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Rice Football 2022: NFL Owls Week 12 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2022 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 12.

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 12 Result Week 13
Denver Broncos Calvin Anderson (OL) at Panthers L, 23-10 at Ravens
Detroit Lions Jack Fox (P) vs Bills (Thanksgiving) L, 28-25 vs Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts Kylen Granson (TE) vs Steelers (MNF) L, 24-17 at Cowboys
LA Chargers Bryce Callahan (DB)
Christian Covington (DL)		 vs Cardinals W, 25-24 at Raiders
Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Boswell (PK) at Colts (MNF) W, 24-17 vs Falcons
Seattle Seahawks Myles Adams (DL) vs Raiders L, 40-34 (OT) at Rams
Tampa Bay Bucs Nick Leverett (OL) at Browns L, 23-17 (OT) vs Saints (MNF)

Offense

Calvin Anderson – OT, Broncos

Anderson started his fourth straight game this weekend, his fifth start of the season.

Kylen Gransen – TE, Colts

Gransen was not inactive for the Colts’ Week 12 loss to the Steelers on Monday Night Football.

Nick Leverett – OT, Buccaneers

Leverett started his fourth consecutive game this weekend. He’s appeared in every game for the Bucs since Week 7.

Defense

Myles Adams – DL, Seahawks

Adams wasn’t active in the Seahawks’ Week 12 loss to the Raiders.

Bryce Callahan – CB, Chargers

Callahan posted five tackles in the Chargers’ Week 12 win over the Cardinals.

Christian Covington – DL, Chargers

Covington was placed on Injured Reserve after suffering a pec injury in the Chargers’ Week 10 game against the 49ers.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted twice in the Lions’ loss to the Bills on Thanksgiving Day, including a long of 57 yards. Both his punts were downed inside the 20.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

The Steelers placed Boswell on IR prior to their Week 10 game against the Saints. He’ll be out for at least four weeks.

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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Rice Volleyball heads to Waco, opens vs Colorado in NCAA Tournament

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Officially NCAA Tournament bound, Rice women’s basketball heard their name called in the NCAA Volleyball selection show on Sunday night.

Rice Volleyball (26-3) ends its impressive regular season with a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Owls will head to Waco Texas to play Colorado (20-10) on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 4:00 p.m. Should they win, they’d play the winner of a matchup between Baylor and Stephen F. Austin on Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The Conference USA Champions, Rice avenged its only regular season conference loss in the conference championship game, toppling Western Kentucky to secure the auto-bid to the dance. Rice had fallen to Western Kentucky just nine days prior on the Hilltoppers’ own court but came back in the match that mattered most to punch their ticket and snap WKU’s three-year run as tournament champs.

The Owls were in the running for a host opportunity in the lead-up to the announcement. Ultimately, they weren’t given the opportunity but won’t have to travel far for their fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Gena Volpe.

The complete bracket looks like this:

Should Rice volleyball advance out of Waco, they’d face the winner of the quartet including 1-Seed Louisville, Samford, Tennessee and 8-Seed Purdue. First things first, Rice will focus their attention on Colorado.

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Rice Women’s Basketball knocks off Texas A&M, stays perfect

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Rice Women’s Basketball remains unbeaten, upsetting Texas A&M to move to 6-0. It’s the Owls’ first win over the Aggies since 2006.

On the final leg of a four-game road trip, Rice women’s basketball faced perhaps its toughest test yet. Texas A&M was unbeaten on their home court this season and the Owls had just three victories over the Aggies in College Station in program history.

If there were a game to experience some nerves, this might have been it. But head coach Lindsay Edmonds and her team never blinked. Rice opened the game with a quick 10-4 run, putting the Aggies on notice from the jump: this was going to be a close one.

Texas A&M battled back to tie the game at 25-25 at the break, then they went on the offensive. The Aggies scored the first eight points after halftime, pushing the Owls to the brink before India Bellamy and Malia Fisher trimmed the deficit back down to four points. Then the game was on.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

Rice tied the game gain in the final minute of the third quarter, entering the final period ahead by one thanks to a layup from Destiny Jackson. The fourth quarter belonged to the Owls. Katelyn Crosthwait knocked down two threes while Shelby Hayes made a shot and a free throw of her own to eventually push the Rice advantage to nine points. It proved to be enough and Rice hung on for the big win.

