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Rice Football 2019 Game Preview: Week 5 vs Louisiana Tech

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Rice Football kicks off conference play in Week 5 with a home contest against Louisiana Tech. How to watch, stats to know, x-factor picks for both teams and more.

Rice football saw another fourth quarter rally fall short as the Owls closed out nonconference play with a loss to Baylor last Saturday. The close loss was hard to swallow, but the shift from a string of Power 5 opponents to Conference USA play will be welcomed with open arms at South Main.

Louisiana Tech enters the game on the heels of their first conference victory. The Bulldogs dispatched a struggling FIU team, outscoring the Panthers 43-31. Here’s what you need to know about both Louisiana Tech and Rice before their Week 5 battle.

Broadcast Info

Kickoff time | 6:00 PM CT
Venu | Rice Stadium – Houston, Tx
TV | ESPN3 (Streaming)
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio Preview

We previewed the Louisiana Tech game on Episode 9 of The Roost Podcast which was released on Wednesday. Find us on the podcast page or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. (And consider leaving us a 5-star review while you’re at it.)

Sizing up the contenders

An 0-4 start wasn’t what Rice was hoping for, but expectations remain high at South Main because of the competitive nature of those defeats, particularly against Army and Baylor. There weren’t many outside of Houston who expected Rice to win any of their first four contests. The mere fact that they were a touchdown away from two big upsets was telling.

Like Rice, Louisiana Tech was beaten handily by Texas. Unlike Rice, Louisiana Tech won their other three games, including their Conference USA opener in Week 4 against FIU. The difference between the Bulldogs and the Owls early starts was the quality of the competition. Louisiana Tech has only played explicitly great team — they lost.

Saturday these two divergent storylines converge at South Main. Rice is out to prove they’re better than their record says while Louisiana Tech hopes to continue to stockpile on their winning resume as they build a case toward what they hope will be a C-USA West crown.

Series History

All Time | Louisiana Tech leads 8-4
Last Five | Louisiana Tech leads 5-0
Last Meeting | Away 2018, Louisiana Tech 28-13

Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Stewart – 36/61 (59.0 percent), 414 yards passing, 3 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Walter – 56 carries, 181 yards (3.2 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Rozner – 15 receptions, 250 yards (16.7 yards per reception)
Tackles | Alldredge – 29, Montero/Chamberlain – 26
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Alldredge/Smith/Thornton tied with 2 PBU

Louisiana Tech Stat Notables

Passing | Smith – 97/143 (67.8), 1108 yards passing, 5 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Henderson – 35 carries, 277 yards (7.9 yards per carry), 4 TD
Receiving | Hebert – 15 receptions, 218 yards (14.5 yards per reception), 2 TD
Tackles | Jackson – 30, Scott – 28
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Robertson – 7 PBU, 1 INT

Louisiana Tech X-Factor | Stopping the run

For Louisiana Tech, the formula for beating Rice starts with controlling the ground game. The Bulldogs have been solidly mediocre against the run this season. On the plus side, they were able to hold Bowling Green to 119 yards on 47 carries (2.5 yards per carry). In their other three games against Texas, Grambling State or FIU under they allowed an average of 167 yards rushing (4.7 yards per carry).

Rice has been the most successful on offense this season when the ground game is moving. Churning out a respectable rate on the ground opens everything else up. No ground game and the offense has struggled to get moving until the second half, at the earliest.

Louisiana Tech can’t afford to let Rice dictate the pace of the game in their own stadium. The Owls are frustrated with the 0-4 start and itching to impose their will on whoever shows up on their field next.

Rice X-Factor | Winning in the redzone

Beyond running the football successfully, Rice needs to finish drives. The Owls kicked their first two successful field goals in their last game against Baylor, but both game inside the redzone. Their final field goal came after the team squandered three straight attempts from the 6-yard line.

Assuming the offense is going to take more than one more week to work out the kinks, Rice needs to find a way to capitalize on their opportunities. As good as the defense has been early on, 13 points isn’t going to be enough to win many games. Turn those two field goal opportunities into touchdowns and Rice will be near the threshold it takes to grind out wins.

