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Rice Football: Outlook on 2020 schedule

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The 2020 Rice Football schedule remains in flux with the season scheduled to begin sometime over the course of the next several weeks.

Last week, Rice Football was slated to begin its 2020 season against Lamar. On Friday that game was canceled. The Rice game was the only remaining opponent on Lamar’s fall athletic calendar, adding to the pressure to cancel on Lamar’s side of things.

Rice had the chance to postpone or cancel the game two weeks ago when they delayed the start of their season. At that time, they chose not to. Aligning their start date with the SEC and allowing for more time was a strategic decision. Rice will have the benefit of watching other conferences go first and seeing how their seasons progress.

How the rest of the schedule plays out remains to be seen. Rice was earnest in their desire to reschedule both of their postponed games, including a contest against Army and the Bayou Bucket against Houston.

Army is open on Sept. 26, but the Black Knights released an updated 11-game schedule on Monday without the Owls on it. If a game between the two schools were to be announced, that would have been the time to do so.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our 2020 Rice Football offense and defense previews

The omission of Rice from that schedule along with other conversations I’ve had over the past week indicates Rice won’t replace the open date from the Lamar cancellation with Army. Instead, Rice will plan to start its season on Oct. 3, adding another week of buffer to the front end of the schedule.

From there, it’s possible things could change further still.

Rice is slated to play Marshall on Oct. 3, but there remains some optimism Conference USA could assist in scheduling should more flexibility be needed.

If this were a traditional year, Conference USA would have released their television schedule months ago. The conference still hasn’t announced tv dates, in part, to preserve some wiggle room should it be required. The hope on that front would be that Rice could find a time and get Houston back on the schedule this year.

The Cougars play BYU during the Owls current bye week, but could be slotted into another should the right opportunities arrive.

The situation remains fluid. At this time, Rice has eight conference games on their schedule. There is a small chance schedules will align to allow Rice to play Houston in 2020. A game against Army doesn’t appear to be in the cards, at least not as the Owls opener. Playing the remaining eight games as-is would be the most likely scenario. Of course, that’s assuming any football is played this fall at all.

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Rice Baseball: 2020 Summer Ball end of season roundup

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Current, former and incoming Rice baseball players played in Summer Ball leagues around the country. Here’s what we learned this summer.

Summer seasons are finished. Rice baseball players across the country are headed back home after varied results over the past several months. Here are three takeaways from the summer with the final stats in the books.

1. The incoming hitters are going to fight for at bats soon

Rice baseball hit .260 in their truncated 2019 season, 10th best in Conference USA. With Trei Cruz off to the MLB, finding players ready and able to produce at the plate was an essential task this offseason. Head coach Matt Bragga did his part, bringing in some important transfers as well as promising young freshmen.

Nathan Becker and Guy Garibay, both members of the incoming 2020 Rice baseball recruiting class, led the way for the Owls at the plate this summer.

Becker finished with a final slash line of .404 / .448 / .635 and an OPS of 1.083. He had 21 hits in 19 games, seven of which went for extra bases. And he did all that while only striking out nine times in 58 plate appearances. He has power and good plate discipline.

Garibay’s numbers dipped a bit at the end of the season, but his impressive final line gives a pretty good indication of just how good he was. He ended the summer slashing .318 / .444 / .614 with a 1.058 OPS.

Of the other Owls we did get final numbers for, none posted an OPS above .650. A cursory look at the current abbreviated major league season reminds us not to overreact to 20 game samples. But it’s worth noting. If either Becker or Garibary can be anywhere near that consistent at the collegiate level, the Rice offense is going to tick upward during their tenure.

2. Quiet summers from fringe bats

Assuming Rice is able to bring back the majority of their upperclassmen-laden lineup and combine it with those young hitters, at bats could come at a premium in 2020. Veterans like Austin Bulman, Cade Edwards and Braden Comeaux don’t have much to worry about. Others like Dominic Cox, Aaron Beaulaurier and Justin Dunlap will have some added pressure this offseason.

Cox, along with infielder Brayden Combs and catchers Cullen Hanigan and Eric Benitez will be among the players competing for those at bats outside the top half of the order. A slow summer won’t doom them, but it’s worth noting that each played at least 10 games and none hit better than .200.

Fall camp and the offseason training program will play much larger roles in determining where all four of those guys fit in the fight for playing time, so it’s important not to read too much into a rather chaotic summer. But the missed opportunities are worth paying attention to, especially with others maximizing their chances.

3. Cautiously optimistic about returning arms

Rice is expected to lose Ben Content as a transfer this offseason. His dazzling 0.00 ERA was clear evidence he’s recovered and is ready to pitch at a high level.

Of the arms Rice will get back next season, several had promising outings this summer. Brand Deskins and AC Plum pitched particularly well. Deskin finished with a 1.08 ERA in 8.1 innings, averaging 21.1 strikeouts per nine innings. He was absolutely phenomenal.

Plum didn’t finish with a remarkable stat line, but pitched well prior to his final outing of the summer. Through his first eight appearances, Plum had a 2.31 ERA with 17 strikeouts and only six hits allowed in 11.2 innings. His 13 walks across that span is a bit concerning, and it caught up to him when he walked seven in two-thirds of an inning to end his summer on a low note. The total body of work, though, was largely positive.

Garrett Zaskoda and Mitchell Holcomb each posted ERAs of 2.70.

Hitting Stats

Pitching Stats

*All stats as of Aug 23 taken from league and team websites. Not all players listed have complete stats and some have no official stats listed at all.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 47 – 2020 Rice Football Season Outlook and COVID-19 updates

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The 2020 Rice Football season has been pushed back. This week’s edition of The Roost Podcast focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on the sport as a whole.

