Next up for Rice Football: a home game against UTSA. 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 Fresno State game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with UTSA.
Roost Podcast: Rice Football vs Fresno State Game 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 think they’re as good as anybody we’ve played all year offensively, and that includes Notre Dame. I think they have a lot of weapons. I think they know how to utilize them. They get a lot of guys involved. They’re incredibly well coached. That’s the obvious that jumps off…
Their defense, I don’t think you can look at the numbers behind them because they’re playing much better than their numbers indicate. I’ve heard coach Traylor mention that, and he’s exactly right. Just a break here or there and those numbers look differently. I had them as one of the preseason favorites in our conference coming into the season and they have solidified that in their non-conference schedule. I think they’re certainly one of the teams to beat as you look ahead to conference play.– Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on UTSA
I think he makes it all go. He’s been in that system now for years. He’s very comfortable in the system. He gets him out of bad looks. He uses his legs when he needs to. He’s very efficient that way, and he can make all the throws. There’s no weaknesses there. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on UTSA QB Owen McCown
I would tell you it would be a program-changing win. It’d be a defining win for the direction our programs’ going, if you could get a win against such a such a quality program that is in a different phase of their building process. I don’t think words could measure the importance of what this would mean if we could play well and get a W on Saturday. For us to do that, I think we got to make sure that we’re focusing on each play. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. We gotta control the things what we’re able to control. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what a win over UTSA would mean for the Owls’ program
I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is he’s a leader. He puts his all into this, and I think that is something that, you don’t get out of quarterbacks. Sometimes you get a guy that can be selfish. Jacurri continues to show that he is a selfless player. He plays for his teammates and I’m extremely happy to be able to play in an offense with a guy like that. – Slot Ben Grice on playing with quarterback Jacurri Brown
I’m actually grateful for the experiences we got to have. The challenges we faced, successes we had in our non-conference play just because it’s preparing that’s for this game, for this moment, and I feel like a lot of guys have a lot of key experience, a lot of great things that they can put into their tool belt and we can all kind of learn from and grow together as we continue to get ready for this conference game. It’s going to help us in a lot of ways, just to have that maturation under our belt. – Defensive lineman Aquantis Clemmons on how non-conference play has prepared the Owls for this moment
Press Conference
Depth Chart
Depth Chart Notes
For the first time this season, there were no changes to the official depth chart. What does that mean for the on-field product come Saturday? Not much. Head coach Scott Abell already hinted in his postgame comments on Saturday that Rice football might be getting some reinforcements soon.
Though he did not name any names, we’ll get a better feel for those potential changes in practice later this week. If you haven’t come on board yet, that’s another reason to make sure you’re subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon.