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Conference USA Football 2020: Week 6 C-USA Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 6.

Team Week 6 Result Week 7
Charlotte at North Texas W, 49-21 vs FIU
FAU at USM CANCELED — OFF —
FIU vs MTSU L, 31-28 at Charlotte
LA Tech vs UTEP W, 21-17 vs Marshall
Marshall at WKU W, 38-14 at LA Tech
MTSU at FIU W, 31-28 vs North Texas
North Texas vs Charlotte L, 49-21 at MTSU
Rice — OFF —  — — OFF —
Southern Miss vs FAU CANCELED at UTEP
UAB — OFF —  — vs WKU
UTEP at LA Tech L, 21-17 vs USM
UTSA at BYU L, 27-20 vs Army
WKU vs Marshall L, 38-14 at UAB

Notable Week 6 results – Standings

This moral victory counts

UTSA football has lost two straight after starting their season 3-0, but we might have learned more about the Roadrunners in their two losses than their hot start. UTSA hung with UAB last week and came within one score of BYU this week — the same BYU team that beat Louisiana Tech by 31, Troy by 41 and Navy by 52. Against a juggernaut opponent, UTSA held its own.

Winless no more

Middle Tennessee joined the ranks of the victors on Saturday, earning a 31-28 win over FIU. O’Hara was the entirety of the offense once more for the Blue Raiders, but it was the defense that did enough to keep this game alive, keeping FIU contained outside of two 60+ yard breakaway scores.

Louisiana Tech survives … against UTEP

UTEP has moved into the “pesky” range of Conference USA opponents. The Miners probably don’t have the top-end talent to beat the majority of their foes, but they’ve proven a worth adversary capable of tripping teams up if they look too far past the Miners. Bulldogs quarterback Luke Anthony was not good on Saturday, throwing for only 85 yards on 20 attempts. The Louisiana Tech running game was kept in check too.

Week 7 storylines

Char-lit?

Despite starting the season 0-2, Charlotte could be in the thick of the race for Conference USA East with a win next weekend over FIU. The 49ers won their first conference game against North Texas on Saturday, tying them with Marshall and FAU in the win column in the East. With FAU missing this week, another win would allow Charlotte to keep pace with Marshall.

Who gets their first conference win next?

North Texas and FIU are the only programs who have played a C-USA game without a conference victory. Both have to go on the round in Week 7. ESPN gives North Texas a 59.1 percent chance of beating Middle Tennessee. FIU has only a 34.4 percent chance of upsetting Charlotte.

Is it time for WKU to make a quarterback change?

Western Kentucky lost their presumed starting quarterback to the Transfer Portal this summer before landing former Maryland signal caller Tyrrell Pigrome late in the offseason. Pigrome has ye to throw for 200 yards in four chances, topping out at 188 in a narrow victory over Middle Tennessee. Backup Kevaris Thomas came in midway through the third quarterback against Marshall and more than doubled Pigrome’s yardage and threw WKU’s only touchdown pass.

Rice Football Opponent Scouting Report

A weekly update on who the Owls will be playing this season including updates on key storylines, injuries and more.

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Rice Football 2020: Practice Notes, starting quarterback and projected depth charts

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Rice football has two scrimmages in the books. Mike Collins has been named the starting quarterback and the depth chart behind him is starting to materialize.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren has been cautiously optimistic in each of his previous post-practice media sessions. “We’re not where we need to be to play a football game, but thank God we’re not where we used to be,” he said following Saturday’s scrimmage. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last week and we’ve got a lot of progress we need to make in the next two weeks.”

Among the most notable points of progress this week was the official endorsement of a starting quarterback. Grad transfer Mike Collins has officially won that job. As for takeaways from the rest of Saturday, injuries and the announcement of wide receiver Brad Rozner’s opt out took center stage.

After seeing both scrimmages and talking with those close to the program, I’ve put together my first pass at what a depth chart for the Rice football’s season opener against Middle Tennessee might look like.

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For those on the fence when it comes to subscribing, you’ll get access to all previous practice reports and special features throughout the season. Plus, you’ll get to see which true freshmen I think could be starting against Middle Tennessee.

Defense wins the day

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BREAKING: Mike Collins named Rice Football starting quarterback

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Mike Collins has won the starting quarterback job for Rice football in 2020. The TCU transfer will be the man under center when the Owls open the season.

Rice football will have a new starting quarterback when they open the 2020 season. Graduate transfer Mike Collins will be the Owls’ starting quarterback this fall. He beat out redshirt freshman JoVoni Johnson who had been competing with Collins for the starting job through the spring and into fall camp.

Throughout camp, head coach Mike Bloomgren was clear Collins had the leg up. “I think Mike Collins is just a little bit ahead still.” Bloomgren said, “Pretty much every day he’s just a little bit ahead.”

His arm strength and ability to command the offense has been noticeable thus far. For a bigger guy, he’s pretty fleet of foot too. Rice won’t lose too much in terms of mobility from the position by opting for the 6-foot-5, 225-pound TCU transfer.

Bloomgren noted earlier this year the Owls were guaranteed to have the starting quarterback on campus this spring. Rice did not bring in any new passers over the summer, a decision that proved fortuitous given the rapidly changing environment. Collins was present for spring practice, an added benefit the staff believes will pay dividends in the coming weeks.

Collins will become the latest new face to start a season opening game for Rice football. Prior to his forthcoming debut, Rice has started a different quarterback in their opening game every year dating back to 2015, when Dryphus Jackson returned as the Owls’ QB1.

From 2015 on, Rice turned to Tyler Stehling (2016), Sam Glaesmann (2017), Shawn Stankavage (2018) and Wiley Green (2019) in their openers. Only one, Stehling maintained the starting job for the entirety of the year.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Owls add to early list of 2022 offers

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Rice football has extended four offers to prospective members of the 2022 class, including three more this week.

The second, third and fourth offers of the 2022 Rice Football recruiting class have been extended. One of the Owls earliest commitments in the 2021 class (linebacker DJ Arkansas) was an October offer, and Rice beat out an Arkansas offer for his services. The Owls hope getting in early with some of their top targets will pay dividends down the road.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 55 – The Rice Football Rankings Show

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The Rice Football season is two weeks away. In preparation for the games, Carter and Matthew ranked the Owls position groups and opponents.

Rice football is back on the practice field. For the first time in months, we’ve had the chance to see the Owls in action. (Our subscribers can get access to all those practice updates here.) After getting a closer look, Carter and Matthew rank every position group by confidence level.

They also turned their gaze beyond the hedges toward the rest of the Owls’ 2020 opponents. Could another team on the Rice football schedule be more beatable than UTEP? It’s certainly possible.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 55.

Episode 55 Notes

  • Housekeeping — Don’t miss this opportunity to subscribe on Patreon. You’ll get practice reports, recruiting news and the latest analysis and updates on all things relating to Rice Athletics.
    Become a Patron!
  • Rice Football opponent rankings
    • Which teams on the Owls’ schedule should Rice have the greatest confidence against?
    • UTEP is NOT the easiest game on the schedule this year
    • The Owls’ toughest opponent might not technically be on the schedule just yet
  • Rice Football positional rankings
    • The defense is ahead of the offense, but one offensive position group is near the top of the list
    • What’s most important? Top end talent or having plenty of depth
    • Unknowns at quarterback remain a quandary until we see it on the field.

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