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Rice Football 2021 Game Preview: Western Kentucky

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If Rice Football wants to achieve their postseason aspirations, they’ll need to get past Western Kentucky. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

For the second consecutive Saturday, Rice football lost an overtime game. This one was different though. Instead of trailing for the duration, Rice had a two-score lead and was unable to finish. Meanwhile, Western Kentucky was taking care of business against Middle Tennessee, their fourth win in a row. Can Rice right the slide? Will the Hilltoppers stumble? Here’s what you need to know:

Kickoff time | 1:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN+
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs WKU on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. You can also catch the recap of last week’s game on The Roost Podcast, which should be released shortly. 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

There’s a lot on the line for both teams at Rice Stadium on Saturday. The home team has reached do-or-die status when it comes to their bowl game aspirations. Sitting at 3-6 with three games to go, Rice has to be perfect down the stretch and that starts with Charlotte.

As linebacker Antonio Montero pointed out after the Charlotte loss, while the circumstances are far from ideal, “3-0, my sophomore year we did it,” he recalled. “It’s not impossible at all. Very, very possible, actually. There’s not a conference team that we can’t beat.”

On the other side of the field, Western Kentucky can clinch a bowl berth of their own and keep pace with Marshall for the top spot in the East Division standings.

Series History

All Time | WKU leads Rice, 2-0
Last Five | WKU leads Rice, 2-0
Last Meeting | Away 2016, WKU won 46-14

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. A few sections of this preview are reserved for those subscribers. Don’t miss out! Join now!

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Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Constantine – 84/131 (64.1 percent), 1059 yards, 5 TD, 3 INT
Rushing | Broussard – 87 carries, 473 yards (5.4 yards per carry), 2 TD / Myers – 89 carries, 334 yards (3.8 yards per carry), 8 TD
Receiving | Bailey – 46 receptions, 576 yards (12.5 yds/rec), 2 TD / Patterson – 24 receptions, 341 yards (14.2 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Montero – 60 / Garcia – 49 / Smith – 48
Pass Breakups | Dunbar – 6, McCord – 5, Smith – 4
Interceptions | Smith/Nyakwol – 2, Four others tied with one

Western Kentucky Stat Notables

Passing | Zappe – 308/441 (69.8 percent), 3688 yards passing, 37 TD, 6 INT
Rushing | Cofield – 64 carries, 321 yards (5.0 yards per carry), 4 TD / Whittington – 60 carries, 317 yards (5.3 ypc), 1 TD
Receiving | Sterns – 104 receptions, 1276 yards (12.3 yards per reception), 11 TD / Tinsley – 43 receptions, 680 yards (15.8 yds/rec), 6 TD
Tackles | Kincade – 62 / Malone – 62 / Ignont – 43
Interceptions | Cain/Bishop -2, Seven tied with one apiece
Pass Breakups | Ignont – 6, Edwards – 4, Four others tied with three apiece

WKU X-Factor | Keep your foot on the gas

Rice doesn’t want this to turn into a shootout. The Owls did win a 48-34 affair with Texas Southern earlier this season, but their ideal style of game is much lower-scoring. They want to maximize time of possession, grind out the clock and win on the margins. Falling behind early, as they did recently in losses to UTSA and North Texas, can be dangerous.

The Owls struggled in the kicking game too, missing three straight field goals between the end of the North Texas game and the start of the Charlotte contest. They then proceeded to go for it on fourth down in areas of the field where a long field goal might be an option.

If Rice struggles when they fall behind and the Owls have learned towards a “touchdown or bust” offensive philosophy, all Western Kentucky has to do is keep putting points on the board. Force Rice to play the style of game they don’t want to play and, more importantly, to execute at a high rate on their third and fourth down conversions in the redzone. That’s been a pain point for Rice in recent weeks.

Rice X-Factor | Force Bailey Zappe to make mistakes

Western Kentucky is far and away the most proficient offense in Conference USA. They’re going to score points and Bailey Zappe is going to attack down the field early and often. The Rice secondary had the chance to win the game against Charlotte but couldn’t limit the 49ers on their final fourth quarter drive nor could they stop the bleeding in overtime.

If the secondary can’t contain Zappe, they need to make him mortal. Rice forced 11 turnovers in 12 games in 2019, 0.92 per game. They had nine in five games in 2020, 1.80 per game. This season, they’ve forced 11 in nine games, 1.20 per game. They’ve finished better than +1 in the turnover margin once, that came against Southern Miss, a game they won at home.

