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The Roost Podcast | Ep 165 – Tulane outlasts Rice Football

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Rice football ran out of time at home against Tulane, missing out on what would have been a tremendous upset by a few points and falling to 4-4 on the season.

It didn’t look like things would be that tight when Rice football fell behind 27-7 at halftime, but the Owls held Tulane to just three points in the second half, buying time for their offense to get things into gear and turn a would-be-blowout into a close game. Unfortunately, Rice came up short. What went wrong and what can they salvage moving forward? We break it down in this week’s show.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 165.

Episode Notes

DCTF

The Roost Podcast is now part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts, but now under the DCTF banner.

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Recapping Rice Football vs Tulane

  • Bend-but-don’t-break defense shows some gaps in the armor
  • Havoc plays almost make up for the tough start
  • JT Daniels remains really good at football
  • The offense wasn’t perfect, but remains a trustworthy unit
  • Special teams still needs to be better
  • There’s a big game coming up this weekend against SMU

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

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AAC Football 2023: Week 9 Roundup

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AAC Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 9.

Team Record  This Week Result Up Next
Charlotte 2-6 (1-3) — BYE — L, 38-16 at Tulsa
ECU 1-7 (0-4) at UTSA L, 41-27 vs Tulane
FAU 4-4 (2-2)  — BYE — W, 38-16 at UAB
Memphis 6-2 (3-1) at North Texas W, 45-42 vs USF
Navy 3-4 (2-3)  — BYE —  — at Temple
North Texas 3-5 (1-3) vs Memphis L, 45-42 vs UTSA
Rice 4-4 (2-2) vs Tulane L, 30-28 vs SMU
SMU 6-2 (4-0) vs Tulsa W, 69-10 at Rice
Temple 2-6 (0-4)  — BYE —  — vs Navy
Tulane 7-1 (4-0) at Rice W, 30-28 at ECU
Tulsa 3-5 (1-3) at SMU L, 69-10 vs Charlotte
UAB 2-6 (1-3)  — BYE —  — vs FAU
USF 4-4 (2-2)  — BYE —  — at Memphis
UTSA 5-3 (4-0) vs ECU W, 41-27 at North Texas

Notable Results (Standings)

Memphis Meltdown Averted

Fans in Denton, TX got their money’s worth on Saturday afternoon. The Mean Green faithful that were bold enough to stick around after their team fell behind 31-10 were momentarily rewarded by a furious fourth-quarter comeback, spurred by 21 unanswered points on the arm of Chandler Rogers. It wouldn’t last, though. Memphis drove the length of the field in the final 46 seconds to snatch back the win.

Tulane hangs on

This one was another one-sided affair until it wasn’t. Tulane led 27-7 at halftime, but managed just three points in the second half as Rice football mounted a furious comeback. The Owls got within two points with 8:10 to play before the Mean Green killed the clock almost in its entirety before handing the ball back to the upset seekers with four seconds left. A Rice hook and ladder play fell woefully short.

Race to the bottom

Tulsa has now been outscored 110-20 over the past 12 days, falling to SMU this week 69-10 in a game that somehow managed to feel much worse. Meanwhile, Charlotte was thumped by FAU on Friday night. ECU and Temple remain the only winless conference teams, but Charlotte and Tulsa don’t look to be that much higher in the pecking order right now.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Lone Star Showdown

There’s a lot at stake next weekend when SMU visits Rice for possibly the last time in a while before the Mustangs bolt for the AAC. SMU has conference championship aspirations. Rice would love to return to a bowl game, but they’ll probably need to find a way to win at least one more home game to do it. Rice ends the season at home against FAU.

C-USA Throwback Battle

For a while, UAB and FAU were the cream of the crop in Conference USA, trading conference titles and producing some of the best battles on the field in the conference’s previous iteration. This time the two meet as middle-tier members of the current AAC, both aiming to climb a bit higher after struggles early in the season. This one is for bragging rights, and then some.

Can the Roadrunners keep it going?

UTSA moved to 4-0 in conference play this weekend before heading to Denton to play a North Texas team that will score in bunches. For whatever reason, the Mean Green have given the Roadrunners fits in recent years. If UTSA really wants to be in the mix for a conference title, they’re going to have to find a way to preserve through that history and find a way to win on the road.

