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Rice Football 2022 Game Preview: LA Tech

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Rice football makes its final visit to Ruston, LA as a member of Conference USA to play Louisiana Tech. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Anxious to move past frustrating road losses, both Rice football and Louisiana Tech meet in search of a win in Week 8. The Rice Owls fell to the Owls of FAU in Boca Raton while Louisiana Tech dropped their game against North Texas in Denton. Here’s everything you need to know about the game.

Kickoff time | 2:00 PM CT
Venue | Joe Aillet Stadium – Ruston, LA
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Louisiana Tech 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. 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

With the bye week behind both clubs and six games remaining, both programs feel like they could be nearing a tipping point in terms of where this season is headed. Rice is 3-3. Louisiana Tech is 2-4. A bowl berth is on the table for both clubs, with more pressure on Owls’ headman Mike Bloomgren to deliver in Year 5 to deliver a trip to the postseason.

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Series History

All Time | Louisiana Tech leads, 9-5
Last Five | Louisiana Tech leads, 4-1
Last Meeting | Home 2021, Rice won 35-31

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Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | McMahon – 97/164 (59.2 percent), 1277 yards, 10 TD, 10 INT
Rushing | Broussard – 85 carries, 233 yards (2.7 yards per carry), 9 TD / Montgomery – 27 carries, 211 yards (7.8 yards per carry), 0 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 33 receptions, 384 yards (11.7 yds/rec), 3 TD / Rozner – 19 receptions, 447 yards (23.5 yds/rec), 4 TDs / Esdale – 19 receptions, 239 yards (12.6 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Morrison – 40 / Conti – 34 / Taylor – 25
Pass Breakups | Dunbar, Morrison – 3 / Taylor, Fresch, Narcisse – 2 
Interceptions | Taylor – 2 / Morrison, Nyakwol, Chamberlain – 1

LA Tech Notables

Passing | McNeil – 78/137 (56.9 percent), 1167 yards, 12 TD, 7 INT
Rushing | Crosby – 59 carries, 342 yards (5.5 yards per carry), 3 TD / Thornton – 24 carries, 113 yards (4.7 ypc), 1 TD
Receiving | Hebert – 20 receptions, 403 yards (20.2 yards per reception), 3 TD / Harris – 25 receptions, 376 yards (15.0 yds/rec), 3 TD
Tackles | Grubbs – 48 / Williamson – 37 / Cole, Davis – 29
Pass Breakups | Roberts – 5 /  Johnson – 4 / Cole – 2
Interceptions | Roberts – 2 / Four others tied with 1

LA Tech X-Factor | Cash in

Rice has had its struggles on offense this year, but the Owls’ defense has been extremely stout. Florida Atlantic barely scratched across 17 points last weekend, well below their season average. Points will be at a premium this coming weekend, necessitating the need to capitalize on every opportunity, which is something Louisiana Tech has struggled to do this season.

Louisiana Tech ranks ninth in Conference USA in red zone touchdown percentage, putting the ball in the box on just 50 percent of their red zone opportunities. That deficiency reared its head against North Texas last weekend, too. The Bulldogs settled for a field goal despite reaching the one-yard line. North Texas responded with a touchdown on the next possession and the game was never close again.

If Louisiana Tech gets close, they have to leave the redzone with touchdowns. Kicking field goals on limited chances is not a recipe for success.

Rice X-Factor | Run the ball

Louisiana Tech enters Week 8 allowing 263 rushing yards per game, the worst mark in Conference USA. The Bulldogs have been a sieve in that aspect of their defense, allowing a staggering 6.4 yards per carry.

Rice, conversely, has struggled immensely to run the football. Their limitations in that phase have heaped extra pressure on quarterback TJ McMahon and led to inconsistent drives and challenging offensive situations. If Rice can’t run the football on this defense, there are going to have to be some hard questions asked about the optics of this offense moving forward.

If Rice can run the ball, it’s hard to envision this offense not finding tremendous success. The solution to the Owls’ offensive woes isn’t solely that simple, but it would go a long way to getting back in rhythm on that side of the ball.

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One Final Thing

Through six games, two truths about Rice football seem abundantly clear. First, this team is the best team Mike Bloomgren has assembled at South Main. From the roster construction to their performances through the first half of the season, it’s hard to argue any of Bloomgren’s other squads even comes that close. Second, this team’s consistency needs to improve, drastically.

The Rice team that blew past Louisiana at home should have no trouble dispatching Louisiana Tech on the road. That said, the iteration of the Owls that was unable to score and unable to finish against Florida Atlantic isn’t going to win many additional conference games.

