Rice Football (1-2) never got the offense fully in gear and, as a result, fell below .500 for the first time this year with a loss to Western Michigan.
There is no solace in a one-score loss. A week removed from a bout with a Notre Dame team from a different weight class, Rice football looked to have the horses to run with a Western Michigan squad with eyes on a MAC Title run. Instead, the Owls came up short. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:
Defensive Intensity
Before Saturday, Rice football had taken the ball on the last four occasions in which they’d won the opening coin toss. With an offensively inclined head coach, that’s probably not too surprising. On this Saturday, though, Rice won the toss and deferred, opting to allow their defense to set the tone.
The defense quickly proved that trust was well placed, earning a quick three-and-out on their first possession. On the next series, Koa Akui looked to have secured a big third down interception, only to have it called off with a roughing-the-passer penalty. Even tasked with defending a new set of downs, the defense stood tall and forced another Western Michigan punt.
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Rice football head coach Abell called it an opportunity to create some mojo, rather than a declarative statement one way or another about his defensive unit. Regardless, it was that side of the ball that took off and allowed the rest of the team to catch up.
“I’m sure some of the offensive scout team players, their arms hurt. We were punching at the ball,” linebacker Austin Harnetiaux said. “We were trying to take the ball away with a conscious effort in practice. Having those ones not fall your way in games is tricky.”
Western Michigan put the ball on the ground four times. Outside of a questionable fielding decision on a punt return by the Broncos’ return man, the Owls were directly responsible for creating the chaos with the Rice front relentlessly impacting Western Michigan quarterback Broc Lowry all evening long. He completed 70 percent of his passes for 116 yards, but took two sacks and had an interception rescinded by penalty.
Offense Slowly Gets Out of Neutral
Outside of several superhuman moments from Jacurri Brown — more on that shortly — it was a tepid night for the Rice football offense. The Owls were held to 139 yards of offense in the first half 31 of which were generated by players other than Brown.
Whether it was the absence of slots Quinton Jackson and Davis Lane, the suffocating Western Michigan defense or a combination of the two, the result was very little positive yardage for the blue and gray.
“We got out the gate a little slow,” Abell admitted. “Then we got it going and then it went like I thought it would go. Tough sledding at times; they’re a physical, big defense, but we found some momentum, put some drives together and finished some drives. They stopped us some times and we punted. That’s football. That’s how the game went for both teams.”
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With the run game stilted, Rice leaned more heavily into the passing game than they had in their prior two contests. Abell trusted his quarterback to take some shots and while his accuracy could have been better in some instances, he largely hit his receivers on the hands and wasn’t rewarded.
Ben Grice had the ball deflect off his hands on a wonderfully designed fourth down attempt which was, fortunately, saved by penalty. Not long after, Braylen Walker had two different passes hit him in the hands before finding the turf, effectively killing a promising two-minute drive.
Sometimes those misfires came on third down, but not always. Ultimately, in a game in which both teams were with three total yards, that was the difference. Rice converted 1-of-10 of their third down tries. Western Michigan managed 7-of-14.
Game Flow Marred by Penalties
A confounding variable in all of this: the officials on the field were not shy with their flags, even if the final box score wasn’t fully reflective of the impact of the men in stripes. Western Michigan and Rice combined to produce nine penalties for 105 yards on Saturday and so many of the infractions were incredibly costly.
Both sides had turnovers taken away by roughing the passer penalties. A pass interference against the Owls set up Western Michigan’s second touchdown. Each side was flagged for a false start. Add on a defensive holding called against the Owls in the redzone on a pick play by the Broncos and you get a game that was sufficiently mucked up all around.
Western Michigan kicked off from midfield in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter after Dillan Botts was called for a personal foul penalty on the Broncos’ previous touchdown. Even a potentially helpful penalty call went against the Owls when a pass interference flag was picked up because of a deflection on the pass.
Embracing the Cost of a Missed Opportunity
“This will be the week I think we learn the most about ourselves,” Abell said, acknowledging the vast differences in the talent level between the Owls’ three opponents to this point.
“You’re disappointed for different reasons. You’re frustrated for different reasons. You’re going to find ways to grow and learn and get better for different reasons,” he said. “These are the games we want to play. These are the games we need to play, year in and year out. We need to take on the group of six teams. They’re the ones that are going to really prepare us for our season.”
Abell has every right to feel frustrated. College football is famously a small sample-size sport. You don’t get 100 chances to learn about your team. You get a dozen, sometimes a few more, if you’re fortunate. Rice football was good enough to win this game, but couldn’t finish. If one win becomes crucial to their postseason opportunities — that was true as recently as one year ago — they’ll look back at this game.
Yes, there were injuries. A lot of them. Defensive end and captain Chibby Nwajuaku went down in this game and was not able to return. But even in a game Rice didn’t play their best, it was winnable.
“Yes, there’s pressure because you only get 12 opportunities guaranteed,” Harnetiaux said. “There’s always going to be that kind of looming cloud. The clock is ticking, but I feel like that stuff is so far down the road. We really just have to focus on being where our feet are every day.”
Digging Deeper
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