College Football preview: Griffin, Baylor bring a lot of challenges to Rice

Rice vs. Baylor, Saturday 6 p.m., Floyd Casey Stadium, TV: Fox Sports Houston, Radio: 1430 AM

The Owls know all about Robert Griffin III. They’ve seen the highlights and remember what he did to them last year. But the tough part is trying to stop him.

Baylor’s star quarterback will be the focus for Rice’s defense on Saturday, as Griffin has put up big numbers in his last two games, including a 359-yard, five-touchdown performance against TCU on Sept. 2. He also ran for

Griffin also threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns in a rain-shortened game against Stephen F. Austin last Saturday. And last season, he threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns as the Bears won 30-13 at Rice Stadium.

But there’s more than just Griffin that keeps the Bear offense going. Receiver Kendall Wright has 312 receiving yards on 20 catches, three of them for touchdowns.

“Robert's a heck of a player, a Heisman candidate, and then having an All-American candidate at receiver, it's a hard combination,” Rice senior linebacker Justin Allen said. “They really spread you out there, make you tackle in space, make plays and it's a tough offense. They have really done well the last couple years and it's not the Baylor we all remember from the past, that's for sure."

But this isn’t the same Rice team for last year, either. After a bye week to relish in the win over Purdue, the Owls have confidence that they can play with anyone on the field. Head coach David Bailiff believes that the team’s senior leadership has made Rice a better team, and more importantly, a more confident team.

"Just like Baylor, we need to improve each week. And I think that is what we are doing with the tremendous senior leadership we have,” he said. “When you go into Waco and play a team as explosive as the Bears are, you would like to get some takeaways or get on some short fields to really put some pressure on them. We have to have an incredible defensive and offensive effort. It has to be a total team effort.”

The defensive effort will have to come from up front, where defensive lineman Scott Solomon continues to improve after his two-sack, 3.5 tackle-for-loss performance against the Boilermakers. Also, Allen and other linebackers like Cameron Nwosu will need to keep an eye out for not only Griffin making plays with his legs, but on Bear running back Terrance Ganaway getting into open parts of the field.

Offensively, Rice will need to be more consistent in putting away drives. Dropped passes and penalties have hurt the Owls when they are moving the football against Purdue and Texas, but if running back Sam McGuffie can make some big runs and quarterback Taylor McHargue can continue to distribute the ball passing-wise, it may be enough for Rice to stay close to Baylor and pull out the win.

"We have some explosive players, and I can't say that we've reached our full potential as an offense yet, but we have done some great things,” Rice wide receiver Luke Willson said. “ It will be a good week for us to really show what we got out there."