At this point, it seems the true version of Rice football is closer to the team that beat Louisiana than the one that lost to Florida Atlantic. How close the Owls can get to that team, or even better, will determine the fate of this upcoming matchup and the rest of the season. Needless to say, Saturday’s game against Louisiana Tech is extremely important.

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Rice Football falters late, falling to FAU on the road

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Rice Football started fast, but couldn’t hold on, squandering a fourth-quarter lead as they fell to the FAU Owls on the road on Saturday.

Rice football scored the first 14 points and looked to be on their way to their first road win of the season but it would not come to pass. FAU answered with 17 unanswered points, clamping down late to thwart the Owls’ late.

“I wish I could tell you that they made some great adjustments,” Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren said in the aftermath. “They really kept doing what they were doing and our execution faltered and that’s the disappointing part.”

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Explosive, but imperfect offense can’t do enough

Rice football is still searching for a seamless offensive game, but their current less-than-perfect somewhat boom-or-bust operation is getting the job done. The road Owls started the game going backward, losing 16 yards on their first drive of the game. On the very next sequence, McMahon hit Bradley Rozner for this career-long 78-yard touchdown reception.

McMahon and Rozner guided the team down the field for another score immediately afterward. Up 14-0, Rice had the ball again with the chance to deliver a third potentially soul-crushing score in the final minutes of the first quarter. Instead, McMahon threw two passes which probably each should have been intercepted by the FAU defense.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice football vs FAU

McMahon would miss open receivers on the subsequent drive too, which ended with a failed fourth-down conversion. FAU scored on their next possession, then the offense went three-and-out for the third time in six drives.

Tack on another deflected interception (how????) and McMahon’s third interception on the subsequent drive and it would end up dooming what seemed to be such a promising day in the first quarter. McMahon had rough day. So did the offensive line. The entire unit is going to have some rough conversations in the film room this week.

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren was brutally honest in his postgame remarks. “We have to do better,” he said. “14 points in a football game doesn’t win. It doesn’t win in college football. Not scoring in the second half doesn’t win, we know those things. We’ve got to get better.

In prior years, explosive plays were few and far between, resulting in stagnant offensive performances. Rice is hitting big plays this year, but it hasn’t figured out the consistency just yet. If they can iron out the warts, this offense has the potential to really take off.

Big play defense

It’s been the Rice defense that’s allowed this offense to learn on the job. They’ve been absolutely superb this season and that strong showing continued on Saturday. For the most part, they made the routine plays, allowing a few explosive plays to FAU but largely playing fundamentally sound football. It was third and fourth down where they flexed their muscles.

FAU was 6-of-17 on third down and 0-of-4 when facing third and nine or longer. When this defense gets the green light and is allowed to pin their ears back and go, bad things tend to happen for the other team.

Then there were the big plays. Not to be outdone by the fireworks of Rozner and McMahon, several Rice defenders delivered equally impactful moments of their own. Josh Pearcy shut down an FAU drive with a third down sack. George Nyakwol forced a fumble that resulted in a third-and-33 attempt for the home team. Myron Morrison slipped in front of a receiver on fourth down and knocked the ball to the turf.

No play was bigger, though, than Kirk Lockhart’s goal line hit at the end of the third quarter. FAU was inches away from the go-ahead touchdown when Lockhart knocked the ball out, forcing a fumble that went out of the endzone for a touchback. Pressed to the brink yet again, the defense stood tall.

The offense is much improved and it has been really, really fun to watch at times. Nevertheless, the defense remains the backbone of this team and they did everything they could on Saturday.

Linebacker reload, complete

Rice football fans were spoiled by the incredible tandem of Blaze Alldredge and Antonio Montero in the middle of the defense for the last few years. When they departed, Alldredge to Missouri and Montero to Villanova, it seemed like nearly a forgone conclusion the Owls would be taking a step back at that position.

Well, midway through the 2022 season, Chris Conti and Myron Morrison are making a case for quite the opposite. Conti posted five tackles against FAU. Morrison led the team with 15 tackles of his own. Those two entered the game leading Rice in tackles and they leave the game still No. 1 and No. 2 atop the leaderboard.

“I think both Myron and Chris are both playing great football, ” Bloomgren said. “The guys up front are doing their job too, which is making it a little bit easier for them to run and hit. But when they’re able to make those plays and get people on the ground, obviously that’s what gets us into those third and longs and allows our defense to go eat a little bit.”

The entire defense is playing well, but the linebacker core has earned a nod. Every team loses good players. Replacing them without missing a beat is what great teams do. The Owls are heading in that direction right now, particularly on defense.

