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Owls in the NFL – Week 17

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Rice football has nine alumni currently active on NFL rosters. Here’s how the NFL Owls fared in their respective Week 17 games.

Chris Boswell, K (Steelers) – Boswell missed the Steelers 2018 regular season finale with a groin injury. His replacement, Matt McCrane connected on all three of his field goal attempt and an extra point, accounting for 10 of the Steelers’ 16 points in their win over the Bengals. Pittsburgh missed the Playoffs.

Bryce Callahan, CB (Bears) – Callahan was placed on injured reserve after breaking a bone in his foot against the Los Angeles Rams. The Bears defeating the Minnesota Vikings in Week 17 and will host the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the Wildcard Round.

Christian Covington, DE (Texans) – Covington was credited with one tackle and one quarterback hit in the Texans’ Week 17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Next week the Texans host the Colts in the Wild Card Round.

Phillip Gaines, CB (Browns) – Gaines missed the last four games of the Browns’ season with an injury. The Browns lost their Week 17 game to the Ravens.

Vance McDonald, TE (Steelers) – McDonald was targeted six times in the Steelers’ Week 17 loss. He caught three of those passes for 39 yards including a long of 22-yards, Pittsburgh’s second-longest reception of the day. McDonald caught 50 passes for 610 yards and four touchdowns this season, all career bests.

Andrew Sendejo, S (Vikings) – Placed on injured reserve after missing extended time following a groin injury. The Vikings’ missed the Playoffs.

Jordan Taylor, WR (Broncos) – On the PUP list following off-season surgery. The Broncos missed the Playoffs and have since fired head coach Vance Joseph.

Luke Wilson, TE (Lions) – Wilson missed the Lions’ final game of the regular season. His season ends with 13 receptions for 87 yards. This was the first season of his professional career in which he did not record at least one touchdown.

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Rice Football: 3 Resolutions for 2019

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Rice football made encouraging progress in 2018 in the first year under Mike Bloomgren. Here are three resolutions for the Owls on the gridiron in 2019.

1. To finish off another strong recruiting class

When asked about his 2018 recruiting class in fall camp head coach Mike Bloomgren said he didn’t think there was a miss in the group. On one hand, that feels a lot like coachspeak, but after seeing the season play out how it did, he might be right.

Rice’s depth chart will be filled with underclassmen again this year, but there’s still plenty of room for impact players at the right positions. The Owls signed 17 players in the early signing period. They still have room for several more before the 2019 class is in the books.

2. To not have to play the backup backup backup backup quarterback

Injuries are a part of every football season, but few seasons play out as unfortunate on the injury front as the Owls’ 2018 campaign. Rice lost Shawn Stankavage and Evan Marshman to injury during the year. Jackson Tyner and Sam Glaesmann were bumped down the depth chart for performance and scheme considerations leaving freshman Wiley Green as the next man up when “next man up” was called against FIU.

Entering 2019, Green and Marshman will battle it out for the starting position. Green is probably the frontrunner at this point, but regardless who takes the first snap of the season, Rice would like to not have to find their next starter working with the scout team at the start of the New Year.

3. To win more games

At risk of stating the obvious, the end goal of this game is to win. Rice tallied two victories in 2018, bookending their season with wins over Prairie View and Old Dominion. Two wins is the new floor for the Owls in 2019 and Mike Bloomgren himself said “we will not put a ceiling on this team at any point… what we will do is talk about how we’re going to work.”

The “process” has been talked about for a full year at South Main. 2019 will be Year 2. It won’t be the finished product by any means, but the wheels have been turning long enough for the results to start flowing and they will. Rice had close calls in games against Houston, Hawaii, North Texas and UTEP, among others. If the Owls play more complete games in 2019 the wins will come.

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WBB: Owls riding high entering conference play

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Rice Women’s basketball finished off a strong non-conference slate and looks forward to CUSA play beginning in the new year.

The Rice Women’s Basketball team began the 2018-2019 season strong, rounding out a 9-3 record in non-conference play with a road win over Incarnate Word on Saturday. The Owls have held serve against the vast majority of their opponents, with their three losses all coming at the hands of quality teams.

Rice lost a pair of mostly competitive games to Texas A&M and UCLA, both NCAA Tournament teams last year, as well as a road contest against a North Carolina squad which could make a postseason bid of their own in March. A win in one of those games would have been big, but the effort the Owls put forth is an encouraging start.

As far as individual efforts go, Erica Ogwumike picked up right where she left off last season. The Owls leading scorer averaged 17.9 points per game last season and has matched the same scoring clip so far this year, averaging 17.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. She’s scored in double-digits in all but one of the Owls’ first 11 games with six double-doubles.

