Rice football returns home this week to take on Charlotte before a bye. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.
A pair of 1-3 teams meet in Houston this week, looking for their first FBS win of the season. Rice football fell to Army at West Point last Saturday while Charlotte faired no better at Indiana. Who can climb out of the AAC basement and get themselves back in the win column in Week 5? Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup between Rice and Charlotte.
Kickoff time | 6:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)
Audio / Visual Preview
We’ll preview Rice football vs Charlotte on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, kicking off live on Wednesday on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. Look for a recap of the game on the site afterward as well as on The Roost Podcast, which should be released early next week.
Sizing up the contenders
Biff Poggi talked a big game this offseason, but there wasn’t much in the way of expectations for this Charlotte squad. They were picked to finish near the bottom of the league standings and haven’t done much to prove anyone wrong just yet, needing to rally in the fourth quarter to beat their only FCS opponent.
Rice, on the other hand, was projected to finish in the middle of the pack and even whispered as a dark horse to contend for the conference title. That seems like ages ago after a disastrous start including three blowout losses, one of which came in their some opener against Sam Houston. This is as close to a must-win game as could have been conceived entering the season.
Series History
All Time | Rice leads, 3-2
Last Five | Rice leads, 3-2
Last Meeting | Away 2023, Rice won 28-7
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Rice Football Stat Notables
Passing | Warner – 87/138 (63.0 percent), 701 yards, 5 TD, 6 INT
Rushing | Connors – 41 carries, 248 yards (6.0 yards per carry), 5 TD / Atkins – 18 carries, 188 yards (6.6 yards per carry), 2 TD
Receiving | Sykes – 16 receptions, 209 yards (13.1 yds/rec), 2 TD / Groen – 12 receptions, 94 yards (7.8 yds/rec) / Connors – 26 receptions, 112 yards (4.3 yds/rec)
Tackles | Morris – 20, Fresch/Looes/Tita – 19, Taylor – 17
Pass Breakups | Fresech – 3, Pearcy/Green/Ahoia/Jean/Fresch – 1
Interceptions | Flowers/Williams – 1
Charlotte Stat Notables
Passing | Brown – 30/57 (59.7 percent), 368 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Wilson – 27 carries, 136 yards (5.0 yards per carry), 1 TD / Norton – 32 carries, 102 yards (3.2 yards per carry)
Receiving | Weber – 14 receptions, 143 yards (10.2 yds/rec) / Brown – 13 receptions, 159 yards (12.2 yds/rec), 1 TD / Kennon – 12 receptions, 122 yards (10.2 yds/rec), 1 TD
Tackles | Ali – 21, Williford – 20, McGee- 19
Pass Breakups | Ali/Balfour/Jackson/Booker – 2
Interceptions | Ali – 2, Balfour/Kelly/Neal – 1
Charlotte X-Factor | Protect the quarteback
In their FBS games, Charlotte is averaging 312 yards of total offense. Although all of those outings have come in losing efforts, the 49ers have been able to move the football at times. Scoring has been the challenge, but part of that is to be expected against a brutal opening schedule that featured James Madison, North Carolina, and Indiana. Some ill-timed turnovers haven’t helped, but their biggest problem has been negative plays.
The 49ers rank dead last in the AAC in tackles for loss allowed (31.0) and are tied for 12th in sacks allowed (11.0). It’s been those drive-killing plays that have stymied this offense and put the pressure back on the defense which hasn’t gone so well. There are some pieces here for Charlotte to be productive if they could only tighten things up a little bit and avoid these kinds of costly mistakes.
If Charlotte wants to win on Saturday they need to play clean football. Don’t allow your quarterback to be sacked and stay on schedule as much as possible. Let Rice make the mistakes — this has been a problem that has plagued the Owls so far this season — and take care of business when you have the ball. If you’re going to win on the road in conference play, that’s priority number one.
Rice X-Factor | Throw the first punch
If it wasn’t readily apparent thus far, Rice football is not a team engineered to play from behind. For whatever reason the Owls have yet to show they can effectively move the football until it’s too little too late. Rice trailed Sam Houston 17-0, Houston 33-0 and Army 30-0. By the time the Owls got on the board, the game was effectively over.
Whether that’s mixing it up and taking the ball to start the game or finding ways to generate home run plays, something has to change to get this team back on track. Playing from behind is not doing any favors to quarterback EJ Warner or the Owls’ offensive line.
Sustained drives would be a great place to start. Three-and-outs, particularly early in the game, have absolutely torpedoed the Owls offense so far this season. Avoiding those, taking a lead and allowing the defense to pin their ears back and set loose one of the nation’s best pass rushes has to be the plan on Saturday.
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One Final Thing
If it wasn’t abundantly clear already, Rice football has entered the worst-case-scenario timeline of the 2024 season which began with lofty expectations and so much promise. The year is far from over, but the uncompetitive nature of the Owls’ first trio of FBS games has been as damaging to the psyche of this fanbase as one could imagine. The burden on the coaching staff to stave off that downward spiral and get this team off the mat has to be exponentially more onerous.
Rice football hasn’t played a normal football game this season. Execution issues, unforced errors and dumb mistakes have turned what might have been competitive contests into routes before the halftime whistle sounded. For that to be happening with such a veteran roster is aggravating, but there’s nothing they can do about that now.
If there’s any respite from the painful beginning, and this is a big if, it’s that this team is flush with veteran leaders who know how to lead and have (unfortunately) been here before. There was little hope for the early Bloomgren-era teams to right the ship. This one has the components to do so, but it’s getting exhausting waiting for that rebound to happen. So please, Owls. Please find a way to win this weekend.
