send the seniors off in style, but the near-miraculous victory gave Rice its first winning streak of an otherwise horrendous season.

With momentum firmly in their back pocket, the Owls entered the University of Houston's Robertson Stadium last week with, if not swagger, then at least a sense of confidence that they could run with then-No. 25 Houston (10-2, 6-2 C-USA), which has been in the Associated Press Top 25 on and off since defeating then-No.5 Oklahoma State University 45-35 on Sept. 12.

But three hours after tipoff, whatever confidence Rice had was obliterated in perhaps their worst loss of the season, a 73-14 loss that gave the Cougars the Bayou Bucket, awarded annually to the team that is victorious in the rivalry, and their fourth win in the last five contests between the two squads.

And it was a shame, really, considering just how far the team had come in the two weeks prior. After their first win of the year against Tulane University over Homecoming Week, Rice downed the Miners (4-8, 3-5 C-USA) at home in impressive, near-miraculous fashion.

After a moving tribute to Dale Lloyd, the Rice football player who died following a 2006 practice and who would have been a senior this year, the game appeared destined for the same outcome as so many previous when UTEP picked up 14 quick points in the first quarter. But Rice scratched back and headed into halftime down 20-10.

Even though redshirt sophomore quarterback Nick Fanuzzi finished with an astonishingly unremarkable 55 yards and Rice trailed the Miners by over 100 yards in total offense, six UTEP turnovers gave the Owls all the ammunition they would need to make the game competitive.

Continued...

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