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This week in CUSA – Looking ahead at Week 4

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Rice football was off in Week 3. How did the rest of the conference fare and what’s next for the Conference USA football in Week 4?

Team Last Week Result This Week
Charlotte vs Old Dominion W, 28-25  @ UMass
FAU OFF  —  @ UCF
FIU vs UMass W, 63-24  @ Miami
LaTech OFF  —  @ LSU
Marshall CANCELED  —  vs NC State
MTSU vs Georgia W, 49-7  OFF
North Texas @ Arkansas W, 44-17  @ Liberty
ODU @ Charlotte L, 28-25  vs Virginia Tech
Rice OFF  —  @ Southern Miss
Southern Miss CANCELED  —  vs Rice
UAB vs Tulane W, 31-24  OFF
UTEP @ Tennessee L, 24-0  OFF
UTSA @ Kansas State L, 41-17  vs Texas State
WKU @ Louisville L, 20-17  @ Ball State

Notable Week 3 results

Rain, rain go away

Two CUSA games were postponed without any rescheduled date courtesy of the impending impact of Hurricane Florence. Marshall’s trip to South Carolina and Southern Miss’ game at App. State did not happen. Add three scheduled bye weeks to that mix and there wasn’t much CUSA football played this weekend.

People are starting to notice North Texas

A blowout win over an SEC team on the road is a good way to get noticed. North Texas earned votes in the AP Poll following their Week 3 win over Arkansas and figured to continue climbing if they can take care of business in their next several games. On paper, the Razorbacks were the toughest opponent this team was supposed to face this season.

UTEP didn’t get blown out

As for other CUSA teams that took on SEC foes in Week 3, UTEP’s defense faired surprisingly well against the Tennessee Volunteers. The offense was completely shut out, but the 24-0 deficit was well within the 33.5 point spread.

Week 4 storylines

Opportunities aplenty for statement wins

Four CUSA teams play ranked opponents in Week 4. FAU visits No. 16 UCF on Friday night, No. 13 Virginia Tech travels to Old Dominion, FIU plays at No. 21 Miami and No. 6 LSU hosts Louisiana Tech. Any wins in those games would raise eyebrows across the nation.

Can Rice bounce back?

The Owls have had their ups and downs this season, but the sentiment at South Main remains largely positive. A win over Southern Miss would bring Rice back to .500 and give their hopes of a bowl berth renewed life. It’s not a “must win” by any means, but it would be a positive indicator that the rebuild is on schedule.

Does Marshall have the best chance to knock off a Power 5 team?

The encore to North Texas’ win over Arkansas could come from CUSA East in Week 4. Marshall takes on 2-0 NC State in a game that projects to be closer than meets the eye. These are two similar programs that don’t run the ball very well and will try to air it out often. The line opened at NCST +4 and has moved up to 6.5.

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Stock up, stock down for Owls’ remaining 2018 opponents

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Conference USA football is off to a strong start. Here’s how Rice football’s future opponents are trending through Week 3 of the 2018 season.

Stock Down – Southern Miss (1-1)

Results (1-1): vs Jackson State (W), vs UL-Monroe (L)

Rice’s next opponent had their Week 3 game against Appalachian State canceled because of Hurricane Florence.  There only two previous games didn’t exactly inspire confidence in the Eagles. Formerly suspended quarterback Kwadre Griggs will be active for this game, but it’s still unclear how much playing time he’ll get. That’s a lot of question marks.

Stock Up – Wake Forest (2-1)

Results: @ Tulane (W), vs Towson (W), vs Boston College (L)

Wake Forest had a long list of departures to replace this fall including a few key pieces in the secondary and their starting quarterback. In place of John Wolford, Sam Hartman has been serviceable, completing 55.3 percent of his passes and averaging 278 yards and two touchdown passes per game. Their only loss of the season came against a potent BC offense and the Demon Deacons took them down to the wire.

Stock Even – UTSA (0-3)

Results: @ Arizona St (L), vs Baylor (L), @ Kansas St (L)

UTSA deserves some credit for daring to do something no other Conference USA squad did this year, play three Power 5 opponents in their first three games. UTSA lost all three games, but the testing they received to start their seasons will pay dividends down the road. A win would have been nice, but there’s no reason for the Roadrunners to be too concerned about their season quite yet.

Stock Up  – UAB (2-1)

Results: vs Savannah St (W), @ Coastal Carolina (L), vs Tulane (W)

UAB captured the hearts of the nation in their recent return to football. Removed from that fresh jolt, the Blazers have been up and down. This was one of the toughest teams to peg entering the year, and they’ve held their own through three games. Spencer Brown is becoming a workhorse on the ground, coming near 300 yards rushing with two scores so far this season.

