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Rice Football vs UTEP: Testing delay continues, update

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There’s a lot in the air when it comes to the status of today’s Rice football game against UTEP. Here’s what we know, and what we don’t.

Rice football released this statement earlier this morning:

The start of today’s football game between Rice and UTEP, originally scheduled for noon at Rice Stadium, has been delayed pending a second round of testing on participants.  Further information will be released when available.

What we do know

As of now, there hasn’t been anyone from Rice football on the field yet today. Typically we would have seen the team busses arrive (they haven’t yet) and players on the field for individual and team warmups. Neither of those has happened either.

There has been no confirmation as to which program is waiting on the further testing results. We do have some movement on the turf, though. A few players and coaches from UTEP have arrived and are going through individual drills on the field amidst the rain. They’ve also popped up their injury tent.

What we don’t know

I don’t know what the likelihood of playing this game is. But, with some of the UTEP contingent present and the Rice side unaccounted for, it raises concerns for the Owls’ testing results.

Would UTEP bring players to the stadium if there were possible COVID-19 questions within their program? That would seemingly put the ball back in the Owls’ court, but again, that’s the best guess we have for the moment.

What’s next?

That could raise an interesting (and potentially unfortunate) decision point for Rice. Playing today against UTEP, even shorthanded, might give Rice their best chance at another C-USA win this season. Whether or not that’s a viable decision remains to be seen. The alternative, though, could be tough.

If Rice does not play today, their remaining schedule is as tough as it could be in Conference USA. They’re still slated to travel to Marshall next weekend and host UAB the weekend after that. They’ll be underdogs in both contests.

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes, Presser Quotes and UTEP prep

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Rice football is eager to get back on the field this weekend and face UTEP. Here are the latest practice notes and press conference quotes.

It was tough sledding for Rice football in Denton, falling to 1-2 on the season with the disappointing road loss. The team returns home to Rice Stadium this week to face UTEP, which enters the game 3-4 with a chance to return to .500 by the end of November. The Owls would like to prevent them from getting there a climb back to .500 themselves.

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The team had some thoughts to share on last week. We’ve selected a few quotes from the Owls’ midweek press conference. Then we’ve got a few more updates on what’s in store for the Owls in the coming days and weeks.

Press Conference Quotes

“They played a very, very physical brand of football. They imposed their will on us in all areas. We had a couple of turnovers that were really, really costly and absolutely affected the outcome of the game, and we’ve got to play better. I don’t think it’s that we got to play harder, we’ve got to play better. We’ve got to play more disciplined. And we got to be better with our techniques.” – Mike Bloomgren on the North Texas game

“Obviously we started really fast, just like we wanted to — we were firing on all cylinders. We had multiple turnovers, which obviously that’s never good, we’ll never win like that so that’s obviously the things we need to clean up the most. We got to keep the ball off the turf. And then we got to hit our shots when we take them. And we did a pretty good job at it but we have to keep working, keep finding that connection, keep getting that rhythm and we will get those will go our way.” – WR Jake Bailey on the offensive performance vs North Texas

“We’ve done a pretty good job stopping the run, especially getting off blocks and making plays, just creating negative plays because those are game-changers. I feel like we’re doing a pretty good job, and we can definitely improve on that. I feel like if we continue to practice hard and come to work every day we’ll continue to get better.” – DL De’Braylon Carroll on the defensive performance this season 

Depth Chart Notes

Here’s an updated depth chart from Rice football heading into the UTEP game.

Running back Juma Otoviano was expected to be back this weekend, but his name is absent from the depth chart this week. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him go through pre-game warmups and have his status evaluated again at that point. Ikenna Enechukwu and Trey Schuman have flip-flopped at the defensive end spot, but the OR designation remains. We’ll most likely see both of them.

Looking ahead

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Rice Football Film Room 2020: North Texas Review, UTEP Preview

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What went wrong for Rice football against North Texas and how do the Owls fix it before they play UTEP? Find out in this week’s film room.

Well, that was no fun. Matt and I talked about it on The Roost Podcast this week, but a loss like that is a lot harder to swallow when you have real expectations, as we have for this Rice team this season. Hopefully they can clean the issues up and get a decisive victory over a UTEP team they’re rightfully favored against this weekend.