Relying on turnovers and big plays to win games can’t be the entirety of the Owls’ game plan, but it’s going to have play some role in the outcome. Even an offense this good has its hiccups. Rice absolutely has to expose those and make it count when they do.

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One Final Thing

For better or worse, Rice football will know for sure whether or not their postseason hopes remain alive after this weekend. Western Kentucky is a good football team, and possibly if not probably the best team remaining on the Owls’ schedule. If they can upset the Hilltoppers, they’ll have a chance to run the table. They’ve beaten good teams before, and fairly recently at that, but they’re out of wiggle room.

“Some of the games we may be a favorite, some of the games we may be an underdog, but it doesn’t really matter,” Bloomgren said of this upcoming stretch. It’s going to come down to how we play and how we finish. But we’re good enough. We’re going to be good enough to win these games. Now when we get to that deep water that we talk about and work for, now we’ve got to finish.”

The UAB upset proved this team is good enough. Their ability to rally from behind against North Texas and force overtime proved they could fight back, even on a bad day. But when it’s come to execution, this team hasn’t been able to weather the storm. Now they’re on their last chance.

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Rice Football runs out of gas in overtime loss to Charlotte

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Rice Football had a two-score lead in the second half, but couldn’t hang on, dropping another overtime heartbreaker against a conference foe.

The road has been kind to Rice football in recent years. Some of the Owls’ biggest wins — their upset of Marshall last season and their victory over UAB earlier this year — have come away from Rice Stadium. That road rally did not hold true on Saturday. After falling behind in the first half, the Owls took control in the second stanza before watching Charlotte punch back to force overtime and eventually win.

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Owls overcome a shaky start

The opening sequence went almost as well as could have been expected for Rice football against Charlotte. The Owls’ defense forced a punt, giving the offense possession just beyond the midfield stripe. A couple of crisp passes from Jake Constantine and powerful runs from Ari Broussard and Jordan Myers pushed them inside the Charlotte 20 yard line.

Rice had already converted on fourth-and-one in the drive, extending their fourth-down conversion streak to 10 in a row. But on fourth-and-one from the 17-yard line, Rice trotted out the field goal unit and missed, again. The miss was the third consecutive kick that did not go through the uprights for the Rice special teams unit, with blame attributable to everyone from the snapper, to the holder to the kicker himself.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week 

Second-guessing decisions that didn’t work out is the purest form of armchair quarterback that exists. And while it’s easy to say Rice should have done something else, it’s the decision-making process that’s puzzling.

If Rice had already shown themselves to be extremely adept at converting on fourth-and-short on that drive and they knew their special teams unit was struggling, was the 10-yard difference between the spot of that kick and the spot of their previous fourth-down conversion? Charlotte took over, drove the length of the field and took the lead.

If the short-yardage offense works and the kicking game doesn’t, perhaps that should impact how the Owls attack their opponents going forward. It noticeably did from that point onward.

What is the plan on special teams?

After that miss, Rice seemed more cognizant of their fourth-down decisions moving forward. The Owls would trust their offense rather than their kicking game on the next three similar decisions.

On fourth-and-six from the Charlotte 32, Jake Constantine found Jake Bailey for a 10-yard gain and a first down rather than lining up to try a 49-yard field goal.

The next drive, on fourth-and-three from the Charlotte 26, Constantine couldn’t hit Cedric Patterson on a fourth-down pass and Rice turned it over on doubts. The alternative would have been a 43-yard field goal.

Then, with 22-seconds before the halftime whistle, Constantine dropped a ball into the waiting arms of August Pitre who couldn’t hang on in the endzone as he hit the turf. Rice turned it over on downs rather than settle for a 47-yard field goal from the Charlotte 30.

It wouldn’t be fair to question the lack of fourth down aggression at the beginning of the game and then bemoan unsuccessful attempts from that point onward. Constantine’s pass to Pitre should have been held on to for what would have been the game-tying score. The process was fine. But that does beg one more question. How close does Rice need to be to trust their kicker?

Can Rice convert a 40-yard field goal if they have to? Right now, it’s hard to know for sure.

