Aug. 29, 2007

For the second straight day, strong thunderstorms in the Houston area sent the Rice Owls inside as they continued final preparations for Saturday's opening game against Nicholls State. The Owls worked out for two hours at the Houston Texans indoor facility next to Reliant Stadium.

"We are very grateful to Bob McNair and the Texans organization for allowing us to use this great facility," head coach David Bailiff said. "After Monday night's practice was a washout, we had a lot of heavy work to get through today and having this available made that possible."

Practice was delayed for a few moments when the team was thrown into darkness when the lights inside the facility turned off, but the after a few minutes delay, practice was able to continue.

"We got the work in, but today was a learning experience for the players, because they had to adjust their routines. I know it's hard to do that, but this was another chance to learn from a challenge. Days like today are another opportunity for each member of the team to learn what it takes to work through challenges," Bailiff added.

The Owls will have one final practice on Thursday, followed by a brief walkthrough on Friday before taking the field at 7 p.m. on Saturday to kick off the 2007 campaign.