Stock Up – FIU (1-1)

Results: vs Indiana (L), @ Old Dominion (W), vs UMass (W)

Butch Davis has built some sturdy program over his varied stops, and FIU is becoming one more feather in his cap. The Panthers gave Indiana a run for their money and continue to present opponents with a balanced offensive attack led by quarterback James Morgan and stable of capable running backs. This team is ahead of schedule.

Stock Up – North Texas (3-0)

Results: vs SMU (W), vs Incarnate Word (W), @ Arkansas (W)

The arm of Mason Fine is among the best in Conference USA. He took his gunslinging talents on the road to Arkansas and threw it all over an SEC defense. Arkansas isn’t the cream of the crop in their conference, but they’re still a talented team. Nobody has been able to keep up with the Mean Green so far.

Stock Even – UTEP (0-3)

Results: vs Northern Arizona (L), @ UNLV (L), @ Tennessee (L)

There’s not much more to see here. UTEP was expected to be bad this season and they’re started out the year with losses to NAU, UNLV and Tennessee. The schedule doesn’t get easier with Conference play starting soon, and that could make for another frustrating year for the Miners and their fans.

Stock Up  – Louisiana Tech (2-0)

Results: @ South Alabama (W), vs Southern (W)

It’s hard to start better than undefeated. Louisiana Tech has taken care of business, but the schedule is about to get a lot more challenging. Road trips to LSU and North Texas in the next two weeks make it hard to get too excited, but watching their host of big-play receivers go deep is plenty of fun for the time being.

Stock Up  – LSU (3-0)

Results: vs Miami (W), vs SE Louisiana (W), @ Auburn (W)

There isn’t a team in the entire nation with a better resume right now than the LSU Tigers. After blowing out Miami in Week 1 the Tigers came from behind to take down Auburn in Week 3. An elite defensive unit with enough quarterback play from Joe Burrow has turned this team into an unexpected force in the SEC.

Stock Down – Old Dominion (0-3)

Results: @ Liberty (W), vs FIU (L), @ Charlotte (L)

Liberty is in its first year as an FBS program. Charlotte is projected to finish near the bottom of the CUSA East. The FIU loss isn’t too egregious, but the body of work does not look impressive in the slightest. Old Dominion has some time to turn things around, but the early returns aren’t very promising.

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2019 PF Zach Crisler commits to Owls

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The 2019 Rice basketball recruiting class picked up a big commitment, adding power forward Zach Crisler from LaSalle College to the fold.

The football program has been busy adding to their numbers this fall, but Rice basketball is busy on the recruiting trail too. The Owls picked up a commitment from preferred walk-on Ben Moffat in August. Now they have their first scholarship commitment — Zach Crisler has verbally committed to the Owls.

Crisler is 6-foot-9, 205 pounds. The stretch forward will be a weapon on both ends of the floor for the Owls. He averaged more than 10 points per game in his junior season and continues to improve his skills on the offensive glass.

The power forward from LaSalle College in Pennsylvania picked Rice over offers from Penn State, TCU, Columbia, St. Joe’s and others. Landing a player of Crisler’s caliber out of the northeast is one thing, but beating out a pair of Power 5 programs is even more significant. TCU was in the NCAA Tournament last season and Penn State was on the bubble before winning the 2018 NIT.

As things currently stand, Crisler would be one of the higher rated recruits that Scott Pera has ever landed. Bringing him into the fold, plus Moffat and a few additional signees could make for an impressive 2019 class. Crisler alone is a good start, and his commitment has made an impact on where the Owls stand in the 2019 ranks.

Crisler pushes the Owls up to No. 2 in the Conference USA recruiting rankings. UTSA, Rice and Charlotte each have one three-star recruit in the fold with the Roadrunners’ commit rating slightly higher than the Owls’ new addition. It’s early in the race for all of these schools, but Rice is currently playing from the front.

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Owls hand out flurry of new 2019 offers

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Rice football extended a few new offers during the Owls’ bye week. Here’s a bit more on a few new names to know in the 2019 class.

With the recent decommitment of corner Gabe Jeudy, some good news on the recruiting front would be more than welcome for the Owls. That news comes in the form of a few new offers that went out this week.

WR Tyler Hudson – Klein Oak

Few have started their senior seasons as well as Hudson, a 3-star recruit per 247 Sports. In his first two games he caught 18 passes for 231 yards and four touchdowns. He returned a punt for a score and picked up 24 yards on his lone carry of the year. He averaged just over 17 yards per catch as a junior and continues to be a deep threat for the Panthers.

