Second Chance Dance

The nights have not been especially peaceful for Lance Rice. Too many what ifs, too many second thoughts.

“I’ve tried to put it all behind me,” he says. “It’s hard.”

Over and over, the Utah quarterback has replayed the final seconds of his team’s regular-season-ending loss to Air Force three weeks ago.

He sees himself tackled a few yards short of the end zone as the clock runs out. He hears his coach yelling. He thinks of angry fans who wonder why he didn’t spike the ball or throw it away, saving precious seconds for a field-goal attempt.

“A real tough learning experience,” he says.

When Utah plays USC in the Las Vegas Bowl on Christmas Day, the sophomore will be looking for more than a victory. He wants a shot at redemption.

“He’s a competitor,” Coach Ron McBride said. “He wants to rebound.”

It is a tough situation for a genial young man in his first full season as a starter. Rice was a record-setting quarterback at Olympus High in Salt Lake City who left football for two years to go on a Mormon mission in the Yucatan Peninsula. Returning home in 1999, he enrolled at Utah and red-shirted as a freshman, then started a few games near the end of last season.

Ironically, the 23-year-old cemented his hold on the starting job in summer camp by displaying what McBride called superior decision-making.

In an offense that stresses running behind a big line, the Utah quarterback is asked to pass judiciously, keeping defenses honest while avoiding mistakes. Though Rice struggled at times, throwing 11 interceptions, he completed more than half of his passes for 2,086 yards and 16 touchdowns.

“He’s the cog that has that machine rolling,” said USC cornerback Kris Richard, after studying film of the Utah offense.

The Utes rolled to seven victories in their first nine games before letting a fourth-quarter lead slip away against traditional rival Brigham Young. Still hurting from that loss, they traveled to Air Force on Dec. 1. The truth is, as McBride says, Rice “wasn’t the lone culprit in that deal.”

Trailing, 38-37, with no timeouts remaining, the Utes drove to the Air Force 12-yard line and called a running play. They intended to position themselves at the center of the field, spike the ball and bring on the kicker.

But running back Dameon Hunter was injured on the play, momentarily stopping the clock with 19 seconds left. Offensive coordinator Craig Ver Steeg figured there was time to try for a touchdown and called a quick-hit pass to the outside.

Earlier in the season, Rice had run afoul of his coaches for changing calls so, no matter what he thought of this one, he wasn’t about to audible. Ver Steeg, however, had second thoughts and decided to go back to the spike. It was too late. The clock had restarted and Rice was leading his team to the line, oblivious to shouts from the bench.

What happened next is the stuff of his nightmares.

Dropping back to pass, he stumbled and nearly fell. By the time he looked up, his primary receiver was covered. So was his secondary receiver. He might have thrown the ball away but the defense had settled back into the end zone, opening a patch of field before him. He took off.

An Air Force linebacker knocked him out of bounds four yards short of the goal line, the play eating up the remaining time.

An instant later, McBride was in his face. There were more angry words when the team reached the locker room.

“I’m not going to sit there and say, ‘Too bad,”’ McBride said. “It shouldn’t happen. It shouldn’t happen in a lifetime.”

Rice muses: “That’s part of coaching, yelling at your players, I guess.”

Asked if he received too much blame for what appeared to be a breakdown in communications, he falls silent for a moment.

“As a quarterback,” he eventually says, “you need to take more of the responsibility.”

Most of the time, Rice’s wife, Mindy, is the one who needs cheering up after a loss. This time, as they stayed up late talking, Mindy was doing all the consoling. Rice had trouble sleeping.

In the weeks since, he has avoided reading newspapers or listening to sports-talk radio in Salt Lake City because, as someone told him, “Everybody’s ripping you apart.” Better to watch game films, lift weights and return to the practice field with a vengeance. He has also worked things out with McBride.

“We’ve joked around,” Rice says. “It’s been good to see him smile.”

The quarterback figures that he and his teammates are a little hungrier than usual coming off the Air Force loss. He suspects they will have “a little chip on our shoulders” when they play the Trojans.

With only a few days remaining before the Las Vegas Bowl, Rice has been using positive mental imagery. It’s something he does before every game, picturing himself dropping back, accurately delivering a pass. This time he has added a daydream.

“We have the ball, we’re down by five points and we’ve got to go 80 yards,” he says. “It would be neat to have another situation like we had at Air Force.”

This time, however, he sees himself scoring the winning touchdown.

“To redeem myself. I’d like to have that opportunity.”