It seemed like no sooner had we hit stop on the Rice Football Offense and Defense Preview shows than did something change. The Owls lost a projected starter in the secondary to the Transfer Portal this week. Carter and Matthew walked through the impact that will have on the team this season before opening things up for a more far-reaching discussion concerning the state of college football.

Conferences are beginning to draw up plans for a spring season. The Big Ten is fighting through PR disasters and the NCAA is working to clear up eligibility questions for athletes, some of which are scheduled to compete in the next few weeks.

The duo wrapped everything up with a Rice football-inspired game.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 47.

Episode 47 Notes

  • Housekeeping — We hit on some takeaways from spring practice in this episode. You can find previous (and future) practice reports and all our recruiting updates on our Premium page, reserved for our Patreon subscribers. Make sure you hit the button and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s happening behind the scenes. As always, thanks to all of you who have followed the show on Twitter and left a review on iTunes. It’s quick, but it makes a difference.

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  • Rice/COVID-19 Updates
    • Starting corner Tyrae Thornton entered the Transfer Portal: How does that impact the Owls and what can Rice expect in the secondary without him?
    • SWAC puts out a spring schedule: Big Ten making plans for a possible January start.
    • NCAA weighing eligibility ruling: Proposition would allow all athletes an extra year of eligibility regardless of how many games they play in the 2020-2021 academic year.
  • Looking ahead at the future of Rice football game
    • Carter and Matthew debated the future of the program in a fun game
    • The rules were simple: What’s more likely to happen?
Blaze Alldredge wins C-USA Defensive MVP Rice has the No. 1 run defense in C-USA
Mike Collins has multiple 300yd passing games Someone other than Juma leads team in rushing TDs
Two Rice WRs surpass 1,000 yards Rice finishes +10 in turnover margin
Rice makes the C-USA title game Rice goes below .500 in Conference play
Rice signs the No. 1 recruiting class in C-USA Rice beats a P5 non-conference opponent
Rice wins a conference title in football first Rice wins a conference title in baseball first
Rice finds a multi-year starter at QB Rice has a player Drafted in Top 3 rounds of NFL Draft

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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BREAKING: Rice Football vs Lamar canceled

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Rice football won’t open its season against Lamar after all. The two programs have agreed to cancel their game.

The Southland Conference announced the cancelation of its 2020 fall football season last week, leaving the possibility for non-conference play up to each member institution. At that time, Rice was the only remaining opponent on the Lamar schedule. That game has since been canceled.

In a release from the university, Lamar announced the decision: “Lamar University and Rice have agreed to cancel their football game, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, in Houston.”

On July 30, Rice football lost its first game. The SEC’s decision to move to a conference-only scheduled put an end to a scheduled matchup with LSU. Rice then made the move to delay games against Houston and Army, buying themselves three more weeks of runway before their season began.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

The cancellation of the Lamar contest leaves Rice without any non-conference games on their schedule. Rice Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard indicated the door was still open for Rice to add a non-conference game to their schedule if the logistics made sense. That additional opponent would almost certainly be Army or Houston.

Rice currently has an open date on October 17. Army’s previously scheduled game against Eastern Michigan was canceled, making the Black Knights available that weekend. Houston is scheduled to take on BYU in Provo, UT on that Friday, October 16th.

There’s plenty of time between now and October. Rice has football games to play before they have to act on the possibility of filling that open week. For the time being, Rice has eight conference games on the schedule and that’s it.

Rice football is now tentatively set to open the 2020 season on the road at Marshall on October 3. The Owls’ home opener would be the week later against UAB on October 10.

Whether there is football this fall or not, there’s going to be plenty to process as everyone works to find a new equilibrium in college sports. Stay current on those updates and following the always-active recruiting cycle by subscribing to The Roost on Patreon today.

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Rice Baseball: 2020 MLB Owls update – August 20

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The 2020 MLB season is in full swing and Rice baseball alums are having great years. Here’s the latest from the MLB Owls from this week.

Jon Duplantier is in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ player pool but is currently rehabbing. There hasn’t been a clear indication yet as to when he might rejoin the team. Here are updates on the three former Rice baseball alums currently active.

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

It took Rendon a while to get going, but once he was on, the balls went flying off his bat. From August 10 to August 16, a span of six games, Rendon launched five home runs and tallied seven RBI. His OPS during that stretch was an unbelievable 1.738. Somehow the Angels managed to go 2-4 during those games, but his work with the bat was not to blame.

Through August 20, Rendon is hitting .289 with 10 extra-base hits, 20 walks and 18 strikeouts. His OPS is 1.028.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

It’s been a phenomenal start to the 2920 season for Tyler Duffey, and his rapid ascent has not gone unnoticed. National outlets are picking up his feel-good story, including The Athletic ($) who published an excellent feature on the former Rice baseball hurler’s journey up til now.

The story is worth reading, but this quote from manager Rocco Baldelli sums it up quite nicely:

“He went out there and made incredible adjustments … and turned himself into one of the best relievers in the game.”

This week, Duffey gave up his first run in his tenth inning of work.

Through August 20, Duffey has a 0.90 ERA with a .500 WHIP. He’s averaging 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

Brock Holt – Milwaukee Brewers

Widely regarded as the kind of guy you want to have in your clubhouse, Holt seems to be making the best of a tough start at the plate. So far this season there have been snippets of him lifting up his teammates and having a good laugh in the midst of the challenging first few weeks.

For one, here’s his reaction after grounding into a double play this past week.

Through August 20, Holt has three hits in 27 at bats. He has three walks and nine strikeouts.

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