First meeting could provide much-needed boost to victor
Owls seek to end winless grind; Panthers want signature victory
David Bailiff and Willie Simmons are counting on Saturday.
Bailiff’s Rice needs the ball to finally bounce its way to stop an 0-for-6 skid. Simmons’ Prairie View A&M would love a signature win over an FBS program — even a winless one.
Saturday’s first meeting between the Owls and Panthers at Rice Stadium could be a launching pad for both teams.
To what exactly is the question, especially for Rice (0-6), which has gone from bowl hopes at the beginning of the year to simply trying to put it all together for one game and salvaging the season down the stretch.
In addition to Prairie View, Rice finishes at Louisiana Tech, Charlotte and Stanford and home against Florida Atlantic and UTEP.
“We’ve got six more games, and I plan on winning all six of them,” Rice sophomore defensive tackle Carl Thompson said.
Thompson’s comments are certainly optimistic. But perhaps that mentality is warranted to avoid 0-7. Rice is in the midst of its worst start since 2009, when the team went 2-10.
Imagine how exuberant Prairie View (4-2) would be with a win.
A golden opportunity
In his second year at the helm of the Panthers’ program, Simmons sees a challenging FBS opponent rather than a winless one and an opportunity to add a major building block to his foundation at Prairie View.
“To build that program, we need wins like this,” Simmons said during the SWAC football teleconference. “We need games like Rice to be able to show perspective student-athletes Prairie View is a place you can come to and compete for championships in one breath, but also go toe-totoe with FBS opponents in another breath. That’s
what we want to aspire to do.”
A strong finishing kick will be one of Rice’s keys to thwarting Prairie View’s efforts. It has been a sore subject.
The two biggest wins to slip through the Owls’ hands came in conference play — a double-overtime loss to North Texas and last week’s 14-13 loss to UTSA.
Rice has had one thing go haywire one week and another the next. Could this be the week Rice fits all the pieces of the puzzle together?
“We all signed up here to win games,” Owls tight end Connor Cella said. “As a senior, I’m going to try to do everything I can in my power to get these younger guys motivated, get the other seniors around me motivated as well and get our first win.”
As far as what Rice will see on the field, Bailiff expects Prairie View to play both of its quarterbacks —
redshirt senior Trey Green and redshirt freshman Jalen Morton. And there should be no shortage of offense from the Panthers. While not as prolific this year, the Panthers scored 44 points per game last season.
A mope-free zone
Rice’s attitude is most encouraging for Bailiff. He said the Owls haven’t gotten down despite one of the roughest starts to a season during his tenure.
Much like Prairie View, Rice sees Saturday as an opportunity.
“We’ve got six games left,” Bailiff said. “We’ve got to get a win. I know this: We’re hungry for a win. Nobody around here is moping. Everybody around here is ready to get that (victory). Everybody is willing to do whatever it takes to get that.”