Slipped away

After just six games, Rice football sits at 3-3. The Owls are one win shy of matching their win total from the entirety of the 2021 season. Entering the season, that seemed to be about par for the opening half of the season, but it doesn’t feel like met expectations as the team flies home empty-handed from Boca Raton.

The Owls had the chance to be one of just three remaining unbeaten teams in conference play, with matchups looming against Louisiana Tech, Charlotte and UTEP, all of which own sub-.500 records overall. Rice is still likely to be favored in at least one of those games, if not two. Things still look bright, but the luster isn’t quite nearly the same as it could have been with a fourth-quarter lead.

Simply put, at the midpoint of October, it might have been time to start having legitimate Conference USA Championship discussions about Rice football. They’re not out of the mix just yet and they own a win over UAB, but they’ve taken a step back after some stellar showings in the early weeks of the season.

Now it’s time to start talking about finding their first road win of the season. Once that happens, more aspirational conversations can recommence. Their next chance comes next weekend against Louisiana Tech.

“I wish we could go practice right now, to be hoenst with you,” Bloomgren said. “We’ve got a lot of good things going on this team. We’ve got a few things we got to figure out. But I want that opportunity to play that road game next week. I can’t wait to play that road game next Saturday.”

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Rice Football 2022: FAU Game Week Practice Report

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Rice football travels to the Sunshine State this weekend to play FAU. Here’s what we learned from practice as the Owls prep for C-USA’s other Owls.

Rice football returns from their bye week in search of their first road win of the season. FAU, the only Conference USA squad Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren has yet to play, promises to be another good test for this rising team.

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This week’s roundup highlights changes on the team during the bye week, focusing on some up-and-coming players and a few healthy players set to make their 2022 debuts after injuries sidelined them earlier in the year. Plus, continuity on the offensive line… finally!

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Rice Football 2022 Game Preview: FAU

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Fresh off a bye, Rice football heads east to the beach this week to play FAU. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

After a grueling opening month, both Rice football and FAU were off this past weekend, giving them time to recover and get healthy before they start the second half stretch of their 2022 seasons. Prior to the break, Rice upset UAB for the second time in as many years while FAU fell to North Texas in Denton just up the road. Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup of Owls against Owls.

Kickoff time | 5:00 PM CT
Venue | FAU Stadium – Boca Raton, FL
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs FAU 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. 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

FAU enters the game in a precarious position. Following a tough nonconference stretch that included games against Purdue and UCF, the Owls fell at home to North Texas. They bring a 2-4 record into their first game after the break. A win would help their bowl aspirations and keep them in the mix for a conference title run. A loss might knock them out of both.

Conversely, Rice football is feeling much better about where they’re at exiting their open week. 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference. These Owls can take another step forward with a win on the road against a team that was originally projected to finish near the top of the conference standings.

Got Questions?

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Series History

All Time | Rice leads, 2-1
Last Five | Rice leads, 2-1
Last Meeting | Home 2016, FAU won 42-25

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to attack this week’s opponent, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. Don’t miss out! Join now!

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Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | McMahon – 87/136 (64.0 percent), 1080 yards, 9 TD, 7 INT
Rushing | Broussard – 75 carries, 192 yards (2.6 yards per carry), 8 TD / Montgomery – 24 carries, 186 yards (7.8 yards per carry), 0 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 31 receptions, 361 yards (11.7 yds/rec), 3 TD / Rozner – 15 receptions, 312 yards (20.8 yds/rec), 3 TDs / Esdale – 19 receptions, 239 yards (12.6 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Taylor – 26 / Conti, Morrison – 25 / Nyakwol – 19
Pass Breakups | Dunbar – 3 / Morrison, Taylor, Fresch – 2 / Three others tied with one
Interceptions | Taylor – 2 / Morrison, Nyakwol, Chamberlain – 1

FAU Notables

Passing | Perry – 115/203 (56.7 percent), 1512 yards, 15 TD, 5 INT
Rushing | McMammon III- 84 carries, 512 yards (6.1 yards per carry), 2 TD / Mobley – 63 carries, 325 yards (5.2 ypc), 3 TD
Receiving | Wester – 39 receptions, 442 yards (11.3 yards per reception), 8 TD / Edrine – 19 receptions, 287 yards (15.1 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Williams – 58 / Adams – 34 /  Toombs – 33
Pass Breakups | Mungin – 3 / Antoine – 2 / Adams, Toombs, Young, McKithen, Cook – 1
Interceptions | Toombs – 2 / Young, McKithen – 1

FAU X-Factor | Keep the ball in front of you

Florida Atlantic is tied for eighth in Conference USA in explosive plays allowed on defense. Only two programs have allowed more 20+ yard plays than the Owls (28) who have also been burned on plays of 50+ yards on five separate occasions. The latter is one play better than Charlotte which owns the second-worst defense in the FBS.

