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Rice Football 2024 Spring Practice Notebook 3: Scrimmage 1

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Rice football wrapped up its first scrimmage of spring practice on Saturday which began with the offense marching down the field for a touchdown.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren said he was “incredibly pleased” when the first scrimmage of the spring concluded on Saturday. Rice football got some splash plays from their offense, a few defensive highlights and lots of different faces onto the field in a busy afternoon at Rice Stadium. More on how the quarterbacks faired as well as the biggest takeaways from the scrimmage:

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Offense starts fast

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Rice Baseball swept by Stanford

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Rice baseball left Reckling Park without a win this weekend, falling in three straight games to Stanford.

FRIDAY | Stanford 6 – Rice 2

The home crowd exploded with cheers when Jack Riedel launched a seventh-inning pitch over the left field berm for a no-doubt, leadoff home run. While the blast was impressive, it also represented the Owls’ first hit of the night in a game they trailed 5-0 before that ball crossed over the fence.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball drops midweek bout with LSU

Stanford starting pitcher Matt Scott had allowed just two base runners to that point, both on walks. Smith outdueled Rice ace Parker Smith who had labored through six innings, earning the loss. A late-inning rally would prove too little, too late.

SATURDAY | Stanford 8 – Rice 2

Following a spectacular complete game the weekend prior, Rice pitcher JD McCracken was not as fortunate this time out. He labored through 5.2 innings, leaving in a precarious spot in the sixth before two more runs were added to his ledger on a double surrendered by Jack Ben-Shoshan.

Trailing 8-0 with one hit of their own, Rice couldn’t mount a meaningful comeback. Jack Riedel gave the Owls their only offensive spark of the day, lifting a two-out home run over the wall to prevent a shutout. That salvaged some pride but had no impact on the Owls’ chances at a comeback.

SUNDAY | Stanford 4 – Rice 3

Although Stanford did strike first once again, things were much closer on Sunday in the series finale. After the Cardinal put up a two-spot in the first, Rice rallied to tie the game in the second inning. Treyton Rank delivered a key RBI double to even the score at 2-2.

The game would remain deadlocked there until the fifth inning when Stanford chased Rice start Ryland Urbanczyk from the game and moved ahead on a two-run homer off his successor, Tom Vincent. Rice got one back in the bottom half of the inning but wouldn’t score again.

Rice had a chance to break through in the eighth but stranded the bases loaded. Davion Hickson was a bright spot in the late innings, striking out five in 3.1 scoreless.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball wrapped up a rough week on the diamond with a weekend sweep at the hands of Stanford. Here are three takeaways from the series:

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1. Missing my Guy

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ON DECK | vs PVAMU (Tues), at Hawaii (Fri-Mon)

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Rice Women’s Basketball runs out of gas vs North Texas

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Rice Women’s Basketball played North Texas tight for 38 minutes before the Owls shooting struggles finally came home to roost.

For 38 minutes, Rice women’s basketball and North Texas were locked in the makings of a class game between these two Texas-based powers. Through 38 minutes, neither team led by more than six points. There were 10 ties and seven lead changes. The back-and-forth was constant and neither team ever felt in control.

Malia Fisher and Emily Klaczek were productive from the field with Sussy Ngulefac coming off the bench with a team-high 13 points as well as four boards. Everything seemed to be going well for the home team until all of a sudden the shots stopped falling at the most inopportune time.

More: Roost Podcast — Spring Roundup

The Owls missed eight consecutive shots in the final 2:05 before a last-second layup that proved irrelevant to the final result. The run of misses inflated a woeful day from deep in which Rice converted a dismal 3-of-30 attempts from three-point range, further depressing a disappointing 31 percent shooting performance from the field.

Final Box | North Texas 63 – Rice 54

Key takeaway | Slipping away

There’s never a good time to lose four in a row, but the last weeks of the regular season are a particularly painful time to do so. Two weeks ago the double-bye in the conference tournament looked exceedingly likely. Today, not so much.

Rice is currently tied in the win column with Charlotte,  UAB, Memphis and UTSA. They don’t hold the tiebreaker with any of those four, with the Roadrunners still on the schedule in the final game of the regular season. That lack of a tiebreaker is what makes the double-bye seem so out of reach right now.

If Charlotte beats FAU on Sunday or ECU on Tuesday, they’ll be guaranteed the spot ahead of Rice in the standings. The same goes for UAB if they’re able to beat Wichita State on Tuesday.

The Owls’ only chance right now would require Charlotte to lose both games, UAB to lose to Wichita State, Memphis to lose to North Texas AND Rice to beat UTSA. If that exact scenario happened, Rice would finish 10-8, a game ahead of that entire grouping.

Up Next: at UTSA (Tuesday, Mar. 5)

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Biggest questions for Rice Football spring ball: February 2024 Q&A

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With Rice football set to open spring practice at the beginning of March, this month’s Q&A gets a jump start on key questions for the spring.

Basketball season is winding down. Baseball season is starting up. For Rice football, though, something is going on year-round. The latter was the focus of this month’s Q&A, specifically what sort of questions and expectations we should have for the Owls before they take the gridiron again for spring ball next week.

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Q: At the risk of getting too far ahead of myself, what are you most interested in for Rice football spring practices?

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 172 – Rice Football Offseason Roundup

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A lot has happened since the Rice football season ended. The Owls have signed new players, added a new assistant and more. We recap the news.

Once again, Rice football has made program history, signing the highest-rated class in school history. That feat included a couple of big wins in the run up to National Signing Day including stud North Shore defensive back Lavonte Johnson, Westfield running back Taji Atkins and more.

We recap signing day, discuss the latest on the transfer front and discuss the state of the Rice roster, coaching staff and more as we creep closer and closer to spring football.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 172.

Episode Notes

DCTF

The Roost Podcast is now part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts, but now under the DCTF banner.

Homefield

We’re thrilled to partner with Homefield Apparel, the premier proprietor of college football clothing. First-time buyers can use the code ROOST for 15% off their order. The Owls hoodie is a personal favorite. So is the brand new Luv-Ya-Owls shirt. Shop the Rice collection or pick up something else (or both)!

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Rice Football Offseason Roundup

  • 2024 Rice Football recruiting class superlatives
  • Lavonte Johnson, Taji Atkins and key new additions
  • Recruiting rankings: do we buy them? Why or why not?
  • Roster review: what gaps do the Owls have?
  • Luke McCaffrey shows out at the Senior Bowl, gets Combine invite
  • Basketball seasons winding down
  • Baseball starting
  • Shop at Homefield

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

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