Rice had a 10-3 record in 2008, including a win in the Texas Bowl, yet still failed to crack the Associated Press top 25 rankings.

Well, the sleepy Owls aren’t being ignored this year. Their 0-7 record has elevated them to the top of the Bottom Ten, following a 13-49 loss to East Carolina.
Rice ranks No. 120th — last — among major schools in scoring defense, coughing up 45 points per game.
The Houston Chronicle reported that when a sportswriter showed the defensive stats to Coach David Bailiff the other day, Bailiff said, “Fortunately, I don’t have my glasses.”
But let’s look on the positive side: Jeff Sagarin’s Top 245 computer rankings say Rice is the 168th-best team in the nation.
Wreck//Record/Last Loss/Next Loss
1./Rice/0-7/13-49, East Carolina/Central Florida
2./Western Kentucky/0-6/22-30, La.-Lafayette/Middle Tennessee
3./Ball State/0-7/17-31, Bowling Green/Eastern Michigan
4./New Mexico/0-6/Idle/Nevada Las Vegas
5./Washington State/1-5/14-27, Arizona State/California
6./Florida State/2-4/Idle/North Carolina
7./Miami (Ohio)/0-7/7-28, Ohio (Ohio/Northern Illinois
8./Eastern Michigan/0-6/6-28, Kent State/Ball State
9./Fla. International/1-5/33-42, Troy/Arkansas State
10./Illinois/1-5/14-27, Indiana/Purdue
11. Syracuse (2-4); 12. Vanderbilt (2-5); 13. Utah State (1-5); 14. San Jose State (1-5); 15. Alabama Birmingham (2-4); 16. Akron-x (1-5); 17. Florida Atlantic (1-4); 18. Hawaii (2-4; 1-3 on mainland); 19. On sabbatical; 20. Oklahoma (3-3).
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Crummy game of the week: Midwest — Ball State (0-7) at Eastern Michigan (0-6). Rockies — Nevada Las Vegas (2-5) at New Mexico (0-6).
That gentle touch: The defense with the fewest sacks in the nation is Western Kentucky, with two in six games. Close behind, with four, is Texas of El-Can’t-Get-to-the-Passer.
Special citation: Police said a fan at the recent Minnesota-Wisconsin game was so out of control that they had to repeatedly use a Taser on him. “Even worse,” pointed out Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times, “more charges are pending.”