Rice has its running back

Ari Broussard has gotten more and more involved as the season has progressed, and for good reason. Broussard entered the game leading all Rice running backs with a healthy 4.3 yards per carry. He set a career-high on the ground two weeks ago when he rumbled for 65 yards on 16 carries. He almost outdid that mark on one drive against Charlotte, gaining 57 yards on one second-quarter drive.

Good blocking helps. Exhibit A: Broussard’s first career touchdown run.

But even though the line did seem to have a better day than they did last week against North Texas, Broussard kept finding a way to get the extra yard and fall forward. After carrying the Owls the bulk of the way, Rice turned to him with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. He delivered a 17-yard run. When he left the field, Rice was quickly forced to punt.

Broussard had 97 yards before halftime. He finished with 186 yards on 20 carries and two touchdown runs. Handing him the ball 30 times a game probably isn’t a viable long term solution, but it’s hard to imagine anyone else out-carrying him down the stretch. He’s been that good.

Running out of time

The transitive property does not apply to college football. Yet after seeing Charlotte get dusted in each of their two previous games, there was nothing leading into their game with Rice that made this challenge seem insurmountable. And coming on the heels of an overtime loss to North Texas, Rice needed this.

Sitting at 3-5 with four games to play, a bowl game berth was in reach. And although this wasn’t mathematically a make-or-break contest to get Rice to six wins, it sure felt like one.

Consistency has been the elephant in the room for Rice football this season. Resiliency has been their calling card. With their backs against the wall in need of a bounce-back once again, this team responded, but they couldn’t hang on. Now they have to win their final three games (vs WKU, at UTEP, vs Louisiana Tech) to reach the postseason. That’s a tall task, and now they’ve lost their margin of error.

Special teams needs a lot of work. The defense bent and eventually broke. The offense has to improve in the redzone, but has the horses (Constantine, Bailey, Broussard) to get the ball down the field with regularity. There’s a lot to do and Rice football is running out of time.

Digging deeper

Every week we’ll have a stat, storyline or key learning from the game reserved for our subscribers.

Is the front seven heating up?

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Rice Football 2021 Game Preview: Charlotte

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Rice Football needs a bounce-back win in the worst way as they travel to Charlotte for a Week 10 tilt. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Both Charlotte and Rice football would rather forget their last trips to the gridiron. Charlotte was dismantled by Western Kentucky, falling on the road by a final score of 45-13. Rice played their opponent, North Texas, much closer, but an overtime loss was no more satisfying given the expectations they carried into the game. Both teams need a reset in the worst way. Here’s what you need to know:

Kickoff time | 2:30 PM CT
Venue | Jerry Richardson Stadium – Charlotte, NC
TV | ESPN+
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Charlotte this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. You can also catch the recap of last week’s game on The Roost Podcast, which should be released shortly. 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

Charlotte and Rice each enter this game .500 in C-USA action with four more games to play. The winner is still probably on the outside looking in regarding a potential trip to the conference championship game, but the loser is in danger of tumbling even further down the standings.

Each program has flashed moments of success. Charlotte upset Duke earlier in the season. Rice knocked off UAB. Neither has been able to channel those everything-went-right games into the type of consistency they need to regularly win conference games so far. After being viewed as up-and-coming programs entering the 2020 season, this game has the potential to reinforce those aspirations or crush them, depending on who ends up on which side of the result.

Series History

All Time | Rice leads Charlotte, 2-0
Last Five | Rice leads Charlotte, 2-0
Last Meeting | Away 2016, Rice won 22-21

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. A few sections of this preview are reserved for those subscribers. Don’t miss out! Join now!

Become a Patron!

Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Constantine – 65/96 (67.7 percent), 806 yards, 5 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Myers – 82 carries, 316 yards (3.9 yards per carry), 7 TD
Receiving | Bailey – 39 receptions, 433 yards (11.1 yds/rec), 2 TD / Patterson – 20 receptions, 296 yards (14.8 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Montero – 54 / Smith – 44 / Garcia – 44
Pass Breakups | McCord/Dunbar – 5, Smith – 4
Interceptions | Smith/Nyakwol – 2, Four others tied with one

Charlotte Stat Notables

Passing | Reynolds – 127/192 (66.2 percent), 1537 yards passing, 16 TD, 5 INT
Rushing | Camp – 74 carries, 451 yards (6.1 yards per carry), 3 TD / Byrd – 92 carries, 375 yards (4.1 ypc), 1 TD
Receiving | DuBose – 37 receptions, 561 yards (15.2 yards per reception), 5 TD / Tucker – 40 receptions, 553 yards (13.8 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Murray – 55 / Watts – 45 / Alexander – 41
Interceptions | Alexander -2, Two tied with one apiece
Pass Breakups | Creamer – 4, Rogers – 3, Ursery – 3

Charlotte X-Factor | Take a few shots, and convert on them

Charlotte has one of the better “intermediate” offenses in Conference USA. The 49ers aren’t quite explosive — they’ve tallied six plays of 30+ yards against conference foes, tied for the second-fewest in Conference USA — but they have a knack for getting 10 yards, and they do it almost as well as anyone else in the league.

