This will be Rice's fifth road game in six weeks. The Owls opened the season with three consecutive away-games against Houston, Michigan and Texas. Granted, the Wolverines won handily, 37-3, in Ann Arbor, Mich., but Rice came back to keep the Texas game in doubt right until the end. The Longhorns prevailed by five points, but scored only 18. And this from a team that ran up 69 points against Stanford.
Rice is also a young defensive unit.
There are only two seniors in a starting lineup that includes five sophomores. Well, linebacker Dan Dawson and free safety Jason Hebert are two good places to start. The two sophomores are the leading tacklers on the team. Dawson has 48 tackles from his bandit position, including one sack, and Hebert has 46 tackles and two interceptions. Hebert won WAC defensive player of the week honors for making 19 tackles in the loss to Michigan.