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Conference USA Football 2021: Stop rate and defensive performance

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Conference USA football had some good defenses and some very bad ones in 2021. Which ones found ways to get off the field the most?

Recently published by The Athletic, stop rate is a useful tool for measuring college football defenses. Max Olson, who compiled the sat, defines stop rate as:

“a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs. This simple metric can offer a more accurate reflection of a defense’s effectiveness in today’s faster-tempo game than yards per game or even points per game.”

Although in previous years Olson had married stop rate with three-and-out rate, this year he’s placed points per drive data alongside the focal data point. Combined together, it paints a pretty compelling case when it comes to defining what elite-level defense looked like in college football this year. But what does it mean for Conference USA football, specifically?

Observations

You won’t find either UTSA or Western Kentucky in the Top 5 of Stop Rate or points per drive allowed. Both programs relied on their offenses to get the job done in 2021, but that doesn’t mean defense is dead either. UTSA’s defensive numbers are skewed upward a bit by multiple rounds against Bailey Zappe and the WKU offense. UAB, which was the runner-up in the West also was ranked in the Top 5 in Stop Rate.

The programs that failed to skirt .500 were the ones that didn’t have at least one or the other. Middle Tennessee and Old Dominions are great examples of programs that played solid defense and found just enough offensive pop at the right moments to reach the six win plateau and make a bowl game. Others like Rice, Charlotte and FIU were left on the outside looking in, largely because of mediocre to poor showings on both sides of the ball throughout the season.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Kicker Conor Hunt commits to Owls

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The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class isn’t done yet. Days after National Signing Day, the Owls have picked up a commitment from kicker Conor Hunt.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren made a point to note the 2022 Rice Football recruiting class was not complete when he stood in front of the microphone on National Signing Day to discuss the Owls’ newest crop of signees. It only took a few days from that address for Rice to add another important piece to the fold, picking up a commitment from Georgetown transfer kicker/punter Conor Hunt.

Special teams were a disaster for Rice football last season. The return game had its bright spots, but the Owls connected on 5-of-11 field goal attempts, demoting starting kicker Collin Riccitelli midway through the season in favor of Elon transfer Christian VanSickle who hadn’t attempted a field goal in a collegiate game prior to lining up for a 41-yard attempt against Southern Miss.

Riccitelli is no longer on the roster. VanSickle is. But the Owls made it clear by their willingness to go for it on fourth down rather than settle for even a moderately long field goal they needed help at the position

Hunt will join Washington transfer Tim Horn and walk-on Enoch Gota in a three-way battle for the starting kicker job. His experience as a punter will also push Charlie Mendes, who regressed in both average distance and net distance last season.

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Hunt made 7-of-12 field goal attempts for the Hoyas last season, hitting from a long of 45-yards with one kick blocked. He punted 48 times, averaging 41.7 yards per punt with nine punts of 50 yards or longer. His versatility has the potential to be invaluable to the Owls who need to shore up the kicking game headed into the 2022 season.

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Rice Basketball: Owls’ rally falls short against UTEP

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Rice Basketball fell behind quickly but battled back to turn a lopsided affair into a one-possession game before narrowly falling to UTEP at home.

From the moment UTEP’s Jamal Bieniemy drained a three-pointer to open the scoring, Rice basketball was in catch-up mode at home. The Owls would take a brief 4-3 only to watch it evaporate with a 17-2 run by the Miners. That effectively set the script for the afternoon. If Rice wanted to notch their third consecutive conference victory they would have to claw their way back.

No sooner than Rice had seen their deficit reach double digits, the rally began. Rice answered. Trailing 20-9, Rice tightened up on defense and answered UTEP’s big run with a 14-2 run of their own. All of a sudden, the game was on. It wasn’t until Quincy Olivari’s final shot of the first half, a deep three, that Rice would once again take the lead, entering halftime up 30-28 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Last Time Out: Rice Basketball closes strong, tops UTSA at home

The two squads traded shots and scores throughout the early portions of the second half. Neither side was able to take a meaningful lead until Quincy Olivari left the game following a hard foul as he went towards the basket. While Olivari was being attended to in the locker room, UTEP started a run courtesy of four triples from Bieniemy in the final 11 minutes of regulation, propelling him to a career-high in scoring.

Rice was able to trim an 11-point deficit down two, but ran out of time as the clock struck zero on a buzzer-beating layup from Carl Pierre. With the loss, Rice basketball falls to 13-9 on the season and 6-5 in conference play.

Player Spotlight | Max Fiedler

It has been an extremely quiet winter for center Max Fiedler. Once a fixture on the floor, improved play from Mylyjael Poteat had dropped Fiedler’s minutes from the mid 30’s to the low 20’s. His scoring fell off too. Fiedler hit double-digits in the scoring column just once between the Owls’ Dec. 11 tilt against Houston Baptist and a 14-point outing against Louisiana Tech on Jan. 27.