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I thought for a while about which play to pick for the North Texas game. It seems the offense would be a natural pick, since that was the side that fared worse. But after watching that game, the recipe for improvement for the offense, to me, is just: block better and stop fumbling. So let’s go with a play from the defense, which generally played well, but gave up a couple key plays, including this one.

The Bean Run

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls fly past HBU to kick off 2020 season

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Rice Women’s Basketball prevailed over HBU in their season opener, providing some familiarity following an offseason of twists and turns.

2020 has been a strange year for all of us, which is why it was so encouraging to see regain some semblance of normalcy on Wednesday afternoon when the Rice Women’s Basketball team tipped off its season. The ever-reliable Owls took care of business against HBU, going on to a fairly comfortable victory before a crowd-less Tudor Fieldhouse.

Rice was led by a dominant effort by center Nancy Mulkey and the reliable facilitation of Sydne Wiggins and Jasmine Smith. 10 players saw action for the Owls, who outrebounded the Huskies 54-35 and led for more than 33 of the 40 minutes of action. In a year where so little has made sense, Rice delivered a familiar opening stanza to begin the season 1-0.

Head coach Tina Langley was proud of her team’s efforts. “I think everybody has really been working incredibly hard. From player to player we feel confident that we can put them in and they can give us good minutes right now,” she said.

Mulkey won the opening tip, setting up an easy lay-in for Katelyn Crosthwait. HBU would rally behind some early threes before Rice took the lead on a steal-and-score by sophomore Lauren Schwartz in the second quarter. From that point, it was all Owls who ran away from the Huskies to win by a final score of 83–54. The Owls topped their best point total from last season, an 82-59 win over UTEP.

As good as the Owls were in their opener, Langley knows the best is yet to come. “We still have a lot to learn,” she said, “I can’t wait to see who we’re going to become because you can see their commitment level and the way we’ve been practicing, we’re going to get a lot better all season.”

Final Stats

Player of the Game – Nancy Mulkey

It was a banner day for Mulkey, who delivered an exclamation point on the Owls’ win with her first career three-point shot (and make) in the third quarter. She’d worked on that aspect of her game during the offseason and was ready to take the shot when she finally had her moment.

Coach Langley was happy for Mulkey’s achievement, but said her senior center’s impact goes well beyond that singular attempt. “I think she’s doing a tremendous job of understanding her ability as an offensive weapon for us,” Langley said,”And she can shoot the three. She can take it off balance and she can score in the low post. She can just do so many things well. Nancy Mulkey’s a pro and she’s going to show that this season.”

That shot was one small part of a 23-point, 13-rebound performance — her fourth double-double of her Rice career.

Up Next

Rice women’s basketball won’t return to Tudor for another two weeks. In the meantime, they’ll travel to Arkansas for a 2 p.m. Saturday game against Little Rock. The short road trip concludes Dec. 2 at UT Arlington, tip off scheduled for 5 p.m. Both games are scheduled to air on ESPN+.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 62 – Rice Football vs North Texas Recap, UTEP Preview

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Rice football returned to the field this past week against North Texas and struggled. Carter and Matthew recap the game and preview UTEP.

It was a rough Saturday for Rice football. The Roost Podcast walks through what went wrong for the Owls against North Texas and what concerns the team carries with them into their next game against UTEP. There’s still a lot to like about the defense and the offense should find more room to work without Dion Novil crashing the interior this coming weekend.

Carter and Matthew also talk through some of the latest happenings around Conference USA, including a new game scheduled for a Tuesday morning. I suppose that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, given what we’ve seen already in 2020.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 62.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping — Don’t miss this opportunity to subscribe on Patreon. You’ll get practice reports, film room sessions, recruiting news and the latest analysis and updates on all things relating to Rice Athletics.
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  • Conference USA news and notes
    • Two games already impacted by COVID-19 at time of recording
    • Charlotte and Western Kentucky moved to Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m.
  • Rice Football vs North Texas recap
    • What changed from the strong start to the sluggish final three quarters
    • Breaking down what went well for the defense with a shout out to corner Chris Boudreaux
    • Khalan Griffin’s first career start and high points on the Rice offense
    • How does Rice adjust now that this film is out there for opposing defenses?
  • Rice Football vs UTEP game preview
    • UTEP doesn’t do anything particularly well
    • The Rice defense will limit scoring opportunities
    • Eliminating self-inflicted mistakes and turnovers will be critical

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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