Next up for Rice football, the home opener against Houston. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.
Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped the Louisiana game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with Houston.
The Roost Podcast: Rice Football vs Houston Recap
We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:
Press Conference Quotes
I loved our poise and composure as we opened the game. I think it’s really difficult for what we do offensively, going into week one, because the opponent has four or five weeks to prepare for our option schemes. That’s very advantageous for your opponents in our style offense. And so to have the composure and to execute at the high level we did to start the game in that first half, I’m incredibly proud of, and I thought our guys did a great job. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what the team did well against Louisiana in Week 1
We missed some really, really good opportunities for some explosive plays, and we just missed them. A block here or there, a decision here or there and that’s an area that we really want to grow in. We loved that we controlled the clock. I thought it set the tempo of the game… But at the end of the day, the opportunity to score points is real and we didn’t take advantage of all those opportunities in week one. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what his team can improve moving forward
I’ll leave that up to the powers of the two campuses, to be honest. My job is to get our football program ready each week, no matter who we’re playing. I’m going to focus on that. I will be grateful that I’m part of this rivalry and I have this opportunity this year. We’ll see what the future holds for both programs. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the future of the Bayou Bucket Rivalry
If you know Coach Fritz, you know the defensive-minded coach that he is and his defenses are always very athletic. They use a variety of schemes to disguise stuff and they fly to the football and that’s the first thing that jumps off to me. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what stands out about Houston
I played against Connor Weigman in high school actually. He has a strong one. He can extend plays with his legs, make good reads, poised in the pocket. So it’s gonna be a fun matchup to go against.– Linebacker Ty Morris on Houston quarterback Connor Weigman
It’s big, starting off the season with a win. The first game means a lot, as far as momentum and how things are going. Especially with Coach Abell coming in. His first game, it definitely means a lot. We want to keep the win train going. – Running back Daelen Alexander on the importance of starting 1-0
Depth Chart
Rice football released a late version of a depth chart in the days prior to the Louisiana game, but it did not feature some of the changes we’d seen up front, primarily on the offensive line. This week’s depth chart seems unchanged in that specific area. The more representative expectation for the starting line remains Sean Sullivan and Luke Miller at tackle with John Long and Patrick Valent at guard.
As for wide receiver, this is the first time that room has been split out with X and Z position. The reality is Aaron Turner, Drayden Dickmann, Landon Ransom and Tyson Thompson are the names to know there with Artis Cole the backup for Braylen Walker on the outside.
The defense looks more representative with what we saw on Saturday with Jack Kane earning a starting spot and shifting Marcus Williams over. Both were on the field against Louisiana and will remain fixtures on this unit, but it’s hard to keep Kane off the field right now with his penchant for big plays.
Stay tuned to practice notes later in the week for more commentary on how these deployments and rotations will be carried out on Saturday against Houston. As a quick reminder, you can get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today.