Charlotte’s 62 plays of 10+ yards rank third in Conference USA play. While they don’t hit home runs very often, they’ll nickel and dime defenses all the way down the field. If they do start producing players further down the field, the offense can get dangerous, quickly.

A veteran quarterback and two playmaking wide receivers have the ability to give the Rice defense all sorts of trouble. If they do, not only will they be ready to trade punches with the Owls, they might be able to deliver a few knockout blows of their own.

Rice X-Factor | Jake Constantine

Constantine hasn’t been perfect this season, but he’s been a key piece in two of the Owls’ three wins this year. He rallied the team last week, showing off some schoolyard improvisation skills to will the team down the field and force overtime.

With Wiley Green likely to miss extended time after suffering an ankle injury last week and the running game struggling to get going this year, Constantine is going to have to take charge. If he doesn’t, it’s hard to decipher how the Rice offense is going to find enough success to win on the road without his help.

If he plays as well as he’s played up to this point, Rice will put points on the board. And that’s something Charlotte does not want any part of this year. The 49ers rank second to last in conference play, allowing 38.8 points per game.

Pick ‘Em Contest (Subscribers only)

Make sure you submit your entry for The Roost’s weekly pick’em challenge. There will be swag and prizes for the top finishers at the end of the season. Choose an answer to each of the six questions below and comment on this post on the Patreon page to enter. It’s that easy.

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One Final Thing

Up until last week, Rice hadn’t lost a game to someone they were “supposed to beat” and they’d engineered one of their most memorable upsets in recent memory when they took down UAB on the road. Not that oddsmakers would have had faith in the Owls before, but now they’ve put Rice back in the underdog role. Given how this team faired last week, easing up the pressure can’t be a bad thing.

Still, this team has to be feeling some pressure. They’re on the precipice of losing control of a postseason bowl appearance. To get there, Rice needs to win three of four, a feat they’ve done once already this year. They haven’t won three in a row yet, though, a feat the Owls’ haven’t achieved since the final three games of the 2019 season. For a team that has been erratic from week to week, preserving that margin of error seems like an absolute necessity.

Whether it’s a coincidence or not that the Owls have been more proficient on the road than they have been at home doesn’t really matter. All that matters right now is finding a way to win this game. After the UAB win, it was easy to think ahead at what could be. Now that luxury has passed and all eyes have to be on Charlotte. The wiggle room is running out.

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Rice Football rally comes up short against North Texas

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Rice Football dropped a heartbreaker in overtime to North Texas, falling at home in what was a very winnable game for the Owls.

Nothing has come easy for Rice football this season so it shouldn’t really be all that surprising when the Owls found themselves locked in a four-quarter struggle against a North Texas team that hadn’t composed all that many impressive performances to this point in the season. Credit the Rice with this: when faced with the tall task of traveling 89 yard to force overtime, they rose to the challenge. Unfortunately, they couldn’t finish the game off the same way, falling at home to North Texas. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Bring out the cart… again

On the Owls’ first drive of the game, Wiley Green took the shotgun snap and dropped back to pass. He was quickly greeted by a swarm of green, which sacked the newly-appointed Rice starter who was injured on the play. That marks the second time Green has left a game with an injury this year and the third game in which Rice has lost a starter during the course of the contest.

Injuries happen in college football. No team is immune. But when it comes to the quarterback position at Rice, the injury luck (or lack thereof) has gotten out of hand. Green was also knocked out of the game against Texas earlier this year. Luke McCaffrey also left that game with an injury. Then Jake Constantine, who took over for both following the Texas game, was hurt midway through the Owls’ game against UTSA.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week 

That’s FOUR quarterbacks injured to the point they had to leave the game over the course of eight games. The vast majority of teams across the country won’t lose one starting quarterback to an injury this season. Some will get unlucky and lose two. Rice has doubled that. And it’s not the first season this team has had to improvise at the most important position on the field.

