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Saturday, September 20, 1997

Northwestern must stop Rice option

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) -- Northwestern had trouble last week with a struggling Duke team forced to play a third-string quarterback. He at times went to the option and kept Northwestern's defense off-balance.

Now the Wildcats (2-1) face Rice, which deploys a form of the option on nearly every play.

"They're going to run the ball," Northwestern coach Gary Barnett said of Saturday's opponent. "They're going to come out and advertise it and they're just going to come out and run it right down your throat -- a lot of misdirections, a lot of options, a lot of triple options."

And the Owls (1-1) run the ball well from a variety of offensive sets, including the spread option that combines elements of the wishbone, veer, single-back and West Coast.

Last week in a 30-24 victory over Tulane, Rice fullback Benji Wood gained 190 yards on just 14 carries and scored four touchdowns. He will present big problems for the Wildcats.

"With the option offense you never know what to expect. It's how the defense plays you," Wood said.

"It was just my game, maybe for the rest of the year. You just have to take advantage of it when it comes along. I'd have to say that on three touchdown runs, I wasn't even touched. The offensive line did a great job."

Northwestern beat Duke -- with the nation's longest Division I losing streak at 15 games -- in the closing minutes, 24-20, thanks to Brian Musso.

The fifth-year wide receiver had a 74-yard touchdown catch and made a clutch fourth-down reception of 32 yards late in the game to set up Adrian Autry's game-winning 1-yard touchdown run.

Musso finished with 10 catches for 183 yards.

Northwestern is looking for more options on offense with star receiver D'Wayne Bates out with an ankle injury. That allows teams to concentrate on Musso and his big-play ability.

"Probably Teddy Johnson will be playing more. I think John Burden and Aaron Burrell and Teddy, those three guys will be in and out at those positions where will keep Brian in the game for the most part," Barnett said.

The Wildcats have stuck with a two-quarterback system with Tim Hughes starting and seeing most of the action and Chris Hamdorf -- who threw a costly interception last week -- playing selected series.

Rice leads the series 3-0 and won the last meeting in Evanston 36-7 back in 1991, the year before Barnett became the Wildcats' head coach.