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Conference USA Football 2021: Week 4 C-USA 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 4.

Team Week 4 Result Week 5
Charlotte vs MTSU W, 42-39 at Illinois
FAU at Air Force L, 31-7 vs FIU
FIU at Central Michigan L, 31-27 at FAU
LA Tech vs North Texas W, 24-17 — OFF —
Marshall at App St. L, 31-30 at MTSU
MTSU at Charlotte L, 42-39 vs Marshall
North Texas at LA Tech L, 24-17 — OFF —
Old Dominion vs Buffalo L, 35-34 at UTEP
Rice vs Texas Southern W, 43-34 vs Southern Miss
Southern Miss at Alabama L, 63-14 at Rice
UAB at Tulane W, 28-21 vs Liberty
UTEP vs New Mexico W, 20-13 vs Old Dominion
UTSA — OFF — W, 31-28 vs UNLV
WKU vs Indiana L, 33-31 at Michigan St.

Notable Week 4 results – Standings

Not enough gas

For the second time in as many weeks, Marshall has seen a fourth quarter lead disappear. ESPN projections gave the Herd as much as a 98.8 percent chance to beat East Carolina in Week 3, but that was before ECU scored 21 unanswered to win it in the fourth quarter. The Appalachian State was much closer, but Marshall was unable to hold their nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter. If Marshall wants to contend for a C-USA East title, they’ll have to figure out how to close out ballgames.

Welcome to the win column

Rice football was heavily favored against Texas Southern at home and took care of business, exploding for 48 points on offense, twice the point total they’d accrued through the prior three games. The Owls enter conference play next week fresh off their best offensive performance of the season.

The real deal

It’s hard to discount what Jeff Traylor has done at UTSA in such a short time. Perhaps it should be lauded even more considering the additional challenges poised by taking over a program in the midst of a pandemic. Nevertheless, the Roadrunners just keep winning. At this moment, they’re on a collision course with UAB for best in the West.

 

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Shula Bowl showdown

Butch Davis has never beaten Florida Atlantic in four tries as FIU’s head coach. Not only does this rivaly game career have slightly more importance for the fan base, but it’s also the first conference game for either team this season. FIU is looking to prove 2020 was a speed bump, not the norm. FAU could put themselves in pole position after watching Marshall suffer successive nonconference losses. There’s a lot on the line in this one.

Looking different in 2021

The upcoming game between Old Dominion and UTEP pits programs with nonexistent or disappointing 2020 seasons against each other in what could be one of the more winnable games on either teams schedule this fall. If this opportunity is wasted, the schedules suddenly seem even more daunting than they did at the onset of the year. Will either team prove they’re in a much better place than they were at this point last year?

Give us Liberty

With the understandable exception of a listless blowout at the hands of No. 2 Georgia, UAB has looked every bit the C-USA heavyweight many expected them to be. At this point, the Blazers have one of the conference’s best chances at a national ranking. Holding serve in conference play will be crucial to that end, but getting things started with a resume-boosting win over Malik Willis and Liberty would certainly garner national attention. Blazers, the ball is in your court.

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Rice Football: Owls outpace Texas Southern for first win

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Rice football notched their first win of the season, leading from start to finish in their first-ever meeting with intra-city foe, Texas Southern.

Rice football might very well look back at the first place of their Week 4 game against Texas Southern as the moment things clicked for a team in desperate need of a spark. The Owls had turned to their third starting quarterback in four weeks, but rolled the dice, trusting him to take a shot right out of the gate.

Not only did Weber State transfer Jake Constantine connect on that gutsy opening call, he hit wide receiver Cedric Patterson in stride and watched him gallop the rest of the way into the endzone.

That proved to be the catalyst this team needed, jump-starting a rout of Texas Southern in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Rice offense wakes up

When Patterson crossed the white line of the Rice endzone on that long touchdown pass, he secured the longest scoring play for Rice football since Juma Otoviano’s 80-yard touchdown run against Old Dominion on Nov. 18, 2018. It was also the first time Rice had scored on the first play of a contest since Driphus Jackson found Jordan Taylor for an 88-yard score on Nov. 25, 2014 against North Texas.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week 

The couple of firsts pales in significance when compared to the noticeable boost it gave to the 2021 Owls’ morale. After being shut out against Texas and limited to one scoring play against Houston the week prior, Rice put 48 points on the board against Texas Southern. For this team on this day, it didn’t matter who was lined up on the other sideline this offense needed proof that they could do it. And they did.

Now, it wasn’t perfect. Constantine was intercepted on a deep shot on first down following a Texas Southern penalty. A muffed center/quarterback exchange set Texas Southern up for points at the end of the first half. It was a mixed bag, but it was proof the upside exists, nonetheless.

Build the whole plane out of Jordan Myers

Head coach Mike Bloomgren didn’t make it far into his opening remarks in his postgame press conference following the Texas loss before he hinted at what was to come for the Rice offense, specifically who he was going to trust to carry the load moving forward.

“We’ve got to lean on him more,” Bloomgren said of versatile do-it-all utility man Jordan Myers. “We’ve got to give him more opportunities because we trust that he’ll get it done for us.”

On Saturday against Texas Southern, Myers got it done.

He carried the ball 26 times for 160 yards and four rushing touchdowns, the most touchdown runs from a Rice Owl since Nahshon Ellerbe had four against Southern Miss in 2017. He also added four receptions for 48 yards. That included this run, that put away any chance of a late Texas Southern comeback:

Cam Montgomery saw an increased workload, but his carries seemed to eat more from Khalan Griffin’s usual workload than from Myers’ snaps. If anything, it was just enough to ensure Myers was fresh and ready to go from start to finish. He certainly made his presence felt.

