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Rice Football 2020 Game Preview: Season opener vs Middle Tennessee

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Rice Football is set to open its 2020 season on Saturday against Middle Tennessee. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

After delaying their season of four separate occasions, Rice football intends to play football this coming Saturday. The Owls are the last Conference USA school that intends to play this fall to get underway. Once they kick off, Old Dominion will be the lone C-USA team to forgo football this fall.

The Owls’ first opponent, Middle Tennessee, began their season on Sep. 5, almost two months (49 days to be precise) before Rice begins its campaign. Even given the extra time, Middle Tennessee is only one game up in the win column in seven tries. They beat FIU in Week 6, falling to 1-5 this past weekend with a road loss at North Texas. On the plus side, they’re one of two Conference USA schools that hasn’t had a game postponed by COVID-19 protocols.

Broadcast Info

Kickoff time | 2:30 PM CT
Venu | Rice Stadium – Houston, Tx
TV | ESPN3 (Streaming)
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Middle Tennessee on this week’s episode of The Roost Podcast which will be released on Thursday. 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.) If you haven’t yet, consider checking out our extended offseason interviews with notable Owls like Anthony Rendon, Taylor McHargue, Christian Covington, Erica Ogwumike and more!

Sizing up the contenders

Rice football will experience one of the more peculiar oddities of the 2020 season first hand. Their opponent has played six games before Rice has played any. Rice gets the added advantage of six games worth of film — Middle Tennessee hasn’t seen Rice quarterback Mike Collins take a single snap in the Owls’ offense.

On the other hand, Rice will have plenty of early-season rust to knock off. Injuries have left question marks on the depth chart that might not be resolved before Saturday. Quarterback Asher O’Hara and the Blue Raiders look dreadful in their season opener against Army and have gotten better in every game since. Which side has the edge? Time will tell.

Series History

All Time | Rice leads 1-0
Last Five | Rice leads 1-0
Last Meeting | Road 2019, Rice won 31-28

Rice Stat Notables (Returning 2019 Leaders)

Passing | Green – 75/142 (52.8 percent), 787 yards passing, 4 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Johnson – 27 carries, 159 yards (5.9 yards per carry), 2 TD
Receiving | Trammell – 60 receptions, 726 yards (12.1 yards per reception), 4 TD
Tackles | Alldredge – 102, Montero – 83, Chamberlain – 65
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Nyakwol – 6 PBU, Smith/Chamberlain – 2 INT

Middle Tennessee Stat Notables (2020)

Passing | O’Hara – 120/168 (63.8), 1176 yards passing, 9 TD, 8 INT
Rushing | O’Hara – 117 carries, 407 yards (3.5 yards per carry), 4 TD | Mobley – 50 carries, 277 yards (5.5 yards per carry), 3 TD
Receiving | Pierce – 40 receptions, 389 yards (9.7 yards per reception), 2 TD | Ali – 19 receptions, 243 yards (12.8 yards per reception), 1 TD
Tackles | Grate Jr – 47 | Thomas – 43 | Blankenship – 43
Interceptions/Pass Breakups | Grate Jr, Riley – 2 INT /  Riley – 3 PBU, Shepherd – 3 PBU

Middle Tennessee X-Factor | Can anyone else please step up?

The 2019 Middle Tennessee offense was built on the back of Asher O’Hara. He had 29 total touchdowns, including nine on the ground. The rest of the offense tallied seven rushing touchdowns and none of the MTSU running backs surpassed 300 total yards. All were dwarfed by O’Hara’s 1058 rushing total.

Head Coach Rick Stockstill brought in some transfers in the backfield and vowed to give his quarterback some help. So far, not much has changed. No rusher other than O’Hara is averaging more than 30 yards per game on the ground. That’s not a high bar. Jarrin Pierce has been the most sure-handed pass catcher but has just two scores so far.

O’Hara tried to will his team past the Owls last year and it didn’t work. He’s going to need some help. If another skill player or two can come to his aid, the Blue Raiders will be much more dangerous on offense and have a better chance to win this game.

Rice X-Factor | Be Like Mike

Rice football has been after consistent quarterback play for some time. The Owls think they’ve found their answer in the form of TCU grad transfer Mike Collins. The veteran signal-caller impressed in fall camp, winning the job midway through. Now he’ll get his first chance to don the Rice uniform and put his strong practice record to the test.

Collins has better arm talent than previous Rice quarterbacks, but he’ll be without last year’s leading receiver Bradley Rozner who had wrist surgery before opting out of the 2020 season. With so many moving parts around him, it’s hard to pin down who will emerge to come to his aid, but having an answer at quarterback is the first step to solving the weapons problem.

If Collins can be what Rice expects him to be, this offense can work. If the offense works, and the defense continues on the trajectory it was on last fall, Rice could be looking at the most complete team of Bloomgren’s tenure.

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 or the Patreon page to enter.

  1. How many points does Middle Tennessee score?
    Over 20.5 / Under 20.5
  2. Who leads Rice in rushing?
    Juma Otoviano / Khalan Griffin / Other
  3. How many sacks will the Rice defense register?
    Over 2.5 / Under 2.5
  4. Which team wins the turnover battle?
    Rice / Middle Tennessee / Tie
  5. Who scores first in the second half?
    Rice / Middle Tennessee
  6. Who wins?
    Rice / Middle Tennessee

Injury Report (Subscribers only)

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Need More?

The Roost’s 2020 Rice Football Season Preview has four pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth charts, important new arrivals and depth chart breakdowns for every team in Conference USA. 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.

One Final Thing

2020 was meant to be the year Rice football went bowling. Revised requirements have made the Owls bowl-eligible before they play their first snap of the season. With that threshold somewhat removed, the only tangible measure beyond wins and losses is a conference championship.