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Rice Football rally falls short against Tulane

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Rice Football came up short against defending AAC champs Tulane, spotting their visitors a 20-point halftime lead from which they couldn’t recover.

Despite being double-digit underdogs at kickoff, nobody was happy when Rice football fell by just two points to Tulane at home on Saturday. The Owls rallied from a massive deficit, only to give Tulane the ball with 8:10 remaining and essentially not see it again. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

The Green Wave won in the trenches

On both sides of the ball, Tulane was better up front. If you want to boil the game down to a single-sentence synopsis, that might be it. The Green Wave offense got an incredible push off the ball, opening up running lanes and giving quarterback Michael Pratt time with the football. The Owls hit him, but often the blows came too late and Pratt found his man downfield anyway.

Look no further than Tulane’s final possession in this game. They took over with 8:10 on the clock in the fourth quarter and did not give Rice the ball back until four seconds remained and the result was all but decided.

Spotty tackling only compounded those efforts. Safeties Plae Wyatt (12) and Jojo Jean (11) led the team in tackles. That typically only happens when the seven men in front of them fail to get the runner down before he reaches the second level.

The Rice offensive line was similarly maligned. Quarterback JT Daniels was able to turn lemons into lemonade as he often does, but there’s no denying his job was made much more difficult this week and it contributed to some of the Owls’ early offensive scuffles.

Still searching for consistency

What separates teams like Tulane from the rest of the conference is their consistency. On good days and bad days, on good plays and bad plays, this team has demonstrated a remarkable ability to be ready for action. That was demonstrated on the very first snap of the game when running back Makhi Hughes rumbled for 43 yards up the gut. Then on the first snap of their second drive, a 38-yard completion.

On the other side of the ball, Rice had its moments but did not demonstrate that same level of consistency. Three-and-outs sandwiched a seven-play, 82-yard touchdown earlier in the game. Pass interference penalties — one apiece from the offense and the defense — hampered each side of the ball.

When Tulane did show some signs of mortality via a missed chip-shot field goal, Rice responded with a dropped pass on third down and another three-and-out. Rice had their final drive of the first half stall out near midfield, giving the ball back to Tulane with 16 seconds to go on their side of the field. Somehow, the Green Wave ended that drive with points, putting Rice further into the hole.

The high points were there — let’s be honest, this touchdown catch from Daniels to Luke McCaffrey was mesmerizing:

Gabe Taylor’s 72-yard interception return was fantastic, too. Yes, there were fireworks. But they weren’t nearly consistent enough to be described as a cohesive performance. And when you don’t play a full 60 minutes of football, it’s hard to beat the teams that do.

“They got it done. We didn’t,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said postgame. “I thought it was a great game and we’ve got a lot to learn and grow from.”

Get rid of the second quarter lull

The Rice offense has been fantastic this season. They’ve scored in every conceivable fashion and kept this team in almost every game, but it’s been choppy at times. The first scripted drive? No problem. Rice entered Saturday outscoring their opponents 90-13 in the first quarter.  The second quarter, though, has been their kryptonite.

Rice has scored 28 points against FBS teams in the second quarter of games so far this season, an average of 4.7 points per game in that quarter. In every other quarter, Rice has tallied 173 total points, equating to 9.6 points per quarter, more than twice as productive. Why the disparity?

Truthfully, the Owls have been their own worst enemies. Dropped passes and penalties have ended drives and the defense has struggled to get them more frequent opportunities. A three-and-out might mean Daniels and company are standing on the sideline for twenty minutes as they wait for another opportunity.

Rice had two drives in the first quarter. It’s hard to score when you don’t have the ball. And it probably doesn’t help when the mountain you have to climb keeps getting higher and your opponent adds to their point total every time you leave the field.

Another missed opportunity

Now in year six, Rice Football head coach Mike Bloomgren has won some big games with the Owls. The first shocker came in 2020 when Rice upset N0. 15 Marshall on the road in shutout fashion. Then there was the Bayou Bucket victory over Houston at Historic Rice Stadium just a few weeks ago.

Knocking off Tulane on Saturday might have topped them all, but those dreams seemed all but dead by the halftime whistle.

