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2023 Conference USA Baseball Roundup entering May

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With the regular season winding down, there’s a lot going on in Conference USA Baseball. From the top to the bottom, here’s the latest.

Notable weekend results

1. Rice leads DBU after seven three times, but walks away winless (more)

Rice baseball capped off a tough month of April with an extra dose of heartbreak. Not only did Rice lead Dallas Baptist late in all three contests, the Owls suffered late-inning rallies to the Patriots and were swept. Rice was 13-2 when leading after seven innings entering the weekend. Now they’re 13-5.

2. WKU surging

Three weeks ago, Western Kentucky was 2-10 in conference play and had just been swept at home by Middle Tennesse. Then something clicked. The Hilltoppers took two of three from UAB, then swept FAU and Charlotte. No longer at the bottom of the standings, WKU has a real chance to finish in the top three or four spots in the standings thanks to a red-hot April.

3. UTSA theatrics

A battle of teams from opposite ends of the standings was anything but uninteresting this past weekend. UAB won on Friday and nearly took the series, leading 5-2 in the ninth inning on Saturday. That’s when UTSA thundered back with a four-run inning to take the game and eventually wrap up the series win on Sunday.

Standings

Team CUSA Overall
1 DBU 18-3 34-10
2 UTSA 16-4 33-11
3 Charlotte 12-8 22-21
4 MTSU 11-10 22-21
5 LA Tech 11-10 22-23
6 FAU 10-11 26-19
7 WKU 10-11 25-20
8 Rice 7-14 17-26
9 UAB 5-16 14-29
10 FIU 4-17 16-27

Upcoming series of note

1. WKU at FIU

FIU finds itself at the bottom of the standings, just like WKU was a few weeks ago, but a series win over a hot squad could reinvigorate their spirits and make the battle for the final C-USA Tournament spot much more interesting.

2. MTSU at DBU

Although they’re won 17 of their last 18 games, Dallas Baptist looked somewhat mortal this past weekend at Rice. Can MTSU take advantage of any chinks in the Patriot armor?

3. Rice at UTSA

How much of last weekend was a mirage versus actually building blocks? Winning some games in San Antonio would do a lot for the Owls’ psyche as the regular season winds down.

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2023 AAC Football: NFL Draft and UDFA Tracker

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There were several players selected in the NFL Draft from teams that will share a conference with Rice football next season and more have signed since.

Even without considering selections from outgoing members, AAC football was well represented in the 2023 NFL Draft, earning five selections from its 2023 membership through seven rounds. Once the draft ended, many other players latched on with NFL teams, signing as undrafted free agents. Those players will report to training camp and compete for a spot on rosters just the same.

2023 AAC Football NFL Draft Picks

2nd Round (No. 55) – WR Rashee Rice, SMU – Chiefs
3rd Round (No. 81) – RB Tyjae Spears, Tulane – Titans
3rd Round (No. 91) – LB Dorian Williams, Tulane – Bills
7th Round (No. 222) – RB Dwayne McBride, UAB – Vikings
7th Round (No. 255) – WR Grant DuBose, Charlotte – Packers

Undrafted Free Agents

Charlotte

None

East Carolina

  • RB Keaton Mitchell – Ravens
  • OT Noah Henderson – Bills
  • TE Ryan Jones – Giants
  • QB Holton Ahlers – Seahawks
  • WR CJ Johnson – Seahawks

FAU

None

Memphis

  • P Joe Dyle – Texans
  • SAF Quindell Johnson – Rams

Navy

None

North Texas

None

Rice

  • DE Ikenna Enechukwu – Falcons

UAB

  • CB Starling Thomas V – Lions
  • OT Kadeem Telfort – Packers

USF

  • OL Brad Cecil – Lions

UTSA

  • CB Corey Mayfield Jr. – Ravens

SMU

  • OG Jaylon Thomas – Ravens
  • LB Jimmy Phillips – Packers

Temple

  • WR Jose Barbon – Cowboys

Tulane

  • SAF Macon Clark – Bears
  • SAF Larry Brooks III – Bengals
  • WR Duece Watts – Packers
  • TE Trick James – Chiefs
  • LB Nick Anderson – Saints
  • WR Shae Wyatt – 49ers

Tulsa

  • RB Deneric Prince – Chiefs

Additional signings could continue to trickle in over the next few days. Training camps are still weeks away. For now, it’s safe to say there will be a new crop of AAC football players off to make their mark on the league. We’ll find out soon enough who will stick.

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Rice Football: Undrafted free agent signings after 2023 NFL Draft

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The 2023 NFL Draft has come to a close. No Rice football players were drafted, but a few could still find NFL homes as undrafted free agents.

The streak continues. For the eighth consecutive season, Rice Football did not have a player selected in the NFL Draft. Owls’ defensive lineman Ikenna Enechukwu had been the most recent Owl who hoped to challenge that streak, but his name was not called.

Enechukwu’s time as a free agent did not last long. Within an hour of the conclusion of the 2023 NFL Draft, the initial report broke from The Draft Network that Enechukwu was expected to sign with the Atlanta Falcons.

Enechukwu stopped by The Roost Podcast this offseason to visit about his leadup to the draft, his time at Rice and more. He also provided listeners with a brief scouting report on the members of the defensive line he leaves behind, including a few notes on some of the up-and-coming players that could see significant action on the field this fall. Give it a listen here.

As for any other NFL Owls, any additional updates will be shared here as they come. Kicker Christian VanSickle, corner Miles McCord, defensive tackle Quent Titre, running back Uriah West, defensive end Trey Schuman and wide receiver Isaiah Esdale have all expressed interest in exploring professional careers and could latch on with a team in the days to come.