Louisiana Tech ranks first in Conference USA with a 50 percent touchdown rate in redzone possessions. They’ve turned their opponents away without any points on eight of 18 redzone trips. It’s going to be a tall task for the Owls.

Injury Report

Justin Gooseberry, Clay Servin and Reagan Williams highlighted a few somewhat surprising inactive for Rice against Baylor. We’ll be watching them closely this week. On a positive note, kicker Zach Hoban made his debut, handling kickoff duties last weekend.

Need More?

The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Season Preview has four pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth chart, important new arrivals and depth chart breakdowns for each foe. Better yet, it’s not just speculation, each profile was created with insight from local experts who cover those teams day in and day out. Pick up your copy today and get four pages and more than 1,000 words on every foe.

Pick ‘Em Contest

If you haven’t yet, make sure you submit your entry for The Roost’s weekly pick’em challenge. Choose an answer to each of the six questions below and submit them on the forum thread to enter.

  1. Which team has more rushing yards?
    Rice / Louisiana Tech
  2. How many field goals are made by both teams?
    Over 3.5 / Under 3.5
  3. Will both teams score in the first quarter?
    Yes / No
  4. How many third downs will Rice convert?
    Over 5.5 / Under 5.5
  5. Will Blaze Alldredge register at least two tackles for a loss?
    Yes / No
  6. Who wins?
    Rice / Louisiana Tech

One Final Thing

Opening conference play with a loss would be deflating for the Owls, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. The Rice offense is still very much a work in progress and they might have more questions at quarterback than they thought they would at this point of the season.

And Louisiana Tech is a solid football program which has won five consecutive bowl games. Rice would pick up the pieces and move on.

But, a win on Saturday would speak volumes. It would serve as validation, of sorts, to the Owls’ meticulous dedication to process and effort. If this team is as good as they believe themselves to be, there’s no reason the Owls can’t be a factor in Conference USA this season.

One game won’t definitely prove that one way or another, but those inside the Patterson Center could use some confirmation they’re on the right track. Bloomgren himself said it best. “We got a new season on the horizon. Every goal that our players put on the covenant is intact.”

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2020 Defensive end Jalen Reeves commits to Owls

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Prized defensive end target Jalen Reeves has committed to the Owls at the 2020 Rice football recruiting class continues to bring in elite talent.

The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class had plenty of skilled players. There were skill players like Khalan Griffin and Andrew Mason, defensive backs like Sean Fresch and Plae Wyatt and versatile athletes who will force their way onto the field somewhere like Devin Gunter and Cole Latos. But there wasn’t a top-flight pass-rushing defensive end.

Now there is. Florida defensive end Jalen Reeves has committed to Rice.

Reeves built a relationship with the Owls coaching staff over the summer. He was ready to commit to the Owls before he ever stepped foot on campus. Not only did Rice find a time to get him to South Main for the Baylor game; he committed on the spot.
Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

This is a huge get for Rice football. The Owls are no strangers to beating out Group of 5 programs, service academies and the Ivy League programs. Reeves had offers from all of those groups, but he also had offers from Boston College, NC State, Pitt, Syracuse and LSU. The 2020 Rice football recruiting class has taken the next step and is getting players sought after by elite college football programs across the nation.

With a little over two months until the early signing period, Rice has filled a little more than half of their class. Reeves’ addition puts the Owls at 14 commits and keeps them near the top of the 2020 Conference USA recruiting ranks.

Reeves was a sought after player for a reason. Those on staff view him as an “Anthony Ekpe 2.0” type of player. He has the power and the burst to move off blocks and get to the quarterback. Take a look at his highlights and smile. He’s going to be a fun one to watch at South Main for years to come.

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Rice Football: Owls rally falls short against Baylor Bears

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Another hard-fought nonconference game ended in defeat for Rice football who couldn’t rally from an early deficit against the Baylor Bears.

