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Rice Football 2023: Tulane Game Week Practice Report

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Rice football heads home this weekend for a massive game against AAC frontrunner Tulane. Here’s what we learned from practice this week.

It was back to business as usual for Rice football on the practice field this week. The Owls came out firing early in the week, looking crisp on both sides of the ball as they prepare for one of their toughest challenges yet: a ranked Tulane team visiting Rice Stadium this weekend. Before kickoff, Rice had a few things to iron out on the practice field.

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This week’s roundup focuses on some of the successes Rice football unearthed against Tulsa and how they plan to keep those good things going, plus some special teams and injury updates and a few nuggets on offensive playmakers who could be on the rise.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

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Rice Football 2023 Game Preview: Tulane

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Rice football heads back to Houston to host Tulane this weekend. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

There is only one matchup this weekend pitting AAC teams with winning conference records and it’s being played in  Houston. Rice football hosts Tulane a week removed from a primetime win over Tulsa on the road. Tulane comes to town fresh off a victory over North Texas. Here’s everything you need to know about this week’s matchup between Rice and Tulane.

Kickoff time | 3:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN2 (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Tulane on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. Look for a recap of the game on the site afterward as well as on The Roost Podcast, which should be released early next week.

Sizing up the contenders

Tulane is still in the driver’s seat for the New Year’s Six bowl slot for the Group of 5. A loss to anyone along the way wouldn’t necessarily slam the door on that chance, but it would make it considerably more challenging. The margin of error is fully dependent on how well others play. The Mean Green would much prefer to control their own destiny in that respect, making a win on Saturday important.

Rice football doesn’t have New Year’s Six aspirations, but they do still have hopes for a conference championship game appearance. That would get much more challenging should they take on any additional losses. 3-1 with a win against the current conference favorite would officially put Rice on the map.

Series History

All Time | Rice leads, 20-15-1
Last Five | Rice leads, 4-1
Last Meeting | Home 2013, Rice won 17-13

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Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Daniels – 155/243 (63.8 percent), 2173 yards, 17 TD, 5 INT
Rushing | Connors – 50 carries, 300 yards (6.0 yards per carry), 4 TD / Otoviano – 47 carries, 171 yards (3.6 yards per carry), 2 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 36 receptions, 613 yards (17.0 yds/rec), 7 TDs / MacNeill – 21 receptions, 281 yards (13.4 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Conti – 46 / Wyatt – 45 / Morrison – 43
Pass Breakups | Fresch, Taylor – 5 / Devones – 4, Wyatt, Jean – 3
Interceptions | Taylor, Devones, Conti – 1

Tulane Stat Notables

Passing | Pratt – 80/113 (70.8 percent), 1121 yards, 12 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Hughes – 118 carries, 619 yards (5.2 yards per carry), 5 TD / Clayton-Johnson – 28 carries, 116 yards (4.1 ypc), 0 TD
Receiving | Keys – 27 receptions, 494 yards (18.3 yards per reception), 6 TD / Jackson – 19 receptions, 329 yards (17.3 yds/rec), 4 TD
Tackles | Machado – 51 / Despaine – 37 / Grubbs – 31
Pass Breakups | Pedescleaux – 7 / Eight others tied with 2
Interceptions | Robinson – 4 / Five others tied with 1

Tulane X-Factor | Stay on the field

Tulane and Rice rank second and third in the AAC, respectively, in time of possession. For both squads, being able to control the game and dictate how it’s played has been a crucial factor in their success. It’s how Rice was able to post their largest FBS win of the season last Thursday, controlling the second half almost entirely with two long possessions.

Rice is 0-2 this season when losing the time of possession battle whereas Tulane’s success hasn’t been as neatly tied to whether or not they control the clock. If the Green Wave are able to maintain command this time, though, they’ll be able to amplify any miscues the Owls have. A three-and-out becomes much more costly when you don’t get to see the ball again for an extended period of time.

Tulane must seek to give Rice a dose of its own medicine. Force the home team to execute to near-perfect standards when they have the football and minimize their margin for error. That’s given Rice trouble in the past and it could prove fatal against a team as talented as Tulane. 