Quarterback questions linger, for now

As expected, Rice football played two quarterbacks against Texas Southern. Jake Constantine saw the vast majority of the work, completing 18-of-23 passes for 271 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He looked extremely comfortable in the pocket and delivered on-time, catchable passes to his receivers all night.

McCaffrey entered the game for specific packages, primarily in the red zone. He did not attempt a pass but carried the ball five times for 36 yards and a touchdown. The starter for the Texas game, McCaffrey was relegated to ad-hoc duty in his return to play. Whether or not that remains the plan going forward remains to be seen.

On one hand, Constantine looked very much the part against Texas Southern. Outside of the interception, a first down throw that probably should have been held instead of slung downfield, he led the offense well.

Will McCaffrey be Wally Pipp’d? More importantly, should Rice ride with the hot hand who produced almost as many points in the first half as Rice had scored to that point in three games prior? Very possible, will we see both quarterbacks in action against Southern Miss? Those are the questions that will be asked this week. For now, the Owls will enjoy their first win of the season.

Going 1-0 this week

Bloomgren has an oft-heard mantra that’s heard almost nonstop reverberating off the walls of the Brian Patterson Center. Whether in meetings with the team or media sessions, Bloomgren consistently implores his team to “go 1-0 this week”. For the first time this season, Rice football has risen to that request.

The chances for a thrilling non-conference upset are long gone, all that’s left is for this team to follow Bloomgren’s drumbeat.

A 1-3 start isn’t what anyone at South Main was hoping for, but it was probably the most likely outcome any outside the hedges would have projected prior to the start of the year. So, despite the harrowing highs and lows, Rice has the chance to step back into line with preseason expectations.

If Rice football hopes to beat those expectations and reach their aspirations of bowl games and more, it’s going to take a return to that “1-0” mentality. This week, they checked the box. Now it’s on to Southern Miss.

Digging deeper

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Rice Football 2021: Owls find another quarterback quandary

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The Rice football quarterback situation remains in flux entering Week 4 of the 2021 season. Here’s the latest on how the Owls plan to deploy their options.

For the third time in four games, Rice football will play multiple quarterbacks. Luke McCaffrey was the lone signal-caller on the field for the duration of the Houston game. He and Wiley Green split reps against Arkansas and both saw action against Texas before leaving the game with injuries. Jake Constantine, only recently healthy enough to go, made his debut against the Longhorns.

After all that, we’ve got another quarterback competition on our hands.

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Groundhog Day?

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Rice Football 2021: Offensive changes before Texas Southern game

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Rice football has turned its focus to Texas Southern, including a few personnel changes on offense, both planned and unplanned.

Once again, the starting lineup for the Rice football offense will look different the next time it takes the field. There’s likely to be an adjustment at the quarterback spot, one we’ll cover in greater detail in the subsequent update, but there were also some notable adjustments on the offensive line and the pass-catching options.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today.

Unplanned offensive line shakeup

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Rice Football 2021: TSU presser quotes, practice notes and depth chart

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Rice football caps off its nonconference schedule against Texas Southern. Here’s what Mike Bloomgren had to say about it, injury updates and practice notes.

This is the first of a couple of updates coming this week as Rice football prepares to take on Texas Southern. We’ll include updates from head coach Mike Bloomgren’s midweek press conference, then dig further into the details on the depth chart and what the team looks like on the field headed into the weekend.

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To some degree, Rice football finds itself in the twilight zone. Conversation this week focused on the quarterback situation and the adjustments needed for this team to bounce back and find the win column once again. There were a handful of significant adjustments to the depth chart and some developments from practice early this week. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

“I think we learned more about individual players. We learned who would be able to step up in those situations and no matter who the opponent, be able to get their job done and do their one-eleventh. I think that’s great information that our coaching staff needed. Sometimes people can do in practice and can’t do it on game day, and we learn that about some guys unfortunately too. Because it’s a meritocracy, we’ll have to make some tough changes, and changes that nobody wants to make, but I love these kids. We told them in their living room, that’s one thing they could count on. – Mike Bloomgren on what the team has learned so far in nonconference play

“I was impressed with the way Jake was able to come in and really manage everything and get everything orchestrated and make plays go and find the open guy and deliver the ball. I was also impressed with Coach Tui and how they communicated on the sideline and how they got him into some calls he was comfortable with. There was some good there and some lessons learned, to say the least.” – Mike Bloomgren on the play of Jake Constantine

“My composure in the pocket, I’d say is really good. I’d like to say I stand my ground real strong and keep my eyes downfield. I definitely think I can improve in some things like getting rid of the ball on time, last game just coming in there a little rusty, I definitely think there’s some fixing that I could do with my own play, but I’m just excited to get after it this week.” – Jake Constantine on his strengths as a quarterback

“I do think the defense is a lot better. The reason I believe that is because I know the work we put in. I know what we did last year. We’re only missing one piece from that team last year. We were ranked in the top 20. And I believe that all of our players understand that we haven’t played to our standard yet. We play up to our standard in the first three quarters against Arkansas, but since then, defensively, we haven’t plated to our standard. We need to get back to playing how we know we can because that’s a big thing about Coach Blooms philosophy: run the ball, control the clock and play great defense. If we can’t play great defense, we can’t do the other two.” – Kenneth Orji on whether the defense is better than the numbers reflect

Depth Chart

The Rice football depth chart was updated following the Texas game and for perhaps the first time this season, the primary changes involved some performance-based role changes in addition to the more customary injury adjustments.

Injuries shake up depth chart

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