Finding someone else that can make plays on the ball on the outside is still a need in the Rice offense. Brendan Harmon is continuing to develop as a redzone threat, but the depth behind him and Aaron Cephus is lacking. Hudson would be an excellent addition.

WR Keshunn Abram – Northwest (LA)

Another big play threat, JUCO wideout Keshunn Abram is an interesting target. The Owls are in early on Abram, who doesn’t appear to have any other D1 offers so far. In two games so far this season he’s tallied seven catches for 167 yards with one touchdown.

Someone that can take the top off the defense is an important piece for the “Stanford offense”. Right now the Owls have some shifty guys, but they could benefit from a more polished college pass catcher that can stretch the field.

OL Alec Bank – Tesoro (CA)

Adding size up front continues to be a focal point for this staff. Alec Bank tips the scales at 265 pounds and stands 6-foot-4. Rice has done a good job building depth in the 2019 class from inside the state of Texas and out of state. Blake is one of their out of state offers, and recruiters don’t get on a plane and fly to the west coast for someone they aren’t keenly interested in.

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Early season grades for the Special Teams entering the bye week

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Rice football is three games into the 2018 season. Here’s how the Owls’ special teams grade out entering the Owls’ bye in Week 3.

Punting: A+

First off, Jack Fox is a stud. Mike Bloomgren has been saying it all season, and it certainly is worth repeating. Fox’s impact on the Owls this season is hard to quantify, but the Ray Guy watchlist candidate has blasted 14 punts so far with only one rolling into the endzone for a touchback.

The value Fox provides to this team was made crystal clear in the fourth quarter against Hawaii. With the Owls trailing 28-22, a Rice drive stalled out on the 35-yard line. Next, Fox boomed a 64-yard punt all the way to the Hawaii 1-yard line. The defense had already forced a safety on the 1-yard line earlier in the game, putting the momentum squarely in the Owls’ favor. In that instance, the defense faltered and surrendered the winning touchdown. Nevertheless, Fox did his job — and then some.

Fox’s 45.0 net punting mark is tied for the sixth-best in the nation. He’s the only CUSA punter inside the top 15 in that metric and will be a weapon for the Owls as they enter conference play.

Kicking:  B

Mike Bloomgren is traditional as far as college football goes in several ways. His approach to the kicking game is not one of them. Fox can drill the ball from deep, that’s not secret, but rather than give him exclusive work as the team’s primary punter and kicker, Rice has employed a tandem field goal crew.

According to the analytics, the team gathered this offseason, Hayden Tabola is more accurate from the right hash at closer ranges. Bloomgren has said he’ll trust Fox with anything longer than 45-yards out, but he’s going to continue to give Tabola work in those situations. Against

The Houston game was the only real blemish on this duo. Fox missed two long kicks and Tabola failed to convert one of his tries. That left nine points on the board in a game that was within one score midway through the fourth quarter. Together, Rice is 7-of-11 in their field goals, which is right around the national average. Considering the amount of talent this duo has, the results will be expected to trend upwards in the next portion of the season.

Punt and Kickoff Returns Defense: A+

The efficiency of the return defense speaks is quite literally second to none. Rice has allowed one punt to returned this season, and the return man lost two yards. The punt return unit also has a fumble recovery to their credit, courtesy of a long blast off the foot of Fox that Houston return man Bryson Smith wasn’t able to haul in.

The defense on kickoff returns has been nearly as impressive. Rice ranks 24th in the nation in that metric, allowing 15.7 yards per kickoff. When you have Fox drilling balls to the edge of the endzone, a 15-yard return isn’t all that impressive and usually sets the Owls’ opponents up for mediocre field position at best.

Punt and Kickoff Returns: B-

Where the Owls do stand to improve is their own return game. Rice has only had the chance to return two punts, and collectively netted -2 yards on those opportunities. There hasn’t been space created by the return unit to give their playmakers the chance to make plays. Austin Trammell, the team’s primary punt returner has the elusiveness to get downfield. He just needs to be given the chance.

Kickoff returns have been a different story. Through two games the Owls were doing well in this aspect of special teams, but Austin Walter helped elevate this grade with a tremendous outing against Hawaii. The Owls gave up some points against the Rainbow Warriors, but the kick return unit spotted the offense excellent field position. Walter averaged 29.4 yards per return that game with a long of 46 yards.

What do you think? How would you grade each position group, and why? Leave your answer in the comments.
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