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Defense shines, Offense responds in 2024 Rice Football Spring Game

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Rice Football concluded its spring practices with the annual Blue and Gray Spring Game. Here’s what we learned from the exhibition on Saturday.

A productive spring for Rice football wrapped up on Saturday afternoon at Historic Rice Stadium. By score, the offense defeated the defense 48-23, but the real story was a dominant defensive showing by the Owls’ starters with some encouraging moments from some playmakers on both sides and a strong finish by potential starting quarterback EJ Warner. Here’s what we learned on Saturday:

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Defense shines

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Innovation the Focus for New American Athletic Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti

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Newly appointed American Athletic Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti has big dreams and aggressive goals for the conference’s future.

On Thursday, for only the second time in the history of the American Athletic Conference, a new commissioner was introduced. Tim Pernetti, a veteran in the college sports and media industry, offered his opening remarks to the assembled media, consummating a pivotal moment of change for a conference that has been a hallmark of consistency and endurance in its 11-year history to date.

Previously under the leadership of Mike Aresco, who was notably unafraid to challenge mainstream narratives, it became clear rather quickly the American Athletic Conference would maintain its unabashed boldness under its second-ever commissioner.

“The status quo I just don’t think is acceptable any longer,” Pernetti said, remarking about how much college athletics has changed since his days as an athlete and an athletic director. In his eyes, if conferences didn’t do all they could to get with the times, they were going to be left behind.

And to that end, not only was Pernetti emphatic about not falling behind, but he views the American Athletic Conference as an engine for change and leadership, a body that is both able to meet opportunities head-on and willing to swim in those uncertain waters.

From private equity, to sponsorship and naming rights, to further expansion of the College Football Playoff, Pernetti repeated multiple times a resounding refrain: “Nothing is off the table.”

“I do think there’s a window ahead of us to do some things differently,” he said. “And quite frankly, [to] resource this conference in a way where the members don’t need to leave.”

Pernetti touched on all sorts of hot-button issues facing the industry today. Rather than obfuscate, he asked questions. What do we want college athletics to look like in the future? Where does this conference fit into that bigger picture?

Through it all, Pernetti maintained one crystal-clear message. “We want this conference to be known as the most innovative conference in collegiate athletics,” he said. “Innovate is an overused word sometimes, but elevating the enterprise to do things differently, to take big swings and naturally, that’s going to require the same factors, grit, resiliency, taking some chances on some things.

“I’m convinced that the group that hired me into this job is ready to do that and I’m excited about that.”

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Rice Baseball returns to win column with victory over TAMU-CC

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Rice Baseball snapped a lengthy losing streak by emptying the bullpen in a cathartic win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

Jacob Devenney set the tone with a resounding double to right center field, coming around to score two batters later on a single from Treyton Rank who, in turn, scored on a home run from Jack Riedel. In the span of minutes, Rice baseball had opened up a 3-0 lead against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Wednesday night.

The Islanders took advantage of an error to get one run back the following inning against Rice starter Karl Ralamb, who would be lifted when he ran intro trouble in the third frame. In came Davion Hickson who ended the threat, setting the stage for Rank to double in two more runs the following half inning. Staked to a 4-1 lead, Rice turned to its bullpen to get 18 more outs.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball squanders lead vs Incarnate Word

Mark Perkins, in just his fourth appearance of the season, got 10 of those. Reed Gallant, in his third outing, picked up the save. The seldom-used tandem was part of a seven-man pitching performance that stymied the Islanders bats and led the Owls to a much-needed home win.

What it means | Urgency

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. worked like a man tired of losing on Wednesday night. Avoiding a 10-game skid was paramount and he acted as such, making the bold move to deploy his best relief arm in the third of a two-run game.

Davion Hickson is, ostensibly, the Owls’ closer. But given the few save opportunities he’s been afforded in recent weeks, he’s become the go-to man in times of trouble. With runners on second and third and no out, it was a risky decision to burn his best bullpen arm, especially in the third inning. Cruz made the call. Hickson delivered, working three straight outs and escaping the jam without any further damage.

That’s the sort of urgency Cruz and company need to play with from this point onward. It’s not always going to work, but variance is your friend when you’re a club without a juggernaut roster that can roll through each and every opponent. Playing it safe hasn’t worked. Why not roll the dice? It might just end in a win.

ON DECK | vs Texas A&M CC, vs UAB (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Football 2024 Spring Practice Notebook 6: Wideout Roundup

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Wide receiver has been an interesting position to follow in Rice football spring practice. What have we learned from the relatively young room?

It’s been a spring of change for the Rice football wide receivers. Bobby Kennedy is the Owls’ only new position coach, taking over in the room for Mike Kershaw, who departed in the winter. Also on the way out is standout Luke McCaffrey, a likely NFL Draft selection in a few weeks. Where does that leave the rest of the room? In the midst of change lies an opportunity several have used to their advantage.

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Fresh eyes

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Rice Baseball wastes early lead vs Incarnate Word

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Rice Baseball got an early lead but was unable to hold it, falling to Incarnate Word in an afternoon tilt to avoid incoming rain.

Through three innings, everything was going right for Rice baseball. Jackson Blank had faced the minimum. The offense put up a four-spot in the third, mashing through a sacrifice bunt with a pair of two-run scoring doubles. Staked to a 4-0 advantage at home, the Owls were as well positioned as they could have imagined entering the fourth. Then things started to fall apart.

It was then that Blank allowed a two-out home run, allowing Incarnate Word to cut their deficit in half. Tyler Hamilton entered soon afterward and allowed the tying runs on back-to-back singles before being charged with the go-ahead runs an inning later.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball swept by Memphis

Incarnate Word would blow the game wide open in the eighth, overcoming consecutive strikeouts to start the inning with three consecutive extra-base hits, lengthening their advantage to 11-5 against Mauricio Rodriguez. The Owls would fall by that score, extending their current losing streak to nine games in a row.

What it means | Midweek Blues

Parker Smith and JD McCracken don’t pitch during midweek games. Top reliever Davion Hickson might make an appearance, but can’t be overexerted if Rice wants to have him available to work extended innings during the weekend.

That’s not to say the bullpen is irredeemable — the non-Hickson pieces were nothing short of phenomenal this past weekend against  Memphis — but it’s needed near-perfect performances from secondary and tertiary options with regularity. That’s not a reasonable ask.

High-leverage relievers don’t grow on trees and ever so often, even the better arms are going to get burned. Rice hasn’t scored more than five runs since March 22. Like it or not, a struggling offense and the back end of the bullpen are going to result in midweek losses like this.

ON DECK | vs Texas A&M CC, vs UAB (Fri-Sun)

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