2023 Rice Football NFL Undrafted Free Agent Signees

Rice Football recent NFL Draft history

The Owls’ streak of drafts without a selection has now stretched to eight. The last time a Rice football player heard his name called on stage was the 2015 NFL Draft when Christian Covington was chosen by the Houston Texans in the sixth round

RkYear▼LgRndPickTmPlayerPos
12015NFL6216HOUChristian CovingtonDT
22014NFL387KANPhillip GainesDB
32013NFL255SFOVance McDonaldTE
42013NFL5158SEALuke WillsonTE
52012NFL7211TENScott SolomonDE
62011NFL7254HOUCheta OzougwuDE
72009NFL5152HOUJames CaseyTE
82009NFL5144JAXJarett DillardWR
92003NFL5142CLERyan PontbriandC
102003NFL6176JAXBrandon GreenDE
111997NFL5152PHIN.D. KaluDE
121994NFL245ATLBert EmanuelWR
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Rice Football rises in 2023 ESPN FPI, but competition is tougher

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The 2023 ESPN FPI projections are out. What do the projections look like for Rice Football and how much stock should we put in those estimations?

ESPN recently released its 2023 Football Power Index (FPI), a statistic geared toward predicting team performance. Rice football (-9.3 FPI) checked in No. 11 in the American Athletic Conference, ahead of Navy (-9.3), Temple (-9.4) and Charlotte (-10.9). On the upper end of the conference SMU (4.7), Tulane (2.4), Memphis (1.3) and UTSA (0.2) stand above the rest.

2023 ESPN FPI

  1. SMU, 4.7
  2. Tulane, 2.4
  3. Memphis, 1.3
  4. UTSA, 0.2
  5. ECU, -3.0
  6. UAB, -3.7
  7. FAU, -4.1
  8. UNT, -4.4
  9. Tulsa, -7.4
  10. USF, -8.4
  11. Rice, -9.3
  12. Navy, -9.3
  13. Temple, -9.4
  14. Charlotte, -10.9

Looking Closer

Even though they rank near the bottom of the AAC, the 2023 projections are still rosier for the Owls than they’ve been in some time. The 2021 FPI for Rice came in at -11.7. That dropped to -14.5 in 2022. Now up at -9.3, Rice is expected to be more potent than either of their more stingy teams of the Mike Bloomgren era.

Those same projections this year give Rice a 0.2 percent chance of winning the AAC Title in their inaugural season (not likely) and 30.9 percent chance of reaching six wins/bowl eligibility. To put that bowl projection in perspective, it’s roughly equivalent of what the numbers expected for Rice at this point last season. With the (presumed) better team comes the (presumed) tougher road.

Had the six new arriving AAC members still been scheduled to play in Conference USA this fall, Rice would have been the eighth team in that league.

All things considered, Rice is within seven points of the majority of their 2023 opponents. They’ll be near a coin flip in their conference opener against USF and still be expected to be competitive against ECU in their first AAC home game. The path is challenging, but it’s not impossible.

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Rice Baseball falters late, drops series to MTSU

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Rice Baseball and MTSU went down to the final inning with the fate of the series in the balance before an MTSU walk-off spoiled the Owls’ weekend.

FRIDAY | MTSU 6 – Rice 0

It didn’t matter which portion of the weather-split game it was for Rice baseball, the bats just weren’t syncing up. Rice was held scoreless in their series opener against Middle Tennessee, which was paused in the sixth inning with Rice trailing 3-0 before being restarted on Saturday afternoon.

Prior to the delay, Tyler Hamilton and Cristian Cienfuegos kept the Blue Raiders to one unearned run through four innings.  Blake Brogdon was tagged for two runs in the fifth, but the Owls were very much still in the game until MTSU tagged Ryland Urbanczyk with three runs in the eighth inning on Saturday to put the game away.

SATURDAY | Rice 9 – MTSU 2

Rice baseball and MTSU traded single runs in the early innings then did so again in the top of the sixth and bottom of the seventh. The game was neck-and-neck, even when Paul Smith singled in Jack Riedel in the top of the eighth to put the Owls in front. Leading 3-2 entering the ninth, the Rice bats exploded.

MORE: Roost Pod – Rice Football Spring Ball Recap and Basketball Recruiting

Three consecutive RBI hits put Rice up 7-2 and prompted an MTSU pitching change. The new reliever didn’t fair much better, getting charged with two additional runs on sacrifice flies as the Owls smacked the Blue Raiders around, scoring six in the ninth to win 9-2.

SUNDAY | MTSU 5 – Rice 4 (11 innings)

MTSU took a 2-0 lead on a first-inning home run against JD McCracken in the series finale, forcing Rice to play from behind. The Owls chipped away with a run in the fourth on an RBI single from Trey Duffield and another in the eighth, this time via a Ben Royo home run. Finally tied again, that’s when the drama would begin.

Both teams traded solo runs in the next two half innings, forcing extra with the score deadlocked at 3-3. Royo came through again in the tenth with an RBI single, but MTSU leveled the score on a wild pitch charged Rice reliever Krishna Raj. After Rice went quietly in the top half of the next inning, Raj gave up the walk-off long ball on the very next pitch, handing the game and the series to MTSU.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball had their chances to win a series for the first time in a month and couldn’t close the deal. Here are a few takeaways from a wet, frustrating weekend in Murfreesboro.

1. RIP RISP

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ON DECK | vs Dallas Baptist (Fri-Sun)

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