Getting any sort of offensive rhythm established when you’re forced to swap out the key cog so repetitively can’t be easy. If nothing else, Rice football has had plenty of practice.

The ugliest 12-minute drive of all time?

If Rice were to submit some game film as proof of their upward ascent, it’s hard to imagine more than a snap or two from this game against North Texas would make the highlight reel. Somehow, Rice managed to run 12 consecutive plays inside the redzone and walk away with just three points. The Owls spent seven minutes within striking distance of the endzone after being handed multiple fresh starts via personal fouls called on the North Texas defense.

The offensive line was not having their best day and was flagged for holding twice in that redzone sequence. It seemed to become problematic enough that Rice nearly grounded the ball entirely, looking to take the points and tie the game rather than risk being knocked out of field goal range by sack or penalty.

North Texas responding to the 19-play, 12:07 Rice drive with a nine-play, 1:52 touchdown drive of their own further added to the frustrations of failing to capitalize on so many tries within a stone’s throw of the endzone. That entire sequence underscored a sloppy day for both sides of the ball.

Build the whole plane out of fourth down

There’s probably a more impactful name than the “it” factor, but that elusive clutch skill is something Rice has been looking to nurture for several years now. They caught lightning in a bottle by converting on five consecutive fourth down tries against UAB. Then they kept it going, converting on fourth down twice against North Texas. They’ve now converted six seven eight NINE consecutive fourth down attempts. And two of those came via long pass plays rather than the Owls’ typical jumbo package.

Putting the ball in the endzone without as many heart-stopping moments is the optimal solution, but if you aren’t perfect on that front, being able to get one yard when you need it most is a skill worth having in your toolbelt.

Waiting for the Rice offense to show up in any form or fashion has been a frustration for some time. If it takes fourth down to get things in gear, so beat it. Yes, Rice needs to get to the point where it does take a miraculous streak of do-or-die moments, but it’s better to find messy offensive success than no success at all.

Pinball season bounces on

It’s starting to get exhausting. The sheer erratic nature of the 2021 Rice football team doesn’t make any sense. A week removed from the most significant victory over a C-USA West opponent under head coach Mike Bloomgren’s watch, the Owls lost to a listless North Texas squad that hadn’t beaten an FBS opponent since a two-point win over UTEP to close out the 2020 regular season. The win previous to that? It was over Rice.

If Rice could congeal its good days and bad days, the middle-of-the-road option might very well have a similar record to the 3-5 line the Owls currently hold in the standings. Granted, that more mellow iteration probably doesn’t beat UAB, but probably ought to have beaten North Texas.

On the positive side, if you’re going to have the lows, complimenting them with massive road upsets over conference foes is quite possibly the “best-case scenario” given the circumstances. On the other hand, a team with enough talent to win those big games has enough talent to win the other ones too. They just haven’t been able to string together any sort of consistency.

A bowl game is well within reach. Knowing what this team is capable of makes it seem decidedly foolish to count them out at this juncture. But they need to find a way to smooth out this rocky road or weight the die they keep rolling. The upside they forgo with disappointing games like Saturday is far too great.

Digging deeper

Every week we’ll have a stat, storyline or key learning from the game reserved for our subscribers.

Penalties compound poor play

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Rice Football 2021 Game Preview: North Texas

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Rice Football returns to Houston this week to take on a struggling North Texas team. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

North Texas and Rice football could not have had more opposite weekends despite both holding multi-score leads midway through the third quarter of their respective games. The Mean Green surrendered 21 straight points, losing at home to Liberty in a game they controlled for the entirety of the first half, if not longer.

Rice, on the other hand, was able to complete the upset. The Owls became the first Conference USA team to beat UAB at home since the Blazers’ program was reinstated beginning with the 2017 season. Riding high, the Owls now seek to pick up a much-needed win at home. Here’s what you need to know:

Kickoff time | 1:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN3
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs North Texas this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. You can also catch the recap of last week’s game on The Roost Podcast, which should be released shortly. 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

North Texas is playing for pride at this point. Discussions regarding the security of head coach Seth Littrell’s job have endured throughout the season with the voices of his detractors growing louder and loud with each successive loss. A bowl game is still nominally within reach, but even that might not be enough for Littrell at this point.