Rice football concluded their nonconference slate with their second straight bout with an in-state opponent. Baylor struck first but the Owls mounted a comeback which fell just short. Here are a few immediate takeaways from the game:

1. Shortening the game worked

When the first quarter ended Rice and Baylor were locked in a one-score game and the sun was still hanging in the sky. Despite the 6:00 p.m. kick, the Owls were able to fit an entire quarter in, and then some, before the stadium lights were needed. This is a theme we’ll see throughout this season.

The offense picked up three first downs in the first quarter and possessed the ball for a little more than five minutes. The defense bent, but only allowed the one touchdown. The formula in the second quarter was the same, with the Owls finding more success on offense — including their first successful field goal of the season.

Recruiting update | Owls gaining ground on priority targets

A week removed from giving up four consecutive touchdown drives against Texas with zero offensive points, Rice put a much more competitive product on the field and kept the score close, so close in fact that the Owls found themselves in a one-score game in the fourth quarter against a team most expected to run away from them.

2. Ground game goes quietly, again

Rice averaged 6.0 yards per carry in their season opener against Army. That included a long touchdown run by Nahshon Ellerbe, but even without the big gain, the Owls had success moving the ball on the ground. Since that Friday night, it’s been more than tough sledding.

The Owls tallied 67 rushing yards against Wake Forest, 87 against Texas and 64 against Baylor. For an offense that professes to live and die on pounding the rock, they were considerably less productive with the ground game controlled.

The opponents who were able to quiet the Owls’ rushing attack are all more talented and athletic than Army. They’re also more capable in the trenches than the remaining opponents on the schedule. Prior to Saturday, Rice hasn’t had an answer when the ground game isn’t working. The Owls needed the passing game to rise up, and it did.

3. This defense is going to win something

It might not be a championship (this year) but the Rice defense has proven themselves good enough to win games. Aside from a 50-yard touchdown against busted coverage — something which hasn’t happened as often this year as it did last year — the Rice defense played extremely well. In their previous two first halves, Baylor had scored 35 points against UTSA and 35 against SFA. Rice allowed 21.

Denzel Mims and RJ Sneed tallied 20 receptions for 244 yards and five touchdowns in their first two games. Rice held that duo to 126 yards and no scores on nine receptions.

Rice stopped Baylor on fourth down in this game, forcing a fumble in the process. They picked up another fumble on a botched exchange in the second quarter and should have gotten points off that turnover as well, but Chris Barnes missed the field goal.

Baylor hit a long pass down the sideline on their first possession of the third quarter. The defense responded by shutting down a wide receiver pass and stripping Brewer of the ball for their third forced fumble of the game.

3. Sustained drives make a difference

Getting to third and short has been a challenge for Rice. The Owls faced 18 third downs and converted eight of them. Five of those third downs were four yards or shorter. They converted four of those five. A good portion of that was the lack of effectiveness in the running game, but the passing game wasn’t consistent enough to set the Owls up in third and short often either.

Third down was a problem for this offense last year and a major factor in their inability to control games. Against Baylor, Rice converted three consecutive third downs on two separate occasions. Both possession ended with redzone field goals.

Better still, Rice found ways to move the ball before they found themselves in third down. Tom Stewart’s touchdown run came on the heels of a third and one conversion by Austin Walter.

4. The special teams dilemma

Bloomgren declined to make any public decisions regarding the placekicking entering Saturday’s contest. We saw incumbent Will Harrison come on and convert from 28 yards and 24 yards. Punter and team captain Chris Barnes missed late in the game from 44 yards.

Last year we saw Rice deploy a similar platoon situation. Jack Fox handled long field goals and Hayden Tobola kicked from roughly inside 40 yards.

Zach Hoban handled kickoffs against Baylor. He could be in the mix here as well once he’s fully recovered from an injury which kept him out of the first three games. Bottom line, this situation is still pretty hazy and we might not get clairt for a while.

