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Conference USA Football 2020: Week 12 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 12.

Team Week 12 Result Week 13
Charlotte at Marshall PPD vs WKU
FAU vs UMass W, 24-2 at MTSU
FIU at WKU L, 38-21 vs LA Tech
LA Tech vs UL Monroe PPD at FIU
Marshall vs Charlotte PPD — OFF —
MTSU at Troy W, 20-17 vs FAU
North Texas vs Rice W, 27-17 at UTSA
Rice at North Texas L, 27-17 vs UTEP
Southern Miss vs UTSA L, 23-20 at UAB
UAB UTEP PPD vs Southern Miss
UTEP UAB PPD at Rice
UTSA at Southern Miss W, 23-20 vs North Texas
WKU vs FIU W, 38-21 at Charlotte

Notable Week 12 results – Standings

UTSA on top

After 12 weeks of the season, UTSA sits atop Conference USA West with a 4-2 record and six total wins. They’re tied with UAB with a .667 winning percentage with the Blazers holding the tiebreaker. Even if the Roadrunners lose their top spot when UAB gets back on the field or someone else catches up with them, it’s worth recognizing the strong start to Jeff Traylor’s tenure in San Antonio.

Late-season surge?

Middle Tennessee lost their first four games, two of which came early on in the season with more eyeballs on them than usual. Any expectations quickly dissipated. Since then, MTSU has won three of their last five with losses to North Texas and presumptive C-USA East front-runner Marshall. Their Week 12 win over Troy was proof of their turnaround. This same MTSU team lost to that Troy team 47-14 at home in Week 2 before turning around and beating them on the road this weekend.

Threepeat

Postponements are becoming the norm for this season and Conference USA isn’t immune.  Three more games involving C-USA teams were postponed this week, with the non-conference matchup between Louisiana Tech and Louisiana Monroe being canceled outright with the calendar running short of open weekends. The full list of C-USA postponements is available here.

Week 13 storylines

They’re back?

Louisiana Tech and UAB played a contentious overtime thriller on Halloween night. Neither program has taken the field since in today’s postponement-plagued reality. Both are scheduled to take the field after Thanksgiving … assuming there aren’t any hiccups before then. UAB is to host Southern Miss. Louisiana Tech will travel to FIU.

Searching for seven

Following a win over Southern Miss this weekend, the Roadrunners have a chance to do something they haven’t done since 2013, their inaugural C-USA season — win at least seven games. Frank Willson reached the six-win plateau twice but never climbed above it. Given the circumstances, what first-time head coach Jeff Traylor has done in San Antonio is rather remarkable.

Not done yet

A string of postponements and an early loss to Marshall has pulled the spotlight away from FAU, but the Owls have responded well. They’ve won four in a row and will likely be favored in their three remaining games against Middle Tennessee, Georgia Southern and Southern Miss. Marshall remains in the driver’s seat in the East by virtue of the head-to-head win, but FAU isn’t out of the picture just yet.

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Rice Football: Owls fall flat in loss to North Texas

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Rice Football started fast and faded just as quickly as the Owls drop to 1-2 on the season following a road loss to North Texas.

Expectations were high when Rice football finally returned to the gridiron after a two-week delay. The Owls had suffered consecutive postponements following an uplifting 30-6 win at Southern Miss, snuffing out any momentum the Owls could have hoped to carry into their game against North Texas.

Rice came out strong and faded fast, resulting in a humbling road loss to North Texas. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game.

Messy, messy, messy

Rice fumbled FOUR times in the first half. That’s an inexcusable turnover count for a full game, let alone the first 30 minutes of action. The mistakes turned what looked to be a runaway day for the Rice offense into an ugly slugfest against what began as a flailing North Texas attack.

The Owls’ lost one fumble in the redzone. Soon after, Mike Collins put a ball behind Jake Bailey in the endzone on fourth down. If he throws that in front of Bailey, it’s a 17-0 Rice lead. Instead, North Texas takes over and a 66-yard Jason Bean touchdown run cuts the Rice lead to 10-7. Turnovers plus turnovers on downs put Rice in a bad spot.

The muffed punt was the third instance of the usually sharp Rice special teams unit turning it over in the Owls’ first three games. North Texas fired a line-drive ball toward Austin Trammell, who was hit immediately upon fielding the ball, almost as if he didn’t expect the quick contact. Again, North Texas capitalized, with a go-ahead touchdown on the ensuing possession.

The offense has looked good. But if they can’t eliminate the self-inflicted mistakes, it’s not going to matter. That goes for the special teams too, who saw an 80+ yard punt return touchdown called back by an uncharacteristic penalty.

The offensive line meets its match

Through their first two games, the Rice offensive line had played extremely well. Ball carriers weren’t getting hit in the backfield and Mike Collins was given clean pockets to work. There were plenty of instances of those things against North Texas, but the frequency of open spaces significantly lessened.

North Texas defensive tackle Dion Novil was a monster. His power on the interior of the line seemed to catch the Owls off guard. He routinely impacted Collins in the pocket, highlighted by an impressive sequence at the end of the first half. He pushed the center into Collins on the second-to-last play of the game to force a hurried throw. Novil then followed up with an unblocked sack on the following play to end the half.