Interestingly enough, FAU has actually been pretty good when it comes to getting off the field on defense if they can keep the ball in front of them. They rank second in Conference USA in opponent’s third down conversion rate (33.8 percent). It’s been the big play that’s done them in time and time again.

Through five weeks, Rice has only produced 18 plays of 20+ yards, which ranks 10th in the conference. But the Owls do have plenty of playmakers capable of breaking off a big run or racking up copious amounts of yardage after the catch. FAU needs to be ready.

Rice X-Factor | Get the run game going

Rice football has found ways to win, ultimately that’s what really matters, but running the football efficiently really hasn’t been as critical to the team’s success as one might have expected. The Owls have averaged 3.6 yards per carry or worse in each of their last three games and haven’t reached the 150-yard rushing mark against any of their FBS opponents yet this season.

FAU is the worst run defense Rice has faced this season, coming in at 100th nationally allowing 173 yards per game on the ground. North Texas ran for 300 yards against this team in their last game and as a result, FAU was never able to get their offense into rhythm.

That’s exactly the kind of game Rice would love to play, especially on the road. Better still, it would serve as one more data point in the Owls’ 2022 offensive resurgence. Putting together a complete game, one where the defense stands tall and the offense can move the ball through the air and on the ground would continue to push Rice towards the top of the conference where they want to be.

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One Final Thing

Florida Atlantic was picked to finish fourth in the conference in the Conference USA preseason media poll. Rice was picked tenth. Rice has already beaten the No. 2 team, UAB, and gets the No. 1 team (UTSA) at home to end the season. The Texas-based Owls enter this game red-hot while the Floridians aren’t playing their best football. Rice needs to take advantage of this opportunity, even if it does come away from home.

To date, all of the Owls’ 2022 wins have come at Rice Stadium, but Rice has won big games away from Houston in each of the past seasons. The road factor shouldn’t play a large factor in the outcome of this game, instead, that should be decided by how well Rice prepares during the bye week.

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren said it best following the teams’ upset over UAB, “If you look at the second half, if we can learn to play that way for 60 minutes, I don’t know who can beat the Rice Owls right now but the Rice Owls. We just gotta play our game.”

Bloomgren and this team have the opportunity to prove themselves right on that account this coming Saturday. A win would lift them to 2-0 in conference with a real chance to contend for a conference title which suddenly isn’t feeling quite so elusive anymore. All the Owls need to do is play their game.

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How five UAB snapshots tell a Rice football story

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From a blowout to back-to-back wins, the rise of Rice football parallels the Owls’ progression against the UAB Blazers, one of C-USA’s best programs.

Rice football has faced UAB five times since head coach Mike Bloomgren assumed leadership of the program prior to the 2018 season. The Owls are 2-3 against the Blazers in that time, but the progression demonstrated in that quintet of contests speaks volumes as to just how far this program has come in that time.

To fully understand what made Saturday’s upset win so significant, one must look back in time. Bloomgren certainly has. When meeting with the media following a 28-24 victory that lifted the Owls to 3-2 on the season, Bloomgren was quick to mention how this burgeoning rivalry started.

“They beat the life out of us,” Bloomgren said of that 2018 contest, one that UAB won 42-0 in Houston on the same field where Rice had just avenged themselves.

Bloomgren has been quick to compliment the Blazers in his remarks over the years. Even after the win, he referred to UAB as “the standard in our conference.”

Then came the follow-up question: if UAB is the standard, what does it say about a Rice program that has now taken down that giant twice in successive seasons?

“It means that we’ve taken some real steps in this football program, and I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Bloomgren said between smiles. “I’m incredibly proud of them, to beat them two years in a row means everything.”

The progression

Following the 2018 shellacking, Rice cut the margin significantly the following season, falling to UAB in Birmingham by a final score of 35-20 in a weather-delayed, rain-soaked slugfest. Rice led 7-0 after the first quarter before UAB hit on three long touchdown plays in that contest which proved to be the difference. It was another loss, but Rice had shown a pulse.

In 2020 the teams played their closest game yet. Rice led 13-7 at halftime, another positive step, but the defense could not stop the UAB rushing attack and the offense was held out of the endzone in the second half, losing starting quarterback Jovoni Johnson to injury along the way before falling 21-16.