Joining Ogwumike in the everyday lineup has been senior Nicole Iademarco and freshman Jasmine Smith. Lauren Grigsby has been important off the bench, averaging 9.7 points with 15 steals, second most on the team. It’s been a true team effort with 10 players averaging 12 or more minutes per game.

The Owls will get a few days off for the New Year before CUSA play starts with a pair of road trips. They take on Southern Miss on Jan. 3 and Louisiana Tech on Jan. 5 before returning home for their first conference home game on Jan. 10 against UTSA.

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Owls drop Conference USA opener to North Texas

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Rice basketball gave one of the best teams in Conference USA, North Texas, a serious scare before running out of gas in both squad’s first conference game of the season.

With just under five minutes remaining in the first half Rice led the 12-win North Texas Mean Green by 11 points at Tudor Fieldhouse. It seemed like the holiday break had done this team some good and the Owls were clicking on both sides of the ball. Then North Texas ended the half on a 17-1 run, flipping the script and putting Rice in comeback mode. They never recovered.

A five-point deficit widened over the second half. When the final buzzer sounded, Rice had fallen by the final score of 103-87.

Streaky shooting went in favor of the Mean Green in this one. The Owls’ opponent connected on seven of their last eight shots in the first half and five of their first six shots in the second half. Those two runs coincided with 12 consecutive misses from the field for Rice.

Entering the game with a 5-8 record, Rice needed to show they were ready for a tough conference slate. The loss is discouraging, but outside of one bad 10-minute stretch of play, the Owls stood toe-to-toe with one of the conference’s best teams. They’re going to have to play a full 40 minutes if they want to turn those “almosts” into wins, but this was a positive first step.

Player of the game – Robert Martin

Chris Mullins has been the engine who makes this offense go, but his 10-point, four assist effort was overshadowed by Robert Martin’s monster game. In three prior games against North Texas, Martin combined for 12 total points. On Saturday the junior forward had a magic touch. He knocked down 9-of-11 shots and all 12 of his free throw attemps, tallying a career-best 35 points.

Up Next – Southern Miss

Rice stays home for the next conference tilt, hosting Southern Miss (8-5) on Thursday, Jan. 3. Tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m. Southern Miss is coming off their first CUSA game, a loss to Louisiana Tech.

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Rice Athletics 2018: A Year in Review

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Rice athletics produced some memorable moments in 2018. Here’s an overview of how the Owls faired on the court, the field and in the gym over the past year.

Baseball

The Wayne Graham era at South Main came to an end this year. Graham’s 27-season tenure at Rice included 1,173 wins, 23 NCAA Tournament appearances, seven College World Series appearances and one National Championship in 2003. He owns the best winning percentage in school history (.689). Following the season, new head baseball coach Matt Bragga was introduced as the Owls’ next manager.

Basketball (men’s and women’s)

The men have a  roster filled with young players who have fought through growing pains in 2018. The Owls won seven games last season and enter CUSA play with five wins already under their belt.

After making it to the second round of the WNIT last March, the women’s team started strong again in the 2018-2019 season. The squad went 8-3 in non-conference play with one game remaining on Dec. 29 and has aspirations of a CUSA Title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Football

2018 was an important year for Rice football. Mike Bloomgren earned his first win regular season win and first conference win as a head coach against Prairie View and Old Dominion, respectively. Owls’ star running back Trevor Cobb was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The team finished the year by signing 17 players during the early signing period including Jake Bailey, a Top 15 recruit in Conference USA.

Tennis (men’s and women’s)

The women’s team earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, dropping a heartbreaker to Texas A&M in the Austin Regional. The men failed to make the NCAA Tournament, but Eric Rutledge and Sumit Sarkar were awarded All-CUSA First Team honors in doubles. Rutledge was named to the first team for singles. Sarkar was named to the second.

Soccer (women’s)

The team hung in through a tough 2018 campaign. Needing a tie in their final regular season game to clinch a spot in the CUSA Tournament, Rice topped Charlotte in the finale. The Owls finished the regular season at 4-5-1 before a loss in the conference tournament. There were a couple close calls with a 3-0 shutout of Louisiana Tech marking the top performance of the year.

Swimming (women’s)

Rice ended their year with a bang. The Owls finished second out of 31 scoring teams at the CSCAA National Invitational in March. Kaitlyn Swinney broke the school record for the 400-IM at the meet.

Volleyball

It was a banner year for the Owls’ volleyball squad. They set a program-best winning streak, reeling off 15-straight victories on their way to a Conference USA regular season championship. They’d add a CUSA Conference Championship too, thereby securing their fourth NCAA Tournament berth in school history.

Nicole Lennon, Lee Ann Cunningham and Grace Morgan were named to the CUSA First Team while Anota Adekunle and Carly Graham were selected to the CUSA All-Freshman team.

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