Rice has held up well against powerful interior rushers before. They’ve seen plenty over the past several seasons. They were just flat out beat up front. That left Rice throwing into pressure against a shallow zone all day.

The secondary is going to be alright

Rice received good news this week with the return of Kirk Lockhart, Treshawn Chamberlain, and Andrew Bird. Adding the extra experience was a huge boost to a unit that had been up and down to start the season.

The Owls needed all their reinforcements, and then some. Starting corner Tre’shon Devones was not on the field to start the second half.

When Miles McCord was being attended to on the sideline following a diving attempt, reserve corner Chris Boudreaux, who converted from wide receiver, was forced into the game in the redzone. Naturally, the ball was quickly thrown his way, but he held his ground and helped Rice force a quick field goal. McCord and Bird were both on the field to finish the game.

Not silent, but flat

The Rice offense had been dynamite early on this season. Rice entered the North Texas game coming off back-to-back 30+ point performances. It seemed clear that the offense was better than it had been in the past, but it was hard to christen them good without at least one more game of data.

They came out sharp against North Texas, but mistakes and the shaky performance on the offensive line proved this unit still has some work to do before they make the jump. This touchdown from Collins to Trammell proved how good the unit can be when they’re clicking:

But the inability to solve the North Texas defense proved more troublesome. After the Owls’ hot start, North Texas deployed basically the same scheme. They kept defenders near the box, crashing the line on run plays and dropping them into a zone if the Owls passed. Rice wasn’t able to solve that wrinkle, and they paid for it dearly.

The blueprint is out now for the rest of Conference USA. Rice is going to see this defensive style deployed against them again. They’ll have to be ready.

Digging deeper

Every week we’ll have a stat, storyline or key learning from the game reserved for our subscribers.

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Rice Football: 2021 WR Jayden Folmar commits to Owls

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Bolstering the receiving corps was a priority for the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class. New commit Jayden Folmar will do just that.

Adding playmakers has always been a priority for Rice football on the recruiting trail. The Owls already had a few pass-catchers in the fold in their 2021 class, but they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add another. New Dothan wide receiver Jayden Folmar has committed to the Owls.

The Owls were the first non-military program to program to extend him an offer. Folmar chose the Owls over offers from Air Force and Army. He is the fourth commit in the 2021 Rice football recruiting class from the state of Alabama and the second wide receiver. He joins fellow wideout Peyton Stevenson as well as safeties Marcus Williams and Joshua Williams from the Yellowhammer State.

Once he had his offer, it didn’t take him long to pull the trigger. His commitment came less than 24 hours after he received his offer. The trend of quick decisions isn’t new. Folmar is the third member of the current class to make his decision within a week, joining offensive lineman Ethan Onianwa and safety Joshua Williams.

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Folmar hasn’t received a rating from 247 Sports as of yet, but his addition will bolster a recruiting class that already ranks inside the top 100 nationally and fourth-best in Conference USA. Rice remains on pace for another big year on the recruiting front.

Folmar has an impressive combination of vertical ability and reliable hands. the 6-foot-1 wideout can high point the football and will be a threat on the outside for the Owls for years to come. For a bigger guy, he’s pretty fleet of foot, too. He can make a move on the edge and burst downfield while maintaining the focus necessary to make catches in traffic.

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Rice Football Practice Notes 2020: What to look for after the off weeks

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Rice football has suffered back-to-back postponements. The bulk of the schemes will be the same, but improvements have been made over the last two weeks.

A lot can change in three weeks. That was true of Rice football from the start to end of fall camp. Players came in and out of the lineup, adjustments were made. This time Rice has the added benefit of live reps as a baseline.

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To be clear, I don’t expect seismic change when Rice takes the field next (hopefully on Saturday against North Texas). But there have been a few things over the last few weeks of practice that should look different, most of them for the better.

A breakout from the trenches

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 61 – Rice Football vs North Texas Preview

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Following two consecutive postponements, Carter and Matthew and look ahead at Rice football’s upcoming game against North Texas.

After playing two games, Rice football has suffered two consecutive postponements. The most recent lost game, which we reference briefly on this podcast, came against Louisiana Tech. The Owls will hope for better fortune this coming weekend against North Texas.

Carter and Matthew walkthrough the schedule as it’s current constructed and what contingencies are left for Rice. Then they look ahead at the game against North Texas and break down how Rice matches up with the Mean Green.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 61.

Episode 61 Notes

  • Housekeeping — Don’t miss this opportunity to subscribe on Patreon. You’ll get practice reports, film room sessions, recruiting news and the latest analysis and updates on all things relating to Rice Athletics.
    Become a Patron!
  • Conference USA news and notes
    • Three C-USA games postponed already for the upcoming weekend
    • Rice and C-USA are running out of open dates for postponed games
  • Rice Football vs LA Tech postponed
    • Rice has now lost games against LA Tech and UTSA
    • Second postponement from a Rice opponent since the season began
    • Decision was announced on Thursday before the game
    • No clear indication on rescheduling plan
  • Rice Football vs North Texas game preview
    • More on Jason Bean, the presumed starter, in this week’s film room
    • Jaelon Darden leads the nation in touchdown receptions, despite only playing five games
    • North Texas run defense is attrocious. Could this be a breakout spot for Juma Otoviano or Khalan Griffin?

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