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Rice Football 2023: State of the Special Teams Practice Report

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Rice football is off this week with plenty to address on special teams before heading to Tulsa. Here’s what we learned from practice this week.

Practice marches on for Rice football through the bye week. Rather than jam everything into a length report heading into game week, we’re going to split things up and address a topic that’s front of mind first: special teams.

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What did head coach Mike Bloomgren and special teams coordinator Pete Alamar have to say about the state of the unit? Let’s dig in.

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“This is Who We Are”: Rice Football wrestles with inconsistency

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Wildly inconsistent from week to week, Rice football enters the bye week in search of a steadiness that has eluded this program thus far in 2023.

It would prove challenging to find many college football teams more inconsistent than the 2023 Rice Owls, who suffered the ying to a previous yang on Saturday with a disappointing loss to the previously winless UConn Huskies. Rice football was a 10-point favorite. They lost by seven in a game in which they committed four turnovers, missed a field goal and turned it over on downs once.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren didn’t shy away from the painful reality. “This is who we are. We are a 3-3 football team who’s 1-1 in our conference with six games ahead of us, all conference games,” he said. “We can when them all. If we do things to beat ourselves like we did today, we won’t. That’s factual.”

Whether or not one buys into Bloomgren’s assertion of the road ahead, it’s undeniably true the path to get there has been uneven, to say the least. Rice is the only team in the AAC with a Power 5 victory this season. They’re also the only team to lose to UConn. Owning both mantles simultaneously creates a dissonance that is still reverberating around South Main.

In the early years of the Bloomgren era, getting the team to play up to their potential was the primary challenge. Eventually, though, they began to reach those apex moments, posting big wins over UAB (twice) and an undefeated, Top 15 Marshall squad. Now that those peaks have been reached, the challenge has remained staying on the mountain.

As Bloomgren acknowledged, this is too often a team that beats itself. Since Bloomgren arrived, Rice is 7-5 as a home favorite, seventh worst in FBS football. Limiting that scope to the 2022 and 2023 season, when this team started to come into its own, Rice is 4-2. Oddly enough, Rice’s 3-1 record since 2022 as a home underdog is the second-best mark in the nation among teams that have played four such games.

More: Mistakes doom Rice Football vs winless UConn

Is it the pressure? A lack of focus? No obvious throughlines underscore these erratic moments. Sometimes it’s the defense. Sometimes it’s the offense. On Saturday against UConn, the biggest culprit was probably the special teams.

“I knew for this to transpire there would have to be events done by the Rice Owls to allow it to,” Bloomgren said.”

Until further notice, it’s time to take Bloomgren at his word. This is who the Rice Owls are. They’re a team capable of posting the most impressive win in the conference on any given week and a team capable of floundering as a double-digit favorite. They’re both at once, and it’s maddening.

The real question now is how will this team respond.

“Everything that we want out of this year is still attainable and in our control ahead of us,” team captain Myron Morrison said on Saturday. “I don’t think what happened today is necessarily the story of our team this year, but it definitely is a time and a wake-up call to show what we need to fix to accomplish what we want to accomplish because it’s all still there.”

Rice needs three more wins to secure a bowl trip for the second consecutive season, a feat that has only happened twice in program history, dating back now 110 seasons. There’s that mountain top, again.

Getting there would do a lot to quell frustrations stemming from this zig-zag season, but it’s going to take the good version of the Rice Owls showing up more often than not. As fellow captain Luke McCaffrey said on Saturday night, “It all starts with our next game.”

Following a bye week, Rice visits Tulsa on Thursday, October 19.

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Rice Football 2023: NFL Owls Week 5 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2023 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 5.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Team NFL Owl(s) Week 5 Result Week 6
Denver Broncos Elijah Garcia (DL) vs Jets L, 31-21 at Chiefs (TNF)
Detroit Lions Jack Fox (P) vs Panthers W, 42-24 at Bucs
Indianapolis Colts Kylen Granson (TE) vs Titans W, 23-16 at Jaguars
Los Angeles Rams Austin Trammell (WR) vs Eagles L, 23-14 vs Cardinals
New England Patriots Calvin Anderson (OL) vs Saints L, 34-0 at Raiders
Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Boswell (PK) vs Ravens W, 17-10 — BYE —
Seattle Seahawks Myles Adams (DL) — BYE —  — at Bengals
Tampa Bay Bucs Nick Leverett (OL) — BYE —  — vs Lions

Offense

Calvin Anderson – OT, Patriots

Anderson was inactive in the Patriots’ Week 5 loss to the Saints.

