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Rice Owls (0-1, 0-1) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (1-0, 0-0)
September 12, 2009 :: 6:00 p.m. CST :: Weather: Lubbock, TX
TV: None :: Radio: Texas Tech :: Game Cast: Fox Sports
The Rice Owls travel to Lubbock and they've already started conference play by losing to UAB 44-24 on the road. The defense looks to be the biggest problem for Rice as the Owls gave up 295 yards on the ground alone to UAB.
| CATEGORY | STATISTIC (NCAA RANK, CONF. RANK) | WINNER |
| TTU Pass Offense vs. RU Pass Defense |
405.00 (4, 1) 221.00 (74, 8) |
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| TTU Rush Offense vs. RU Rush Defense |
40.00 (99, 11) 295.00 (104, 11) |
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| RU Pass Offense vs. TTU Pass Defense |
235.00 (42, 4) 134.00 (28, 2) |
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| RU Rush Offense vs. TTU Rush Defense |
156.00 (54, 5) 73.00 (31, 3) |
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| TTU Scoring Offense vs. RU Scoring Defense |
38.00 (28, 5) 44.00 (104, 11) |
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| RU Scoring Offense vs. TTU Scoring Defense |
24.00 (59, 9) 13.00 (37, 6) |
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Team Leaders
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| STATISTIC | TEXAS TECH | RICE |
| Passing | Taylor Potts :: 34-48 : 405 : 2 : 3 | Nick Fanuzzi :: 12-20 : 154 : 1 : 0 |
| Rushing | Baron Batch :: 9 : 30 : 1 | John Thomas Shepherd :: 6 : 48 : 0 |
| Receiving | Detron Lewis :: 8 : 146 : 1 | Toren Dixon :: 9 : 65 : 0 |
| Punt Returns | Austin Zouzalik :: 3 : 33 : 0 | ---- :: ---- |
| Kickoff Returns | Edward Britton :: 4 : 115 : 0 | Shane Turner :: 6 : 200 : 0 |
| Tackles | Marlon Williams :: 10 | Andrew Sendejo :: 15 |
| Sacks | Rajon Henley / Daniel Howard :: 1.0 : 3/7 | Scott Solomon :: 1.0 : 3 |
| Tackles for Loss | Marlon Williams :: 2.0 : 3 | Scott Solomon / Andrew Sendejo :: 1.0 : 3/3 |
| Interceptions | ---- :: ---- | ---- :: ---- |
Five Initial Thoughts
One :: Opportunity to Run: To the tune of 295 for UAB last week against Rice, if Texas Tech wants to work on their running game and pushing some folks around, this week just might be the perfect opportunity. Although Texas Tech rushed for an astounding 40 yards last week, this could also turn into a situation of who is worse, Texas Tech running the ball or Rice stopping the run.
Two :: Potts Tune Up: QB Taylor Potts has an opportunity to attone for his three interceptions last week against North Dakota. The Rice defense gave up only 221 yards against the UAB quarterback, but this QB was 12-15 with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Opportunity, meet Taylor Potts.
Three :: Scrambling QB : Last week Rice played two quarterbacks, John Thomas Shepherd and Nick Fanuzzi. JT Shepherd was Rice's leading rusher with 48 yards rushing so the defense is going to have to account for him when he's on the field. Fanuzzi wasn't quite the rusher, but he was better passing the ball last week.
Four :: Sendejo Leads Defense: Andrew Sendejo picks up where he left off last year, amassing 15 tackles, 9 of them solo tackles and 1 tackle behind the line of scrimmage. Of course that also may mean that the Rice defense is struggling because Sendejo, a quality safety, is making tackles in the defensive backfield.
Five :: Long Scoring Drives: Texas Tech offense take note - the Rice defense gave up touchdown scoring drives of 80, 80, 44, 64 and 75 yards. Long, sustained drives that ate up a ton of clock. It looks like the Rice defense is susceptible this sort of thing, need to take advantage of it.