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Rice QB Greg Henderson (chest) is out, as is RB Marcus Rucker (hip), who combined to rush for 357 yards last week at San Jose State, are sidelined with injuries. Redshirt freshman QB Joel Armstrong will make his first collegiate start

Armstrong's a talented kid, but he is a freshman - hopefully the Mustang D can rattle his cage a little.

Go MUSTANGS!

well you certainly can't ask for a better time to play a Rice wishbone offense missing their 3 most reliable rushing threats in Henderson, Thomas Lott and Marcus Rucker plus Ben Wiggens whose been a thorn in SMU's side. I'm concerned however that Armstrong who is averaging 8.3(including sacks) per attempt is going to be a real chore. Maybe the Football Gods are beginning to shine on the Ponies. This is a game that SMU needs to step up and rise to the occasion. Could be a real turning point if we can steal this one. BTW Rice has a 7 game home winning streak and a 7 game home winning streak against SMU.

if Rice whips us in the trenches like they did last year it wont matter. Definitely a pivotal game to see if we can really stand up against mid-level WAC competition. In the first two weeks, we played the best team in the league and the worst. This should be a better barometer of where we stand. I hope Turner was right when he said that he was certain we would be competitive in the WAC part of the season.

let's face it...this game is critical if SMU is going to turn it's football fortunes around. We have to get back to the point where we EXPECT to beat Rice every time out. If there ever was a MUST win for a program, I think this is one.

Your comments about the importance of the Rice game are very telling given the outcome of the game. Anybody know when we can win another game this year?

Nevada, UTEP and Tulsa are beatable. I'm not nutty enough to say it's likely, but it's possible. If Ryan Moats is out, LaTech can be added to the list.