“This is a group that played a lot of minutes last year, so I think they had that confidence and they knew they’d won in close games before,” “I felt like they weren’t worried about was across the chest of the opponents. They were just playing basketball”

Player Spotlight | India Bellamy

On an afternoon where so many did their part, Bellamy’s contributions stood out. In just her second appearance of the season, she was third among all scorers with 11 points, knocking down 5-of-10 shots from the field and adding one free throw.

Final Box | Rice 66 – Texas A&M 58

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball finally gets to return home this coming week where they’ll host a string of Texas teams. On Friday, TCU comes to town for a 7:00 p.m. game (streamed on ESPN+) and Houston follows on Saturday, Dec. 10.

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Conference USA Football 2022: Week 13 Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 13.

Team Week 13 Result Record Bowl Eligible
Charlotte vs LA Tech  — 3-9 No
FAU vs WKU L, 32-31 (OT) 5-7 No
FIU vs MTSU L, 33-28 4-8 No
LA Tech vs UAB L, 37-27 3-9 No
MTSU at FIU W, 33-28 7-5 Yes
North Texas vs Rice W, 21-17 7-5 Yes
Rice at North Texas L, 21-17 5-7 Yes
UAB at LA Tech W, 37-27 6-6 Yes
UTEP at UTSA L, 34-31 5-7 No
UTSA vs UTEP W, 34-31 10-2 Yes
WKU at FAU W, 32-31 (OT) 8-5 Yes

Notable Week 13 results – Standings

Six go bowling

UAB clinched a bowl berth with a win on Saturday, downing Louisiana Tech in their final game of the regular season. They’ve already announced they are heading to the Bahamas Bowl. Rice was the second C-USA squad to secure bowl eligibility, although they did so in defeat, becoming the highest-rated remaining five-win team by APR. It’ll be the Owls’ first bowl invitation since 2014.

Another coaching change

In the hours following Florida Atlantic’s loss to Western Kentucky, Willie Taggart was out.

It’s the second coaching change of the season following Will Healy’s dismissal from Charlotte earlier this fall.

What’s next

North Texas clinched a spot in the Conference USA Championship Game with a home win over Rice on Saturday. The Mean Green will get a rematch with UTSA, which came from behind to beat the Mean Grene earlier this season. The Roadrunners sit at 10-2 with a chance to finish the season an unprecedented 12-2 should they beat North Texas and win a bowl game. Jeff Traylor has things rolling in San Antonio.

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Rice Football falters late, falls to North Texas

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Rice Football took a fourth quarter lead, but was unable to secure their sixth win, falling to 5-7 on a dreary day in Denton against North Texas.

On the arm of a scout team quarterback, Rice football stood toe to toe with the Conference USA Title Game-bound North Texas Mean Green for nearly four quarters. But in the end, the home team was able to punch in the final score in the fourth quarter, sending Rice home with a crushing defeat. The Owls will await their bowl fate as results start to come in. For now, here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Show up ready to play: Check

Rice football knew their season was potentially on the line when they arrived at Apogee Stadium on Saturday morning. This was it. And to their credit, the team that took the field a few hours later looked much more poise than they had in either of their prior two games.

Special teams blocked a field goal on the opening drive. The defense got a stop on the second drive. And while the offense had one short-yardage fumble and a punt in their first two possessions, both were extended drives in which freshman quarterback AJ Padgett, making his first career start, acquitted himself well. The moment was clearly not too big for him.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice Football vs North Texas

North Texas was able to move the ball, but the Owls did a good job limiting the conference’s most explosive offense from doing much damage through the first 15 minutes. The only blemish was a costly one, though, a busted-coverage touchdown to spot North Texas with an early 7-0 lead. The defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession to prove that was a mistake and not the norm.