On the other sideline, Rice football very much so has plenty to play for on Saturday. Should they win, they’d even their season-long record to 4-4 and be two wins away from the bowl berth they’ve had their eyes fixed on all year. More still, they’d be 3-1 in league play and firmly in the race for a conference title. Both objectives get much harder should Rice not hold serve on their own turf against North Texas.

Series History

All Time | North Texas leads Rice, 6-5
Last Five | North Texas leads Rice, 4-1
Last Meeting | Away 2020, North Texas won 27-17

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. A few sections of this preview are reserved for those subscribers. Don’t miss out! Join now!

Become a Patron!

Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Constantine – 49/66 (74.2 percent), 564 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Myers – 71 carries, 284 yards (4.0 yards per carry), 6 TD
Receiving | Bailey – 29 receptions, 290 yards (10.0 yds/rec), 1 TD / Patterson – 16 receptions, 265 yards (16.6 yds/rec), 1 TD
Tackles | Montero – 48 / Smith – 41 / Pearcy – 36
Pass Breakups | McCord/Dunbar – 5, Smith – 4
Interceptions | Smith/Nyakwol – 2, Four others tied with one

North Texas Stat Notables

Passing | Aune – 78/149 (53.4 percent), 851 yards passing, 6 TD, 6 INT
Rushing | Torrey – 164 carries, 853 yards (5.2 yards per carry), 7 TD
Receiving | Burns – 40 receptions, 448 yards (11.2 yards per reception), 2 TD / Pirtle – 25 receptions, 211 yards (8.4 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Davis, KD – 59 / Davis, Tyreke – 39 / Nixon III – 31
Interceptions | Five tied with one apiece 
Pass Breakups | Sanders – 3, Three tied with two apiece

North Texas X-Factor | Get off the field

On paper, the North Texas defense has been ever so slightly a hair below Rice’s defense. If it’s possible to boil the difference down to one specific factor, third down is unquestionably the Mean Green’s Achilles heel. North Texas opponents are converting 47.4 percent of their third down opportunities this season, the second to worst mark in C-USA and the 122nd rate in all of FBS football. C-USA opponents convert on average 43.6 percent of their third down tries against the Mean Green.

UTEP, Florida Atlantic, Marshall, UTSA and UAB own the best third down defenses in the conference. It’s no coincidence those five teams also boast the top five scoring defenses in C-USA. Yes, better defenses (tend to) give up less points, but the North Texas defense could take a substantial leap up the ladder by finding a way to get off the field at a better clip.

Rice wants to grind the clock and extend drives. If the North Texas defense can’t get Rice off schedule, it’s going to make it tough for this team as a whole to do much of anything to get out of sync.

Rice X-Factor | Do it again

When Rice knocked off Marshall on the road in 2020 it managed the feat behind a stellar defensive performance. The Owls picked off the Herd five times that game, returning one of those snags for six points of their own.

That wasn’t the case for Owls against the UAB Blazers last weekend. Rice found success in all phases, from Wiley Green’s first-ever 3-touchdown passing day to a masterful fake punt to the final stand by the defense to close the door. The ask for this team is to do something they’ve done few times in recent memory, do it again.

Safety Naeem Smith used the word resilient in his postgame comments on Saturday. Rice has now proven on multiple occasions they can shake off one bad day and turn the page quickly. The next step is stringing multiple good days together. That can start on Saturday, and if it doesn’t, they’ll have enough firepower to beat North Texas.

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One Final Thing

For better or worse, Rice football gave the rest of their opponents notice of just what they are capable of when they put together a complete game, because that’s exactly what we saw Rice cobble together against UAB. It wasn’t perfect — far from it — but it was arguably the first time this season where all three phases have worked in unison to win a football game.

If UAB was sleeping on Rice at all, something head coach Mike Bloomgren did make a passing comment regarding following the game, that’s not going to be the case again this season. Nobody is going to overlook Rice anymore, largely because Rice has shown its hand.

Now, assuming Rice is going to get the best North Texas has to throw at them, it’s time for them to prove they are what their record says they are. The Owls have a better conference record than North Texas and Louisiana Tech, both of which are still on the Owls’ schedule. Rice can get within one win of a bowl berth simply by beating the teams they’ve already moved above in the standings.

It’s not that simple. But in many ways it is. Rice has beaten a team they weren’t “supposed to” beat. Now they have to beat someone they should.

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