Rice X-Factor | Hit some home runs

Rice won’t allow themselves to be intimidated against the reigning AAC Conference Champions. They’ll enter Saturday believing they can hang with the Green Wave. They can solidify those beliefs further by proving they can impose their will offensively against a Tulane defense that has been a bit leakier in the secondary than they’d like to admit. 

Tulane ranks 12th in the AAC in pass plays of 10+ yards allowed and 10th in pass plays of 20+ yards. Rice, on the other side of the ledger, leads all AAC teams in the latter category and is second in the former. Rice quarterback JT Daniels has become this team’s biggest asset and they’ve leaned into that identity in full force in their wins so far.

Sustained drives against the Tulane defense is a tough ask. Getting a few chunk plays here and there, particularly through the air, will go a long way toward helping Rice trade blows with the Tulane offense. It’s critical the Owls find success downfield.

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One Final Thing

Earlier odds have Tulane as a 10.5-point favorite against Rice on Saturday. In actuality, the Owls are the underdogs, a role they’ve reprised well in the past. Only two programs in the country, Wyoming and Ohio, have more outright wins as a home underdog since 2021 than Rice. Rice has been a home underdog just once this season, in Week 2 against Houston. They won outright.

The line is also indicative of a game oddsmakers project to be much more winnable than one might have initially thought. Tulane enters this game as a Top 25 team. Rice hasn’t beaten a ranked team since 2020. Nevertheless, Rice’s impressive performance against Tulsa has evidently gotten oddsmakers’ attention. When this time is rolling, they’re dangerous.

Now, whether or not they’re firing on all cylinders is a legitimate question. The UConn debacle isn’t all that far in the rearview mirror just yet. But the opportunity they have in front of them right now is quite tangible. Rice football should be able to hang with this team. If they can keep it close long enough, they might just have another historic upset on their hands, but they’d better come to play.

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Rice Football flips script, soars past Tulsa

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Rice Football earned a prime-time win on Thursday night, forcing three turnovers on their way to beating Tulsa on the road to move to 2-1 in AAC play.

The defense started the night strong with three turnovers in the first quarter, buying time before the offense exploded for 35 points. Both sides did enough to secure a much-needed victory over Tulsa on the road on ESPN.

The win was the Owls’ largest conference road win since 2003 and their first double-digit conference win of any kind since 2000. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Mine!

Rice football lost the turnover battle last time out, giving UConn the ball four times. With no takeaways of their own, that proved to be a recipe for disaster in a game the Owls would go on to lose. Flipping that script was a central talking point during the bye week, but it’s one thing to talk about forcing more turnovers and it’s another thing entirely to do what they did on Thursday night.

Gabe Taylor intercepted Tulsa’s first pass attempt of the evening. Then, following a turnover on downs, Rice ended another drive with a forced fumble with Jojo Jean knocking the ball away from quarterback Braylon Braxton into the arms of teammate De’Braylon Carroll. Josh Pearcy joined the fray on the next series, punching the ball out again, this time for Myron Morrison to recover.

Coming into Thursday night, Rice had forced two turnovers in their past 12 quarters of play, one apiece against South Florida and East Carolina. They surpassed that total in a single quarter against Tulsa, helping propel themselves to a 14-0 lead.

The Owls seem to have leaned all the way into a havoc-centric defensive scheme. They’ll give up chunk plays and set up looser coverage at times to ensure they keep the ball in front of them. If they compliment it with tackles for loss – they had seven against Tulsa — and turnovers, that might just get the job done.

Instant Rice and Ball Control

Alongside the explosive start by the Rice defense, the offense delivered several succinct scoring drives. The first was a two-play, 70-yard drive thanks to this breakaway touchdown run by Dean Connors:

Then another via a two-play, 53-yard drive concluded by this dart from Daniels to McCaffrey:

Rice entered this game as the top offense in the AAC in 30+ yard plays per game. That’s a stark difference from the team that had leaned on lengthy, 10+ play, clock-controlling drives in years past. When you have someone as capable as JT Daniels at quarterback, you might as well put his arm to good use. Rice is certainly doing that this year.

In fact, Daniels has completed a 30+ yard pass to 10 different pass catchers so far this season.

It’s also worth noting Daniels was not at his best early on . He finished the game completing 65 percent of his passes, but he started 5-of-13. Several of his throws went long, overshooting open receivers on plays that could have turned into significant gains. But that’s part of what makes the explosive plays so big.