Kylen Granson – TE, Colts

Granson caught a pair of passes on Sunday on three targets, tallying 15 total yards. He’s had multiple receptions in every game so far this season

Nick Leverett – OT, Buccaneers

Leverett and the Bucs were on bye in Week 5.

Austin Trammell – WR, Rams

Trammell has found a role as the Rams’ punt returner, but that didn’t equate to much usage on Sunday against the Eagles who punted just one time. Trammell called a fair catch.

Defense

Myles Adams – DL, Seahawks

Adams and the Seahawks were on bye in Week 5.

Elijah Garcia – DL, Broncos

Garcia made his presence felt on Sunday against the Jets, registering his first career sack and stripping quarterback Zach Wilson of the football in the process. The Jets would recover the loose ball.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox was only called upon twice in the Lions’ one-sided victory over the Panthers on Sunday, but he delivered on both occasions. Each of his punts was downed inside the 20 with the longest kick going 55 yards.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell was a perfect 3-for-3 against the Ravens, connecting from a long of 43 yards. He’s a perfect 15-for-15 on field goal tries so far this season.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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AAC Football 2023: Week 6 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 6.

Team Record  This Week Result Up Next
Charlotte 1-4 (o-1)  —  — vs Navy
ECU 1-4 (0-1)  —  — vs SMU
FAU 2-3 (1-0) vs Tulsa W, 20-17 vs USF
Memphis 4-1 (1-0)  —  — vs Tulane
Navy 2-3 (1-2) vs North Texas W, 27-24 at Charlotte
North Texas 2-3 (0-1) at Navy L, 27-24 vs Temple
Rice 3-3 (1-1) vs UConn L, 38-31  —
SMU 3-2 (1-0)  —  — at ECU
Temple 2-4 (0-2) vs UTSA L, 49-34 at North Texas
Tulane 4-1 (1-0)  —  — at Memphis
Tulsa 3-3 (1-1) at FAU L, 20-17  —
UAB 2-4 (1-1) vs USF W, 56-35 at UTSA
USF 3-3 (2-1) at UAB L, 56-35 at FAU
UTSA 2-3 (1-0) at Temple W, 49-34 vs UAB

Notable Results (Standings)

This conference is a mess

Through five weeks, the ACC has two four-win teams, two one-win teams and 10 teams logjammed with a game of .500. If it feels hard to figure out who is actually good this season, the current standings reflect that. Rice and Tulsa both had the chance to break into the four-win club, but couldn’t find a way to get it done and fell back to the rest of the pack.

UTSA bounces back

UTSA, one of those middle-of-the-standings programs, notched a much-needed win to opener their AAC slate, outlasting Temple in a high-scoring affair on the road. The Roadrunners were picked to contend in this conference and despite a shaky start to the season, they’re still in position to do that, especially with quarterback Frank Harris leading the offense.

USF comes back to earth

South Florida screamed out to a 2-0 start to conference play before running into a Dragon-sized wall in their third conference game. The Blazers had just one win when the Bulls came to town, serving a slice of humble pie to their upstart visitors. USF might have been ahead of schedule in Alex Golesh’s first season, but still have to feel pretty good about things entering an all-Florida showdown against FAU in Week 6.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Tipping point

Rice and Tulsa are both 3-3, each dropping what felt like a winnable game before a bye week and a matchup in Tulsa in Week 7. This game isn’t being played for another week and a half, but both programs will face some pressure to get things patched up and ready to go before they play a midweek, prime-time game with the loser falling below .500 in league play.

Danger zone

Charlotte and ECU already trail the rest of the pack entering Week 6 with more conference matchups looming. If it’s not “save-your-season” territory yet, it’s getting pretty close. Neither program can afford to add a fifth loss so early in the year. It’s a little early to start talking about must-win games, but that’s exactly where things stand for these programs.

Who’s No. 1?

Tulane and Memphis each had the week off before a potential conference-deciding matchup between the current frontrunners in Week 6. The Mean Green and Tigers are a combined 8-0 against non-Power 5 opponents and each school came close to pulling off a Power 5 upset already this season. This has the makings of what could be the biggest conference game of the year and it’s still October.

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Costly mistakes doom Rice Football to winless UConn

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Rice Football, now 3-3, played sloppy football and cost themselves a win, falling to previously winless UConn at home.

