The Owls of Rice are simple, but effective creatures. And come Saturday the boys from Houston will try to run MSU out of Spartan Stadium.
Coming off of its best season (8-4) in nearly 60 years, Rice is looking to continue riding head coach Ken Hatfield’s spread-option attack into the national spotlight.
And why not? The Owls averaged 281.2 rushing yards per game last season, and in doing so, controlled the ball for nearly 33 minutes a game.
“It’s a very tricky style of offense,” junior defensive end Greg Taplin said. “So we just have to be disciplined.
“We played it last year against Indiana, and we all know that story.”
Yeah, MSU got shocked 37-28 in Spartan Stadium just one week removed from its thrilling 26-24 defeat of Michigan.
Led by former quarterback Antwaan Randle El, Indiana shredded the Spartan defense for 489 rushing yards with its option attack. And don’t think for a second anyone has forgotten.
“I know it’s in the back of everybody’s heads,” junior linebacker Mike Labinjo said. “It was kind of an embarrassment last year the way they ran up and down the field against us.”
But the Spartans and the Owls know Randle El won’t be lining up on Saturday.
“Oh yeah, we watched that game,” Hatfield said. “I think Randle El should have gotten more votes for the Heisman.
“But we’re not Indiana. We’re going to do what we do.”
And unlike the Hoosiers, what Rice does is line up in multiple formations (wishbone, veer, single-wing, single-back, shotgun and even West Coast) and run the option from just about every one.
“It can get frustrating because you can’t attack like you want to,” Taplin said. “You have to read the play out and stop and wait to see who has the ball.
“Sometimes you want to pin your ears back and just play football.”
Rice enters East Lansing following a 24-10 loss to Houston, despite gaining 202 yards on the ground. But the good news for MSU is the Owls had trouble holding onto the football, as they committed three fumbles and lost two.
Of course turnovers will be key to both teams’ chances of success. Taplin said the Spartans have been putting more emphasis in practice on striping the ball all week.
And helping MSU make the adjustments on defense is freshman tailback Jerramy Scott.
After gaining 44 yards on nine carries last week against Eastern, Scott has assumed the role of scout-team quarterback. Taplin said the move has been helpful since Scott is more like Rice quarterback Kyle Herm than any of MSU’s quarterbacks. Herm rushed for 42 yards on 11 carries last week and is the Owls leading returning rusher after gaining 897 yards on 205 carries last season.
“We’re going into the game thinking he is a Randle El type quarterback,” Taplin said. “We’re going to be aggressive with him and just try to make him deal the ball off and pop him a couple times.”
Hatfield doesn’t doubt the Spartans will be aggressive, as MSU yielded just 54 rushing yards on 20 carries to the Eagles.
“I think they’ve got to feel very good about the way they played in the opening ball game,” he said. “We expect to see Saturday exactly what we saw in the game film.”