When you’re missing your shots, even a few big gains can generate all the points you need. And when you’re locked in, the touchdowns arrive in bunches. Daniels finished the evening with 342 passing yards, two touchdowns and one, big win.

But it was how the Owls ended the night that was equally impressive. Their first three scoring drives took less than a minute. Their last two were both 13-plus plays and 8:00+ minutes. Dean Connors provided the exclamation point, running in a third touchdown on his nine-carry, 120-yard night.

It was a complete offensive performance, mixing the quick strike with relentless efficiency, by far their best outing of the year.

Special teams up and down

After a horrendous special teams day against UConn, the Rice coaching staff elected not to make any significant changes to personnel for this game. The results weren’t quite as disastrous — no turnovers were committed — but it wasn’t a great outing either. Results were decidedly up and down.

Conor Hunt’s first punt traveled just 37 yards and set Tulsa up with great field position. His next kick was near-perfect though, pinning Tulsa inside their own five-yard line on a perfect hanging kick that gave his coverage team plenty of time to get under the ball.

Punt returner Sean Fresch made a dangerous decision to field a punt in the final seconds in the first half, but made the catch off the bounce cleanly. He then delivered a 20-yard return to start the second half, getting Rice out of the shadow of its own endzone.

Enoch Gota booted the opening kickoff of the second half out of bounds but otherwise didn’t allow any returns. Rice did not attempt any field goals, but Tim Horn connected on all five extra-point tries.

Needed it. Got it.

Before the game, ESPN ran an interesting blub with their pregame commentary. They gave Rice a 37 percent chance to reach six wins as things currently stood. Those odds were set to nearly double should they beat Tulsa. Their win on Thursday elevated their current win total to four with a game left against Charlotte (who was a touchdown underdog to an ECU team Rice beat a few weeks ago).

As we learned against UConn, there are no gimmies with this team, not yet. But, Rice should be set up to have more than a puncher’s chance at a second-straight bowl season with two wins in their final five games. The road ahead is tough — defending AAC champion Tulane comes to Rice Stadium next weekend — but it’s tangible. And it won’t require a Herculean performance to get there.

“It just shows you that when we play the way we’re capable of, we can do some really fun things,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said postgame.

Rice needed this game. They absolutely had to have this game. And they found a way to win. We’ve watched this team mature over the course of the past few seasons and the past seven games. They’re proven they can beat anyone if they don’t beat themselves. Too often that seems a popular football cliche. This team is living it out, this time on national TV.

“I don’t think so,” Bloomgren chuckled when asked if he could have envisioned a better primetime performance. “What a great platform and I felt they used it really well.”

Rice football is its own worst enemy. On Thursday, they were their biggest advocates. A team playing that well can hang with anyone. The Owls just need to find a way to make sure that squad that won on the road shows up again next Saturday and each Saturday from this point onward.

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Getting off the field

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Rice Football 2023: Tulsa Game Week Practice Report

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Rice football is off the bye and headed to Tulsa for a prime-time conference game. Here’s what we learned from practice this week.

Following two weeks of prep, Rice football is on its way north to play Tulsa in what has the makings of a pivotal AAC game for both squads. The Owls got started on their game plan last week and added the finishing touches over the last several days, including some hotly contested special teams battles and some potential playing time risers over the last several practices.

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This week’s roundup focuses on those potential changes over the bye week, what the Owls might do differently from a personnel standpoint and as always, a few injury notes, both good and bad.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Bye week adjustments

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 163 – Eeek! Rice Football falls to UConn

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A previously winless UConn team handed Rice Football its first home loss of the season. There’s no way to sugarcoat this one.

After starting the season 3-0 at home including a Power 5 win, Rice football lost to UConn in Week 5 as double-digit favorites. The loss soured tempers heading into the bye week, which now becomes a much-needed time to reassess. But before we look too far into the future, let’s recap the game.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 163.

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.

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Recapping Rice Football vs UConn

  • When just about everything that could go wrong does go wrong…
  • Special teams and turnovers were the biggest pain points, but every unit had its faults
  • Unpacking the offensive gameplan. Does it make sense?
  • How does this game impact season-long expectations?
  • Can this team find consistency again?
  • Is it fair to call the upcoming Tulsa game a must-win?

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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