An auspicious start turned quickly after a series of Rice football miscues turned their final non-conference game of the season into a nightmarish end to the first half of their season. The Owls have plenty of soul-searching to do during the bye week, but first, here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

The running game shows life

Prior to Saturday, Rice football had essentially punted on running the football over the first five games of the season. To be frank, they had that luxury because quarterback JT Daniels had been lights out. Rather than stay stuck to a tired script, head coach Mike Bloomgren and the Owls have adjusted their plans, leaning into a pass-happy offense that has quickly become the norm for the program this year.

But you knew at some point the ground game was going to get its chance to mount a comeback. An offensive line coach at heart, raised up under West Coast philosophies, abandoning the running game entirely was never really going to completely transpire.

In their final non-conference game of the year, the Owls’ rushing attack reached a meager 112 yards, a season-high against FBS opponents. Rice wasn’t able to lean into the pounding the rock given the circumstances, but when they did, it was marginally effective. If you’re looking for a silver lining in today’s messy result, this is probably it.

Shot themselves in both feet, again and again

It looked like Rice football was en route to a runaway win after Otoviano found paydirt for the second time in the first quarter. Then UConn scored twice in the span of 65 seconds. The blame for both touchdowns rests squarely on big mistakes by the Rice offense.

The first oops was committed by quarterback JT Daniels, who lost the football at the two-yard line when he was contacted by some combination of the UConn pass rush and an offensive lineman blocked in his direction. UConn scored two plays later.

Then, following a big return by Quinton Jackson that set Rice up in UConn territory, a swing pass to Braylen Walker was ruled a backward pass. Rice didn’t respond to the ball on the ground. UConn did, picking up the loose pigskin and racing for a 50-yard defensive touchdown. Just like that, a two-score lead turned into a one-point advantage. The lead was preserved by Peyton Stevenson, who blocked a UConn extra point.

At the end of the second quarter, a false start squandered second-and-goal from the three before a missed field goal. A muffed punt spotted UConn favorable field position, which they capitalized on midway through the third. A delay of game took them out of field goal range in the fourth, trailing by 10.

One or two mental mistakes can be overlooked. The mistakes on Saturday were overwhelming and they directly cost Rice a very winnable game.

Special teams remain an adventure

It’s been a mixed bag from the special teams this season, with a stark split in which units are performing well and which ones aren’t. Quinton Jackson and the return game have earned some flowers. They’ve been, by far, the most impactful component of the Owls’ special teams. Jackson had three returns against UConn for 90 yards, including a long of 41 that got Rice into UConn territory.

The Owls also blocked an extra point, helping them preserve an early lead when everything else started to go sideways.

The rest of the special teams has been less encouraging. Tim Horn missed a chip-shot 29-yard field goal, his fourth missed kick in his last five tries. He’s now converting less than 50 percent of his field goals on the season. That’s not good enough.

Punting hasn’t been quite as disastrous, but it hasn’t been great. Conor Hunt entered Saturday ranked ninth in net punting average out of 11 eligible AAC punters. Both of his first two punts went less than 30 yards. He’s talked about trusting his coverage and not overkicking so maybe there’s an adjustment the unit can make to improve results. As it stands right now, the results aren’t good enough.

Add a muffed punt to the mix and a holding penalty that nullified another big return from Jackson and you get one of the most disappointing days from the Rice special teams we’ve seen in quite some time.

Measuring up to expectations

Most of us aren’t scratch golfers, but that’s almost where Rice football found itself as a program through the first half of the 2023 season.

Entering the year, a plausible “best-case scenario” for the Owls looked to be a 4-2 start. Of course, that was likely assuming a Bayou Bucket loss and a win on the road against USF. Those results ended up being flipped. A win against a 0-5 UConn team would have reached that 4-2 mark. It didn’t happen.

A golden opportunity was laid in front of this team and they did not get the job done. That’s going to sting. In a year that felt like one the Owls could prove they were better than just okay, they’ve fallen right back to .500. Rice is the only team in the AAC with a Power 5 win. They’re also the only team in the country to lose to UConn, reiterating something we already more or less knew. This team is capable, but wildly inconsistent.

The coaching staff has a lot of questions to answer during their bye week. If they’re going to reach a bowl game, they need to be at least .500 in AAC play. They still have Tulane, SMU and UTSA on the schedule. That’s a tall ask for a consistent team and quite a mountain to climb for an inconsistent one.

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