Fiedler appears to have gotten back into the groove ever since. He had 22 points at home against UTSA on Thursday before scoring 12 points on Saturday against UTEP. He also had eight rebounds. Rice basketball is better when Fiedler is on his game. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come.

Stat Corner | 14

Maturity is hard to quantify in a box score, but it can be seen when you look a bit closer than the standard points, rebounds and assists. Rice basketball trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half. And then they didn’t. The growth and poise exhibited by this team cannot simply be boiled down to 14 points, but that margin (and the vigor with which the Owls erased it) does speak volumes about this team.

In previous seasons, a 10-point deficit felt overwhelming. Now Rice can weather the storm, keep shooting and play staunch enough defense to pull themselves back in just about any contest. Bieniemy’s three-point onslaught proved too much to overcome in the final minutes, but the Owls were in this game. There are no moral victories. A loss is a loss. But Rice didn’t lose this because they were outmatched. This team can hang with anyone.

Final Box | UTEP 72 – Rice 70

Up Next | Full Schedule

Originally scheduled to play North American next week, Rice basketball will instead host Jarvis Christian on Tuesday, Feb. 8. They’ll finish their four-game homestand the following Saturday, Feb. 12 against North Texas.

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Rice Basketball closes out to win over UTSA at home

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Although the weather was cold, Rice basketball stayed hot, downing UTSA at Tudor Fieldhouse to improve to 6-4 in C-USA play.

Almost from wire to wire, Rice basketball was the better team when they took the court on Thursday night at Tudor Fieldhouse to play UTSA. After opening the season with a brutal stretch that featured some of the league’s best teams, Rice has played back-to-back games against Southern Miss and UTSA — teams that currently sit at the bottom of the standings — and the Owls were able to pull away to secure wins against each.

The Thursday tilt with UTSA started innocently enough. The teams traded baskets early with UTSA leading 8-6 after four minutes were in the books. Then Rice began to heat up. The Owls went on a dominant 19-7 run, doing the fast majority of their damage inside. Max Fiedler needed less than 12 minutes of game time to reach double-digit points.

Last Time Out: Rice Basketball surges past Southern Miss

UTSA would go on a run of their own in the closing minutes of the first half to cut what had been a 17-point Rice lead down to four at the break. Rather than get rattled, Rice took the interlude to take a deep breath and came out ready in the second half.

No matter how hard UTSA pushed, Rice had an answer. The Roadrunners tied the game up with back-to-back baskets right out of the game before Rice answered with an 11-2 run to widen the gap once more. Neither team would score more than two consecutive shots before the other snuck in, that was until Rice hit three in a row to take a 70-61 with under eight minutes to play.

Rice would hold on down the stretch, adjusting well to whatever the UTSA defense threw at them late in the game, finding good shots and ruining any hopes the Roadrunners had for a late rally.

Player Spotlight | Travis Evee

On a night where the Owls’ opponents made some runs, Rice needed just about everyone to step up. Carl Pierre and Fiedler paved the way early, but it was Evee’s consistent shooting stroke that kept the team moving.

Evee connected on seven of his 11 shots from the field, scoring 16 points. He had five assists and four rebounds while only turning the ball over once. He was as constant as anyone on the team and his back-to-back triples to start the second half were absolutely crucial.

Stat Corner | Take it to the basket

Rice basketball will always be known for their propensity to shoot from far away, but they put on a clinic on how to get to the hoop on Thursday against UTSA. The Owls attempted just six three-pointers, making two, on their way to a massive first-half lead. They scored 28 of their first 44 points in the paint, finishing with 46 points in the paint. They outscored UTSA 18 to 2 on fastbreak points.

It’s more than evident this team has evolved and grown on offense. They’re a balanced scoring team that continues to develop their defensive chops as the season progresses.

Final Box | Rice 91 – UTSA 78

Up Next | Full Schedule

The second of a four-game homestand will take place on Saturday when Rice basketball hosts UTEP at Tudor Fieldhouse. From there the Owls will play North American on Tuesday, Feb. 8 and North Texas on Saturday, Feb. 12.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Breaking down the 2022 signees – Defense, Sp. Tms.

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The 2022 Rice Football Recruiting class is anchored in the defensive trenches with a top-flight playmaker in the secondary.

Rice signed 12 players during the Early Signing Period and added five more on National Signing Day. Of those players, nine are current high school seniors and five of them play on the defensive side of the ball as well as one specialist, the focal positional areas of this update.

We’ve gone position by position breaking down each new Owl and how where they project to fit for this program moving forward.

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Defensive Line (2) – Davion Carter, Chibby Nwajuaku
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Last updated on 2/2/2022 to reflect National Signing Day additions
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