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Rice Football 2025: North Texas Game Week Practice Notes

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Rice Football has had two weeks to prepare for Senior Night and a massive matchup with a ranked North Texas squad. Here’s the latest from the field.

This bye week felt much different for Rice football than their previous one. This current iteration of the Owls is much healthier in key spots and was actually able to use practice time drilling key concepts with the players expected to execute them on Saturday. Juggling that priority with bringing along necessary depth on other spots made for an intriguing two weeks on the practice field.

The Final Stretch

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Rice Women’s Basketball Falters Late in Princeton Loss

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Rice Women’s basketball led early but couldn’t close, watching an early fourth quarter lead evaporate in a road loss to Princeton.

Things got off to a strong start for Rice women’s basketball in a pivotal road matchup against a Princeton team that was receiving votes in the most recent AP Poll. The visiting Owls opened the scoring with a three from Victoria Flores, furthering their early edge to eight points midway through the first quarter.

Princeton would not go away that easily, though. The Tigers opened the second quarter on a 15-4 run. No sooner had they taken their first lead of the game than did the Owl volley back, with clutch threes from Louann Battiston and Dominque Ennis to put Rice in front, where they would stay through the end of the half.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

With both sides having thrown punches, it looked as if a narrow back-and-forth would commence. Instead, even though Rice entered the fourth quarter ahead by one point, the the wheels fell off. Princeton outscored Rice 20-6 in the fourth, ending the game on an 11-2 run to turn a close game into a near blowout.

Rice women’s basketball falls to 2-2 on the season and 1-2 away from Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Princeton 69, Rice 56

Key takeaway | Finding a Way to Finish

It’s hard to believe Rice women’s basketball entered the final quarter with the lead given how lopsided the final box score appears. Unfortunately for the Owls, it wasn’t just one thing that went wrong.

In that fateful fourth quarter Rice went 2-for-12 from the floor, was outrebounded 9-to-8, turned over the ball over six times and committed four fouls. The wide array of faults points to a team that wasn’t poised under pressure and collectively failed to execute when the lights shone the brightest.

This had the potential to be a resume building win for Rice. Instead, it’s a loss that looks much more one-sided than it actually was. Great teams finish. This team has talent, but closing out games still remains a key to-do as non-conference play marches on.

Up Next: vs Incarnate Word (Nov. 23 at 2:00 pm)

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Rice Football 2025: North Texas presser quotes and depth chart

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Next up for Rice football, a home game against North Texas. 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 UAB game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with North Texas.

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

The advantage we got in this bye week compared to the first one is that we were healthier going into it. The first bye week, three weeks ago now, it became more how do we catch our young football players up? How do we manage the roster to try and get ourselves healthy to head into the back half of the season? This time we hit the bye week, we were fairly healthy, so we could grow in the bye week. We could really take a hard look at what we’re doing. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the bye week

I see a football program, they’re playing with a ton of confidence. Incredibly skilled on both sides of the football. They recruited players that fit their scheme… and here they are now, they’re playing as good of football as anybody we’ve played all year.”– Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the UNT program

They’re very opportunistic. They’ve forced 24 turnovers on the year, defensively. We need to take care of the football. That’s been a secret sauce that probably doesn’t get talked about. Their offense overshadows their defense but their defense has 24 takeaways on the year. That makes every offense better. That makes every program better. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the North Texas defense

[QB Drew Mestemaker and RB Caleb Hawkins are] just two really talented people. When I look at their offensive roster, you gotta talk about [Wyatt] Young, right? He’s a deep ball threat. He’s incredibly athletic and really fast. They find really creative ways to get him the football… they give you a lot to defend. Mestemaker, he does a really good job of getting the football to all of his athletes. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the North Texas skill players

My time at Rice has been unbelievable. It’s taught me so many lessons. I’ve been through so many trials and tribulations and those trials and tribulations ultimately got me to where I am today. Without God, I wouldn’t be here standing at this podium right now. If you would have told me two years ago you would be standing here, you would be a captain of the Rice football team, I would have said, you’re a liar. Because of God and because of people that he brought to my life like coach Abell I’m able to stand at this podium right now and be a captain of this Rice football team. – Tight End Micah Barnett on his time at Rice

They do have a good quarterback They’ve got a pretty good running back as well. I just feel like they all complement each other very well. In some offense you see some groups doing better than others and some not, but I feel these are very well put together team, a very experienced team. I feel they all mesh together as a unit and come together very well. – Defensive lineman Blake Boenisch on the North Texas offense

Full Press Conference

Depth Chart

Depth Chart Notes

There were two minor changes to the depth chart this week, both accounting for injuries that were preexisting before the Rice football bye week. Tackle Brad Baur was removed with freshman Justin Michaelis inserted in his stead. On defense, Daveon Hook was removed with Jack Kane sliding up and Bailey Fletcher re-enntering the two deep behind him.