This team has seen plenty of bad games go down downhill quickly. On Saturday, when it was do or die, they fought. At the halftime whistle, the two-touchdown underdogs were tied. This team had to get off the mat if they were going to have any chance to win this one. They came out swinging.

Young talent shows up

Starting a scout team quarterback in a must-win game is never Plan A. But those are the cards Rice football was dealt and they played them extremely well, exploiting Padgett’s running ability while simultaneously taking advantage of a North Texas defense that left plenty of receivers in open space for the young signal caller.

In addition to the quarterback conundrum, Rice football was also without starting slot receiver Luke McCaffery and his backup Kobie Campbell on Saturday. That forced true freshman Braylen Walker into a more prominent role and he did more than grab his cup of coffee on his way back to the bench.

His first grab went for 17 yards and a first down. His second reception, also on third down, went for 15 yards and move the chains. Somehow career reception number three was even more impactful:

Walker hadn’t played a single down of college football before Saturday. Beyond that, he missed the entirety of his senior season of high school. His last touchdown came on November 14, 2020, more than two years ago. And in his first true action on anything more than scout team, he torched the North Texas defense when his team needed him most.

In his first career start, Padgett completed 13-of-22 passes for 229 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also ran for 40 yards, excluding sacks. If players like this are the future of Rice football, the Owls look to be in good hands.

Coming up short

A painful theme of the season reverberated around Apogee stadium in the final minutes. With the ball at the 34 yard-line, Padgett took a sack on a well covered first down play. Cam Montgomery was stopped for a short gain on second down. Then came a pivotal, and diasterous, third down play. Padgett mishandled the snap and bent down to pick up the ball. Officials ruled him down, a loss of eight yards.

As the play was explained to the Rice sideline, Padgett was ruled to have used the ball to pick himself up and called down. That set up a fourth and a mile from which Rice football would be unable to recover. Despite leading in the fourth quarter, Rice was unable to finish, falling to 5-7 on the season as they drop their third game in a row.

Emotions were raw in the aftermath, and head coach Mike Bloomgren answered the questions. “My message to the team was there’s nothing I can do to take the pain away. There’s a lot of people that poured a lot into this program over the years and this is not the result any of us wanted, this is not the goal we set,” he said.

And now, we wait

Taking care of business on Saturday was the easiest way to secure a trip to a bowl game for the first time since 2014. Rice football was unable to do that, but their postseason hopes aren’t dead just yet. As mentioned in our Q&A post this past week, there is a variable path to a bowl game for a five-win Rice squad.

Missouri upset Arkansas on Black Friday to secure a spot. That left six bowl berths outstanding at the time Rice football kicked off against North Texas on Saturday afternoon. Should the pool of six-win teams not be sufficient to meet the demand for bowl teams, Rice would be next on the list.

How things go this afternoon and into the evening will certainly be something we’ll be following at The Roost as the day progresses. Stay tuned here for updates.

What’s next?

When asked for his thoughts on the future, Bloomgren stood tall. “Those things are for people above my pay grade. Those are always questions when you coach. Progress is clear. It’s defined, but is it enough? Those are for other people to make those decisions. I know what we’re done. I know what this coaching staff is done and I would challenge anybody to do better then what this group has done, and that’s on the field and off,” he said.

“We’re winning more games every year. And maybe the wins are not as fast as anybody wants including me and the staff, but progress, what these guys are building, and the recruits? Yeah, absolutely. I don’t think anybody could do better than this staff.”

As erratic as the journey has been from week to week, Rice football closes the 2022 regular season with a distinct near-term history under head coach Mike Bloomgren. Excluding the COVID year, in which Rice played five games (and finished 2-3), the Owls have increased their win total in each season of Bloomgren’s tenure.

Rice won two in 2018, three in 2019, four in 2021 and five this season, with the potential for a sixth win still to come if things work out for the best.

On paper, Rice has been better each season under Bloomgren. The real question for athletic director Joe Karlgaard (and new president Reginald DesRoches) is whether or not that incremental growth has come quickly enough and, more importantly, whether or not the belief remains that those steady building blocks laid in the past five years suggest the elusive breakthrough year will come in the Owls’ first season in the American Athletic Conference.

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