Texas Longhorns 40 Texas A&M Aggies 29
The 5-6 Ags came up with an unexpectedly spirited performance for me behind redshirt freshman QB Stephen McGee (pictured) and true freshman RB Jovorskie Lane before the 11-0 Horns put the clamps on late to stay on course for their long-awaited BCS National Championship showdown with Southern Cal.
McGee and Lane were incredible, literally throwing the dispirited Aggie team on their shoulders and having the Ags in position to tie the score with just over 8 minutes left in the game. But Texas promptly tacked on another field goal, the Horns’ defense didn’t allow A&M another first down for the remainder of the game, and UT heaved a huge sign of relief as they pulled out the victory. The Horns finish their regular season on Saturday in the Big 12 Championship game at Reliant Stadium against overmatched Colorado and then it’s on to the Rose Bowl in early January against USC.
Much has been made about the Aggies’ disappointing season, but my sense is that it’s too early for the Ags to banish Coach Fran from Aggieland. Coach Fran and his staff have been responsible for the past two recruiting classes (2004 and 2005), partially responsible for the 2003 class (with former coach R.C. Slocum’s staff) and not responsible at all for the 2002 class. The Aggies basic problem is that they do not have enough good players in the junior and senior classes because, by my count, at least 17 of the 47 recruits in the 2003 and 2002 classes are no longer in the program. Losing a third of those older and more mature players left this particular Aggie team with little quality depth, and a bad spate of injuries — particularly at the wide receiver and defensive back positions — undermined that poor depth further. With a much more favorable schedule next season, along with another solid recruiting class and maturation of the previous two recruiting classes, Texas A&M’s program should turnaround solidly next season and trend upward over the next several seasons. What is unclear, however, is whether Coach Fran has what it takes to compete against Mack Brown of Texas and Bob Stoops of Oklahoma at the top echelon of the rugged Big 12 South Division. That issue will ultimately be the pressure point for Franchione’s success or failure at Texas A&M.
The 6-5 Cougars quixotic march to a bowl berth continued on Saturday as they allowed Rice to take a 10 point lead (nearly a 17 point lead) to start the game, and then reeled off 28 straight points as the 1-10 Owls coughed up the ball on four of their next six possessions after scoring on their first two series of the game. Although they do not draw well at home, the Coogs are actually an attractive prospect in the strange world of college post-season bowl games — although frustrating, the team does play an exciting brand of ball and the team has always generated solid television ratings generally, and in the Houston area in particular, for past bowl games.
On the other hand, the Rice football program is at a crossroads. Coach Hatfield is a wonderful fellow, but he is running a throwback offensive system without the quality of athletes necessary to win with it and overseeing an Owls defense that has contributed greatly to the program’s 18 losses in the past 22 games. As Richard Justice points out in this column, there are no easy answers for a program that has minimal support on campus and generates revenue for the athletic program primarily by playing the sacrificial lamb in early season games for programs such as Texas, UCLA and Florida State. Rice’s football program is being propped up by a relatively small group of alumni who remember the glory years of Rice competing in the Southwest Conference and who realize that maintaining the Owls’ elite baseball program would be difficult — if not impossible — if the Owls downgrade the football program to Division I-AA or lower. Rice needs to establish a new paradigm for its football program quickly or the program risks death by its own considerable weight.
The 1-10 Texans lost this one in a manner that even grizzled veterans of bad Houston professional football teams could not imagine. After going up by 21 points at halftime, the Texans scored only 3 points the rest of the game against a Rams secondary that was without its starting safety and both of its starting cornerbacks. Then, as if realizing that they were screwing up their place in the Reggie Bush sweepstakes, the Texans allowed the Rams’ third-string rookie quarterback from that football factory Harvard to lead the Rams to 10 points in the final 27 seconds of the game to force overtime. Then, in a remarkable coup de gr‚ce, the hapless Texans defense allowed the Rams to score from 56 yards out on a hitch pass to seal the loss in overtime.
How on earth does a 1-10 team get so overconfident during a game that they lose it?
The Texans go on the road to play bad teams at Baltimore and Tennessee over the next two Sundays, but those teams would really have to mail it in to lose to the Texans. 1-15 is looking like a distinct possibility.