5. The quarterback dilemma

Here are the final lines for both quarterbacks

Wiley Green | 13-of-23 passing for 128 yards
Tom Stewart | 5-of-8 passing for 50 yards with a 21-yard rushing touchdown

Green didn’t do much with his first two possessions of the game, ceding to Stewart as planned for the third series. Stewart made the most of his opportunity, connecting on two big third down throws, positioning Rice for two field goal attempts. Understandably, Bloomgren rode the hotter hand and kept Stewart in for the remainder of the first half.

Green started out the second half and was noticeably galvanized by the competition. He picked up a first down with his legs and drove the Owls the length of the field into the redzone ore the offense stalled. Stewart didn’t take a snap in the third quarter thanks to Green’s early success. Then Stewart reentered the game after Green got hit and promptly ripped off the 21-yard touchdown run.

Now Bloomgren is in a pickle. Both quarterbacks had their moments. At halftime I would have said Stewart was the better option. Then Green rallied in the second half. Conference play starts next week and it doesn’t look like Rice will have one definitive answer at the quarterback position.

5. No more mulligans. Conference play is here.

Slow starts have maligned the Rice offense through nonconference play. The defense has looked sharp, if not excellent. Next week those early themes will be put to the test in the first conference game of the season. An 0-4 start can fade quickly if Rice can find a way to reinvigorate the offense and keep the defense humming.

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Rice Football 2019 Game Preview: Week 4 vs Baylor Bears

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Rice Football wraps up nonconference play in Week 4 with a home game against Baylor. How to watch, stats to know, x-factor picks for both teams and more.

It’s been a tale of two very different seasons for Rice and Baylor in 2019. The Owls are 0-3, recipient of losses to Army, Wake Forest and Texas. The most recent defeat at the hands of the Longhorns was painful, but Rice will do their best this week to glean some learnings from the defeat and move on.

The Bears were able to watch Rice play from the comfort of their own homes last weekend. The second Big 12 team to visit Rice in Houston this year, Baylor had the first off week in Week 3. They’d previously defeated SFA and UTSA, both by wide margins.

It’s another all-Texas tussle in H-town. Here’s what you need to know about both Baylor and Rice before their Week 4 battle.

Broadcast Info

Kickoff time | 6:00 PM CT
Venu | Rice Stadium – Houston, Tx
TV | CBS Sports Network
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)
Streaming | CBSSN Online

Audio Preview

Catch the full preview of the Baylor game on Episode 9 of The Roost Podcast. Find us on the podcast page or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. (And consider leaving us a 5-star review while you’re at it.)

Sizing up the contenders

Baylor enters their game against Rice a step ahead of the Owls in their own rebuilding process. Matt Rhule went 1-11 in his first year in command in Waco, improving to 7-6 a year ago with a bowl victory over Vanderbilt to end the season. Now in Year 3, the Bears look to have recovered from a challenged state on the football field. They’ve come a long way.

Rice is in Year 2, coming off a two-win season under Bloomgren in 2018, in some ways a step ahead of the Bears with Rhule. That progress will be tested on the field on Saturday in a game which should feature a heavy ground attack from both teams.

Like Rice, Baylor likes to pound the rock. They’ve averaged 38 carries in their first two games compared to 30 pass attempts. Eight different players have at least one rushing touchdown, including starting quarterback Charlie Brewer who isn’t exactly a mobile guy. There’s no doubt Rice will be more committed to the ground game than Baylor, a strategy which served them well in a near-upset of Army in Week 1.

Series History

All Time | Baylor leads 49-30
Last Five | Baylor leads 5-0
Last Meeting | Home 2016, Baylor won 38-10

Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Stewart – 31/53 (58.5 percent), 364 yards passing, 3 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Walter – 42 carries, 170 yards (4.0 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Trammell – 16 receptions, 204 yards (12.8 yards per reception), 1 TD
Tackles | Alldredge – 21, Chamberlain – 20
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Alldredge – 2 PBU, Four others tied with 1

Baylor Stat Notables

Passing | Brewer – 33/47 (70.2), 362 yards passing, 6 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Bohanon – 13 carries, 177 yards (13.6 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Mims – 12 receptions, 147 yards (12.3 yards per reception), 3 TD
Tackles | Johnston – 11, Miller – 10
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Lynch – 1 INT/1 PBU, Five others tied with 1 PBU

Baylor X-Factor | Wide receiver play

The Rice secondary has taken significant strides from where they were a year ago. Texas got a receiver behind the back line and threw a deep ball for a run in touchdown, but the Owls defensive backs have kept most everyone else in front of them. Baylor will look to test that resiliency.