From a 42-point defeat to a 15-point defeat to a 6-point defeat. The deltas kept dwindling until they flipped for the first time in 2021. To win that game, Rice had to be absolutely perfect. They were.

Gabriel Taylor forced a fumble on the very first play of the game. Juma Otovanio provided a pivotal 50-yard kick return, the Owls’ longest of the season. After completing one of his first four passes, quarterback Wiley Green finished the game by completing 16 of his next 18 attempts for 200 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.

Rice was as close to perfect as they could have dreamed to be and UAB still had a Hail Mary attempt at the buzzer to win the game. It fell incomplete. Rice won.

Defensive end Ikenna Enechukwu participated in that thrilling win and it was in his mind on Saturday when the Owls posted another victory over the Blazers.

“I feel like we’ve been able to play with them for at least the past maybe four years honestly and this is just another time like last year where we put all the pieces together,” Enechukwu said. “We were able to fight for four quarters and really dig in deep during the fourth quarter to come up with a victory.”

Far from perfect

While Rice football did technically play four quarters, they’d rather not write home about most of the first half. The Owls’ opening scoring drive accounted for 75 yards. Rice ended the first half with 75 total yards of offense, making absolutely zero progress on that side of the ball while allowing 17 straight points on defense.

“We played about as bad as we could in the first half,” Bloomgren admitted.

That’s part of what made the win so uplifting. Last year Rice football has to be perfect to squeak by a very good UAB team. This year the Blazers were picked to finish second in the conference in the Conference USA preason poll. Rice was tabbed as the No. 10 team in an 11-team field. And by the Owls’ own admission, they did not play their best brand of football on Saturday, and they still won.

“Who the heck picked us tenth?” Bloomgren joked in the aftermath. “I don’t know if you’re a betting man, but the lines have been off the last few weeks too.” Double-digit under dogs in each of their last contests, Rice has covered all three times and won outright twice, also dispatching Louisiana at home.

On Saturday against UAB, though, it wasn’t their underdog status that propelled them to victory. Rice won because Ari Broussard dominated short-yardage situations, scoring his seventh and eighth rushing touchdowns of the season. He’s currently tied for fourth in the nation in rushing scores and all of his touchdowns have come from inside the five-yard line.

Rice won because Treshawn Chamberlain, following a big hit by George Nyakwol that put the ball on the turf, was the only man on the field to hurry to the football, scooping it up for the go-ahead touchdown. The remaining 21 players on the field assumed it was an incomplete pass. Chamberlain recognized it as a fumble and made the play.

More: Postgame reactions — Rice football upsets UAB, again

Rice won because quarterback TJ McMahon, now 4-0 in games he’s finished at Rice Stadium, has the presence of mind to go down on a play action call rather than force the ball down field. His decision burned 40 more seconds of valuable clock time and made the UAB offense work at a frantic pace.

Rice won because its defense — which allowed UAB to rack up 360 total yards of offense — posted three sacks in the final sixty seconds, including the game-winner by Joshua Pearcy as the clock expired.

Rice won because they took advantage of 12 UAB penalties for 116 yards, ranging from holding to roughing the passer to taunting to everything in between. Flags were flying all night, with penalties to both teams. The Owls endured.

Rice won because they’re a fundamentally different team than the squad that was blasted in Birmingham in 2018. And a different team from the one that couldn’t make the key plays down the stretch in 2020. And from the program which needed perfection to overcome the odds last season.

Not done yet

The 2022 Rice football team had already won with a dominant showing this season. Against UAB, Rice won ugly. And if Rice can beat one of Conference USA’s premier programs without posting a single yard of offense from the second drive until halftime and while allowing 17 consecutive points on defense… watch out.

“The sky’s the limit for this program,” longtime running back Cameron Montgomery said following the game.

And if anyone should have a true sense of the trajectory of this program, it would be Montgomery. One of only a handful of players still on campus that was recruited by former coach David Bailiff, Montgomery remembers every step it took along the way for Rice football to get to this place. He’s not taking his eyes off the prize.

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“We’ll just keep taking it one week at a time. I’d love to take it day by day. I would love for my guys to have a great night tonight, celebrate this win, come back tomorrow, look at the film with a critical eye and wake up on Monday, recovered,” he said.

“And we’ll just keep chopping away at that wood, chopping away at that wood until we knock that tree down.”

If the past few seasons were spent sharpening the ax, Rice football has come out of the gates this season swinging it freely. UAB might not be the last giant (tree) to be felled.

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