Tulane won the AAC last year, went to the Cotton Bowl and dispatched a USC team that dismissed Rice fairly quickly in their opening game. Tulane entered this game as No. 22 team in the country. Rice hadn’t beaten a ranked team at home since 1997. That streak persists after Saturday’s deflating result.

“We just had to get off the field one more time. My hats off to them. I thought they did a great job,” Bloomgren acknowledged. “We’ve got to find a way to make one or two more plays if we want to beat a championship team.”

In some ways, the result is more agonizing when you consider how close the final margin was. A two-point game against the best this conference has to offer. And they won’t have time to lick their wounds. SMU comes to town next weekend fresh off a 69-10 shellacking of Tulsa.

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Field position failures

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Rice Football, Gummy Worm Guy Embrace Viral Moment

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Rice football dismantled Tulsa in prime time, but the college football universe was seemingly more focused on a newfound folk hero, Gummy Worm Guy.

Since its inception, college football has served as the sports world’s outlet for the surreal and the strange. The games matter — that is after all the point of all of this — but for many, it’s the stories and the spectale that draw them back to stadiums and tv screens across the country.

In this spot, at any moment, something could happen that takes the entire sphere by storm. Unusual superstitions, songs and moments become things of legend. Turnover props take center stage. Last Thursday night, it was the Gummy Worm Guy.

Daniel Domian is his name, but it was his internet-given title that was the talk of the nation when a viral tweet from Aaron Smith turned a seemingly normal American Conference football game into a national event. “I’ve been doing this for the past seven or eight weeks,” Domian said. “And one dude with his phone just blew me up.”

During the game, Domian passed out gummy snacks to players on the team with the goal of keeping them energized and ready to roll. When he finished the duties, cleaned up and returned to the bus he was greeted with the news. Morgen Cote, the Owls’ Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach and Domian’s supervisor, sent him the video and jokingly told him, “Hey, you’re famous, kid.”

Domian’s gummy-centered heroism made the rounds. Barstool and Sportscenter picked it up, national reporters shared the video. A few days later he was sitting down for interviews with ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Dave Campbell’s and others.

It was in that context, Rice Football Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Hans Straub was able to share the why behind the sudden internet sensation. After noticing the players were getting burned out on fruit snacks and applesauce, more mundane forms of in-game nutrition, Straub tasked Cote with finding a more creative solution.

Cote came up with the gummies, handing the duties over to Domian when he arrived on campus this semester for his internship. Technically, being the Gummy Worm Guy is only a small part of his responsibilities.

He spends the rest of his breaking down the weight room and making sure the Andrew Sendejo Fueling Station is ready with snacks and meals for players at all times. And now, running to Costco to purchase copious amounts of gummy bears, gummy worms, gummy watermelons and more.

“It’s a simple sugar. It’s a simple form. It’s easy to break down in the bloodstream and get to where it needs to go and elevate your blood sugar levels,” Straub said. “We looked at every gummy option on the market, and that age group, they love that stuff.”

The science laid the foundation. Domian delivered on his assignment. The internet, well, the internet did what the internet does and turned a calculated solution into a cultural moment.

Since, Trolli has partnered with the program, promising to give away thousands of gummies to Rice students at their upcoming home game against Tulane this weekend. Domian has been outfitted with a new distribution bag and hat for the occasion, which proudly sports his newfound moniker “Worm Guy.”

Rice is leaning into the moment, embracing a spotlight they probably wouldn’t have received had it not been for some kids’ snacks. The score of the Tulsa game? Few remember that at this point. Gummy Worm Guy? He’ll live in college football lore forever.

In the middle of it all, Domian is doing his best to balance his responsibilities with the levity and silliness of the situation.

“It’s really just a God-given talent at this point,” he chuckled. “You’ve either got it or you don’t.”

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Rice Football: Behind enemy lines with a Tulane Insider

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Tulane is next up on the 2023 Rice football schedule so we’re going behind enemy lines with Green Wave insider Kelly Comarda from Fear The Wave.

Green Wave insider Kelly Comarda from Fear The Wave was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions about the upcoming matchup between Rice Football and Tulane. The answers below should shed some light on the Owls’ upcoming opponent.

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