Any other adjustments will likely be injury-related or driven by the subtle schematic shifts the Owls employ for this game. We’ll cover those in depth on this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon, which should be out later this week.

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Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 11 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2025 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 11.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

TeamNFL Owl(s)This WeekResultNext Week
Washington CommandersLuke McCaffrey (WR)at DolphinsL, 16-13 (OT)— OFF —
Philadelphia EaglesKylen Granson (TE)vs Lions (SNF)W, 16-9at Cowboys
Jacksonville JaguarsAustin Trammell (WR)vs ChargersW, 35-6at Cardinals
Detroit LionsJack Fox (P)at Eagles (SNF)L, 16-9vs Giants
Pittsburgh SteelersChris Boswell (PK)
Calvin Anderson (OL)		vs BengalsW, 34-12at Bears

Offense

Austin Trammell – WR, Jaguars

Trammell played in his third game of the season on Sunday against the Chargers, catching his lone target for 14 yards. He also played on special teams.

Calvin Anderson – OL, Steelers

Anderson saw action in his seventh game of the season this weekend, playing on special teams in the Steelers’ Week 11 game against the Bengals=.

Kylen Granson – TE, Eagles

Granson was more involved with this offense this week seeing two targets and catching his first pass since Week 2. He also played his typical allotment of special teams snaps.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted four times in the Lions’ Week 11 loss to the Eagles, averaging 42.3 yards per kick with a long of 55 yards. The slight dip in average was driven by two well-placed balls pinned inside the 20 yard line.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell was a perfect 2-of-2 on his field goal tries against the Bengals in Week 11, converting all four of his extra point attempts, as well. He is 19-of-22 on field goals this season, including one blocked kick.

Injured Reserve

Luke McCaffrey – WR, Commanders

McCaffrey was placed on injured reserve with a broken collarbone suffered during the Commanders’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 9 and is expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more details on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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Rice Basketball Comes Up Short at Tennessee

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Rice basketball kept things competitive in the early goings before faltering in the second half, falling to the No. Tennessee Volunteers on the road.

Tennessee scored first and never trailed in what proved to be a rather comfortable win for the home team. Rice Basketball head coach Rob Lanier, who spent eight seasons as an assistant to Rick Barnes in Knoxville was correct to be warry of returning to town to play against the Vols.

“I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today if it weren’t for him. I’m so indebted. It’s a place that I look forward to going back to,” Lanier said in the days leading up to the game. “I don’t really want to coach against Rick, but I’m excited to get back there. It’s a great place.”

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

Thompson-Boling Arena was indeed rocking on Monday evening, slowed only briefly when Rice cut their deficit to five points near the end of the first half on a three-pointer from Nick Anderson. The Vols answered with a 5-0 run to get back in front by double-digits,

Tennessee would take a 13-point lead into halftime and maintain at least a 10-point advantage through the second half. Rice remained competitive for the first couple of media timeouts before Tennessee began to pull away in the later moments, stretching their advantage to as many as 26 points before closing things out with a 25-point margin of victory.

Rice Basketball falls to 2-3 with the loss. The Owls are 0-2 away from Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Tennessee 91, Rice 66

Key takeaway | Cam Carroll hangs tough

That Nick Anderson led the team in scoring with 19 points on 3-of-7 from deep and a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. He’s been one of the most consistent scorers the Owls have had this season and will be expected to maintain that level of production if Rice is going to get where they want to go.

It’s that next man up that’s the focal point of the Owls’ early stretch of nonconference play and Cam Carroll threw his hat into the ring on Monday. 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting against against a defense as swarming as the Volunteers’ was notable as was the lone turnover in 23 minutes on the court.

Rice basketball has high expectations for the veterans on this roster. Getting a meaningful contribution from Carroll, or others with less proven D1 experience this season, would be massive.

Up Next: vs Tarleton State (Nov. 20 at 7:00 pm)

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