AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas coach Mack Brown is looking for ways
to keep his team focused on the present and not drifting ahead to a
pivotal game with Oklahoma.
With games against Rice on Saturday and Baylor next week, it's
understandable that the Longhorns might have Sooners are their
minds.
Rice (2-0) hasn't beaten No. 5 Texas (2-0) since 1994, and even
that was rarity. The Longhorns have won 36 of the last 37 meetings,
including 48-7 last year. The Owls haven't won in Austin since
1965.
Brown has reached deep this week to get his team's attention.
He pointed out that Rice coach Ken Hatfield played for longtime
rival Arkansas back in the 1960s and it was Hatfield's game-winning
punt return in '64 that helped the Razorbacks claim a national
title.
Then he brought up the 1994 game that Rice won 19-17 while
holding the ball for nearly 40 minutes.
Anything to keep the focus on the Owls.
No problem, Texas players said.
"It's about Rice. We're not going to be that team that gets
upset," linebacker Derrick Johnson said.
Offensive tackle Justin Blalock said, "With what we're trying
to do, we have to take every game serious, even if we were playing
my high school team."
It could be one of the quickest games of the season considering
the way both teams run the ball.
The Longhorns have the nation's No. 1 rushing attack behind
tailback Cedric Benson, averaging 386 yards per game. Rice isn't
very far behind at No. 9, averaging 284 yards with its wishbone and
triple option.
Benson has been the catalyst for Texas so far. The senior has
369 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
For Rice, fullback Ed Bailey has emerged as the primary ball
carrier although in the wishbone, who gets the ball is determined
as much by the defense as the play called in the huddle.
Against Hawaii, the 5-foot-9, 215-pound Bailey racked 234 yards
on 37 carries. He had 14 runs of six yards, most of them on dives
between the tackles in Rice's 41-29 win.
"It was amazing how many times they ran the dive and Hawaii
couldn't stop it," said Rod Wright, Texas' 305-pound defensive
tackle and premium run stopper. "I hope they do it all day. ... It
looked like he had fun last week."
Brown marveled at Bailey's toughness.
"He runs the ball right up the middle like Earl Campbell did,"
Brown said.
All of this running has left both teams with little in the way
of passing. That's not unusual at Rice, but Brown has complained
that Texas' passing game is not what it will need to be come Oct. 9
against Oklahoma.
The Longhorns rank 97th nationally with 155 passing yards per
game. Vince Young has thrown for three TDs, but otherwise done
little damage with his arm.
With his ability to run or pass, Hatfield still figures Young is
the key to slowing down the Longhorns' offense.
"He had a great coming-out party against us last year here in
Houston," Hatfield said. "He's an exciting performer. You have to
figure out a way to get near him, and if you get near him,
hopefully you can get him on the ground.