Denzel Mims (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) and RJ Sneed (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) each pose a size and height mismatch with the Rice corners. Baylor wants to run the ball, but they’ll look to keep the defense honest with this pair of elite playmakers. If the Bears can win through the air, it’s going to be hard for the Owls’ front seven to stay home and do what they do best.

Charlie Brewer isn’t a better quarterback than Wake Forest’s Jamie Newman or Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, but he’s more than capable of getting the ball to his playmakers. How effective he is in that endeavor and how Rice does in those matchups could be a telling factor in how this game will go.

Rice X-Factor | First down

The most important down for the Rice offense is the first one. Winning third down and staying on the field is an area the Owls’ need to improve in as well, but the effectiveness of the offense as a whole is dependent on what the team does on first down. When Rice is able to move the ball, setting up second and mediums they put their run-first offense on schedule.

Eventual third and short situations give Rice a wide-open playbook, something especially significant if they’re starting a backup quarterback again this week. Rice didn’t win first down against Texas until late in the second half. By the time Rice started to gain momentum in that department, the score was out of hand.

The running game will set the tone, but it’s going to take a team effort from the offensive line and receiving corps to ensure Rice can set the tone early. Opening things up from the start will change the complexion of this game.

Injury Report

Wiley Green has been cleared and will start for Rice on Saturday but Tom Stewart is still expected to be in the mix at quarterback. A full injury update is available here.

Need More?

The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Season Preview has four pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth chart, important new arrivals and depth chart breakdowns for each foe. Better yet, it’s not just speculation, each profile was created with insight from local experts who cover those teams day in and day out. Pick up your copy today and get four pages and more than 1,000 words on Baylor.

Pick ‘Em Contest

If you haven’t yet, make sure you submit your entry for The Roost’s weekly pick’em challenge. Choose an answer to each of the six questions below and submit them on the forum thread to enter.

  1. Will the Rice defense register their first interception?
    Yes / No
  2. Which team will throw more incomplete passes?
    Rice (or tie) / Baylor
  3. Who kicks the longest punt for Rice?
    Barnes / Nunez
  4. How many Rice players will have at least six tackles?
    Over 5.5 / Under 5.5
  5. Will Rice score more points in the first half or the second half?
    First Half (or even) / Second Half
  6. Who wins?
    Rice / Baylor

One Final Thing

This is the last in an arduous string of nonconference games for Rice in 2019. Keeping the active players healthy and getting injured plays back to full health should be at the top of the Owls’ priority list. While the strength and conditioning staff and medical team are focused on those efforts, the team will prepare for their last chance at a nonconference statement.

Losing to Baylor won’t doom the season, but the Owls are cognizant of the opportunity at hand. In their home stadium with three weeks of their own film to assess and improve on, Rice should put a better product on the field than they did in Week 3. That’s going to be critical for team morale as they enter into conference play the weekend following.

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Rice Football: Texas overwhelms Owls in lopsided affair

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Rice football couldn’t get things going on either side of the ball as the Owls fell in a one-sided game to the Texas Longhorns at NRG Stadium.

It was a tough night in Houston for the Rice Owls. Texas controlled the game against the hometown team from start to finish, thwarting the Owls every bright spot with a painful counterpunch of their own. After two “moral victories” this defeat stung a little bit more than the previous two. There will be plenty more to dissect in the coming days, for now, a few immediate reactions:

1. Offense comes out flat

Whether it was the absence of starting quarterback Wiley Green or the overt athleticism of the Texas front, Rice got nothing going on the offensive side of the ball. Rice went into halftime with 56 total yards of offense. The Owls ground game, their staple which kept them in a one-score contest against Army, was limited to 35 yards on 13 carries (2.7 yards per attempt).

