RICE VS. STANFORD
WHEN: 9 P.M. SATURDAY • WHERE: ALLIANZ STADIUM, SYDNEY • TV: ESPN • RADIO: 1560 AM
Breaking down the matchup between the Owls and Cardinal.
Series history: Rice leads 3-2. Key players: Rice — LB Emmanuel Ellerbee, C Trey Martin, LT Calvin Anderson; Stanford – DT Harrison Phillips, RB Bryce Love, QB Keller Chryst
Who has the edge:
Offense — Stanford. Quarterback Keller Chryst appears to be on track to start after a rapid recovery from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee suffered in their Sun Bowl victory over North Carolina. The redshirt junior threw for 154 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a 62-yard TD in the first quarter of the Cardinal’s 41-17 home win over Rice in last year’s regular-season finale. Defense — Stanford. The 49ers snagged defensive end Solomon Thomas with the third overall pick in the NFL draft, but the Cardinal return a solid defense. Phillips is expected to step up on the D-line, they’re deep at LB, with Joey Alfieri, Sean Barton and Bobby Okereke returning, and dangerous in the defensive backfield, where S Justin Reid is back.
Special teams — Rice. Junior Rice K Haden Tobola converted four of his final five field goal attempts last year.. The Owls also return Jack Fox, who led C-USA with 27 punts inside the 20 a year ago. Stanford lost RB/KR Christian McCaffrey — another first-round NFL draft pick — but return standout P Jake Bailey.
Notable: The Sydney Cup is the fourth matchup of two NCAA teams in Australia. UTEP fell to Wyoming in the 1995 Australian Bowl, BYU downed Colorado State in the 1987 Melbourne Bowl, and Cal topped Hawaii 51-31 last year.
About Rice: The Owls return eight starters on defense but they’re switching to a new 4-2-5 scheme after ranking last in C-USA with eight turnovers forced a year ago. They return only three offensive starters from a team that finished under .500 (3-9, 2-6 C-USA) for the second straight season.
About Stanford: The Cardinal finished 10-3 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-12 after finishing last season on a six-game winning streak. They’ve finished with at least 10 wins in six of the past seven seasons.