The 7-4 Pokes saved the turkey on Thanksgiving Day for overtime as their typically stout defense allowed journeyman Bronco RB Ron Dayne to take off for 50 yards to set up the winning field goal in overtime. The Cowboys most recent placekicker missed what would have been the game winning field goal in regulation, which means that the Big Tuna will probably go out this week and retain the Cowboys tenth placekicker of the season. Amazingly, however, with the Redskins and Eagles fading like cheap suits, the Pokes can take command of the NFC East this Sunday by beating the Giants in New York. The Pokes’ four losses this season have been by a total of 13 points.
Rice’s football program is being propped up by a relatively small group of alumni who remember the glory years of Rice competing in the Southwest Conference and who realize that maintaining the Owls’ elite baseball program would be difficult — if not impossible — if the Owls downgrade the football program to Division I-AA or lower.
I’ve long been mystified why Rice wouldn’t upgrade its terrible basketball facilities in order to try to be more competitive at that sport. The Duke model shows it can be done (and done without much success in football, save for the Steve Spurrier experience).
The success of Rice baseball depends far less on the health of the football program than on the health of one Wayne Graham. 🙂
Kevin, I’ve been asking the same thing for decades. The only response that I’ve ever gotten is that the basketball program has even less support among Rice alums than than the football program.
How long until baseball season begins? ;^)
Rumors of an Autry Court renovation/replacement have been flying around for years. The latest scheme, as I recall, has it as a part of a convocation center, which may be located next to Rice Stadium. It’s always been the case that other projects were higher on the priority list, but in recent years we’ve started hearing that this one is finally moving closer to the top. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Tom,
As a Detroit Lions fan, I feel your pain with the Texans. It will two more coaches on the job market fairly soon.
Peter, Mariucci and Capers share the same characteristic — good coordinators who are in over their heads as head coaches. The Peter Principle at work.
Kevin —
I imagine you know this, but it’s oft-cited in discussions of Rice athletics that the only way to keep the baseball team in a reasonable conference is to keep the football team I-A.
It certainly seems possible that Rice could have a top 25 basketball school, but that would require a Mike Krysesewksi (pardon my spelling) or a Wayne Graham. Willis Wilson is a good coach, but he hasn’t shown progress towards making it an elite program.
I think it’s an interesting question of what will happen to Rice athletics in the future. There’s good parts to the athletic program, but having been on Honor Council, I also saw the underside. Do I have stories to tell.
Also, Tom, someone told me recently that Rice has had 9 winning years since 1960 or 1965. Hatfield is responsible for 5 of them. I haven’t checked the veracity of the statement, and my own memory of it may be slightly incorrect, but if so, it seems to suggest that Hatfield isn’t the problem.
Evan, I agree wholeheartedly that Coach Hatfield is not the problem in the football program at Rice. He has had three winning seasons at Rice, and I believe that there have been only 3 winning seasons in the 30 before he arrived. Plus, he is a wonderful fellow and an absolute hoot to listen to while being interviewed.
However, Coach Hatfield is clearly not getting the quality of players necessary for Rice to win at the upper D-IA level, and once a coach gets into that syndrome of not getting the recruits he needs to compete, it’s awfully hard to change, particularly at a school such as Rice where the commitment to the program is not great to begin with. Accordingly, my sense is that Hatfield has probably played his string out at Rice, although everyone at Rice should realize that there is a substantial risk that the program will fall even further under a new coach.
One note on Willis Wilson — as with Hatfield, he is a helluva coach who has never had anything more than minimal support at Rice. We can only imagine the difficulties involved in persuading good basketball players to come to Rice to play in that on-campus barn that is called Awtry Court.
Doh! I guess I really screwed the facts up that I was told.
I agree with what you say about Wilson. The problem with replacing him is that we are not very likely to be able to get anyone better.
You don’t like Autry Court? But it’s so…homey. Heh.
I imagine you know this, but it’s oft-cited in discussions of Rice athletics that the only way to keep the baseball team in a reasonable conference is to keep the football team I-A.
Two words in response: Wichita State.
Willis Wilson seems like a good guy, but I’m not so sure I’m willing to go so far as to call him a great coach. Still, he’s probably done about as much as anyone could expect with those facilities. A truly great coach probably would have moved on after a few good seasons (ask Tulsa about Nolan, Tubby, and Bill Self).
Kevin —
I’m sure you know more about it than I. But it is repeated as dogma, and I’ve never heard it questioned around Rice. Even folks who think the football program should go tend to stipulate that we’d lose baseball.
Of course, Rice baseball is probably only going to be good as long as Wayne Graham coaches. Unless Graham picks and recruits his successor, I don’t have lots of faith that it will stay an elite program.