Rice-related notes
Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:58 am
San Jose scored its 70 points with just 49 plays, controlling the ball for less than 18 minutes and making the most of 211 yards on kickoff returns, repeatedly setting up scoring drives.
Rice used two quarterbacks in its option offense, with Henderson and Joel Armstrong combining for 276 yards rushing and four scores. Marcus Rucker added 201 yards rushing and two more scores.
Some quotes from Rice coach Ken Hatfield from his Monday press conference:
"Now we have to play a team, SMU, that really dominated this San Jose team the week before. We've got a lot of work to do this week. The biggest thing is to get the confidence back. We have to play the ball in the the air when we're on defense. We didn't do a particularly good job of getting to the ball when it was floated up there."
On regrouping for SMU � �The good thing about Rice is that you have opportunities to see life. In football, you have a lot of opportunities to find out what you're made of and how you are going to handle adversity. This is certainly a situation like that, but it's not life or death. You understand what you have control over, and if you're smart you learn from the mistakes you had, and you come back. A hundred years from now, the score is still going to be 70-63, and you've got to learn to put that behind you and go forward. The media and your fans don't forget. They'll carry it until the next Saturday when you play. Then you show if you've improved and done something to not let it happen again.
"As an attention grabber, we've already seen SMU, because that was the film we looked at when we were preparing for San Jose. SMU completely dominated San Jose in every form and fashion in their first victory two weeks ago. And SMU played extremely well against Boise. SMU is playing its best football right now, over the last two weeks."
"This is one of those good Southwest Conference rivalries. It goes back so many years. Both are strong academic schools. The two communities, Dallas and Houston, have their rivalry. That's what it has always been, and we've had some good games.
"Last year was the first time that we've played really good on their campus. We played them good in the Cotton Bowl the first year we were here at Rice on a wet and dreary day. We've always had great games with SMU. I expect it to be that way this year.
"Last year was a tough game, too. We hit Ben Wiggins on some long passes, and that was the difference in the game. Unfortunately, Ben won't be with us this year. That was his coming-out game."