The first down efforts bring into question something for which the Owls have yet to identify an answer: what do you do when you can’t run the ball? Against Wake Forest the Owls tested the waters threw the air and found moderate success. They didn’t try to attack the Longhorn secondary like they’d opened things up against Wake Forest, both times with backup Tom Stewart at the offensive controls.

The bright spot was a 45-yard bomb from Stewart to Trammell midway through the third quarter. The play was Trammell’s longest reception of his career. Rice wasn’t able to capitalize with points on the drive, a missed opportunity.

The offensive metrics weren’t good.

  1. 266 total yards
  2. 12 complete passess
  3. 2.8 yards per carry
  4. 5-of-13 on third down

This was a night where the Owls’ offense would gladly take a mulligan.

2. Pass rush woes

Good quarterbacks with time to throw are a bad combination for a defense. Rice found themselves in that uncomfortable situation throughout their Saturday tilt with Texas. The Owls tried a fair amount of things — different looks, stunts, extra rushers — the Texas offensive line held.

Ehlinger’s second touchdown pass of the day highlighted this struggle. You can count six different Owls around the pocket. Then Ehlinger unloads his big arm and sails a bomb over the head of Prudy Calderon, into the waiting arm of Jake Smith for a 53-yard touchdown.

Rice didn’t register any sacks against Army, understandable given the extremely few passing opportunities. The Owls were shutout in the sack department again in their second game against Wake Forest. It took 12 quarters, but Blaze Alldredge broke through with the Owls first sack of the season, taking down Texas backup Casey Thompson in the fourth quarter.

By and large, the front seven has been exceptional against the run. They just need to find a way to get to the quarterback more than once every three games.

3. Making them work for it on the ground

For as much as the struggled to generate a pass rush, the Rice front seven played the run well against an extremely talented Texas offensive line. Keaontay Ingram’s 26-yard fourth down touchdown run in the second quarter was well blocked and could have been mitigated had their not been a missed tackle in the secondary by Andrew Bird.

The talent discrepancy between the Owls and the Longhorns was clear when Texas through the ball. It wasn’t as apparent when they tried to run. Ingram’s touchdown was the longest Longhorn run of the night.

Film Room | Breaking down the Owls’ fourth down stop against Army

The grind of the game resulted in a smattering of 10-12 yard carries in the second half, inflating what started off a sub-three yards per carry allowed metric to 4.8 yards per carry by the end of the game.

When Texas tried to run up the middle, they didn’t get very far. The edge held well, too. Texas isn’t known for their power running, but the level to which the Owls were able to win on the line of scrimmage and clog rush lanes was impressive. That bodes extremely well for conference play.

4. Not there yet

In a season full of optimistic losses, this game didn’t feel nearly as rosy. Rice was competitive against Army and Wake Forest. They weren’t against Texas. The Longhorns were better on all phases and the results on the field showed that. Rice has a long way to go before they’re ready to go toe to toe with Texas, but that’s okay.

Rice knew how challenging the nonconference schedule was before the season started. An 0-3 start matches where most projections had the Owls at this point. If anything, one could argue the team is punching over their belt given how close they’ve come to winning any of these first three games.

There’s no rest for the weary. Rice will return to action next week against a Baylor squad that outscored SFA and UTSA by a combined score of 119-31. The Owls’ coaching staff will be back to the drawing board, tasked with correcting the offensive struggles and defensive breakdowns over the next week.

Beating Texas isn’t the measuring stick for this team, not yet. Let’s not throw out the positives from the first few weeks of the season because Rice lost to a team ranked inside the Top 15. Last year’s Conference USA Champs, UAB, trailed Texas A&M 34-7 after three quarters, and their season ended up being a tremendous success. The year is young. And hey, the Owls are winning in the classroom.

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