It would be a stretch to demand perfect with a schedule in flux and so many uncertainties, but how close Rice comes to obtaining that ultimate goal will be how this season is measured. The wacky offseason has quelled whatever momentum was left over from last fall, but the mindset within the Brain Patterson Center remains undeterred. This team believes they’re ready to take that next step.

No matter where Rice lands on that spectrum, reaching the field safely is an accomplishment given the circumstances. With that achieved, it’s time to start with Saturday against Middle Tennesse. Go 1-0 this week, and as cliche as it sounds, the rest of the schedule will take care of itself.

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Conference USA Football: 2020 Postponements Tracker – October update

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Conference USA football has been noticeably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but some schools have been hit harder than others.

Since August 26, roughly the start of the 2020 season, at least 33 games featuring FBS opponents have been canceled or postponed. Conference USA football represented at least one part in 14 of those games.

Rice football announced its intention to delay its season until Oct. 24, but the rest of the conference (excluding Old Dominion) has been trying to play for more than a month. So, how’s it going?

In total, 11 conference schools have had at least one game impacted by COVID-19.  To this point, Western Kentucky and MTSU have not had a game canceled since the season began. MTSU actually added a game, sliding into an open date against UTSA when the Roadrunners’ original opponent (Memphis) had to back out.

Excluding Rice, Charlotte and FAU are the only schools to have more games postponed than games played through seven weeks. This assumes all games scheduled to be played as of Saturday morning are still played.

Conference USA

Here is the list of games that were not played as scheduled for each Conference USA team, including the reason for the postponement/cancelation. The count to the right of the school name (2 – 1/1) represents the total number of games postponed. The number in the middle represents games postponed by the school (2 – 1/1) and their opponent on the right (2 – 1/1).

Charlotte (4 – 2/2)

  • at UNC (COVID-related postponement by Charlotte)
  • at Georgia State (COVID-related postponement by Georgia State, later admittedly an error)
  • vs FAU (COVID-related postponement by FAU)
  • vs FIU (COVID-related postponement by Charlotte)

FAU (3 – 2/1)

  • at Georgia Southern (COVID-related postponement by FAU)
  • vs USF (COVID-related postponement by USF)
  • at Southern Miss (COVID-related postponement by FAU)

FIU (1 – 1/0)

  • at Charlotte (COVID-related postponement by Charlotte)

Louisiana Tech (1 – 1/0)

  • at Baylor (COVID-related postponement by Louisana Tech)

Marshall (2 – 0/2)

  • at ECU (COVID-related postponement by ECU)
  • vs Rice (Rice delays start of its season)

North Texas (1 – 1/0)

  • at Houston (COVID-related postponement by North Texas)

Rice (2 – 2/0)

  • at Marshall (Rice delays start of its season)
  • vs UAB (Rice delays start of its season)

Southern Miss (2 – 1/1)

  • vs FAU (COVID-related postponement by FAU)
  • at UTEP (COVID-related postponement by Southern Miss)

UAB (1 – 0/1)

  • vs Rice (Rice delays start of its season)

UTSA (1 – 0/1)

  • vs Memphis (COVID-related postponement by Memphis)

UTEP (1 – 0/1)

  • vs Southern Miss (COVID-related postponement by Southern Miss)
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Rice Football: 2019 Defense flexed against C-USA’s best passers

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The Rice football defense took significant steps in the secondary last season and the numbers bear out the noticeable improvement on the back end.

The defense was the brightest spot for Rice football last season. That side of the ball has faced some attrition through injuries and transfers, but many of the same faces remaining.

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I’ve broken down the numbers for each of the C-USA quarterbacks the Owls faced last season. In doing so, I’ve separated yardage and touchdown averages in opponents’ other games (excluding Rice) and then comparing that to the production they had against the Owls.

Each opposing quarterback’s PFF ranking from last season (among all 130 FBS teams) is included for reference. Games in which Rice faired better than the average school each quarterback faced are highlighted in green.

The Breakdownown

Rice saw every kind of quarterback and every kind of offense in 2019. For the most part, the defensive staff was prepared for what their opponents were going to throw at them through the air. They allowed four C-USA quarterbacks to throw for 300 yards on them in 2018, including a 428-yard performance by Southern Miss’ passer Jack Abraham.

Only one C-USA quarterback reached 300 yards passing against Rice this year (Asher O’Hara) and that came in a furious comeback attempt. Even still, O’Hara barely eclipsed that mark while in come-back mode and needed a busted coverage 90-yard touchdown throw to the speedy Ty Lee to get there. Those yards count too, but when taken into context, it’s hard to be encouraged at the secondaries clear 180.

The UAB game was arguably their only truly “bad” outing against a Top 50 quarterback.  Allowing Tyler Johnston to toss up three long-ball touchdowns was inexcusable, even if the game was against the defending champs on the road.

Bottom Line

Seeing the Rice football secondary flex against the best C-USA can throw at them is good news. It’s much easier to look past low points (like the UTSA game) when there’s tangible proof this secondary with these players can be good enough to get the job done. Another year of experience with a mostly intact front-seven in front of them is a further reason for hope.

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Rice Football 2020: Owls get multiple starters back to practice this week

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Rice football has been hit hard by injuries prior to their season opener. Several of those players were back at practice this week.

Rice football is less than two weeks away from their first game of the 2020 season. The Owls remain on track to host Middle Tennessee on Oct. 24, with no fans. If you haven’t yet, check out some of the virtual offerings Rice has put together for the game. There should be a few more things in store this week.

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Perhaps the most notable happening in prior Rice football practices was the number of players who weren’t on the field. The injury bug hit Rice hard during fall camp. It’s already cost them the entire seasons of Cam Montgomery and Bradley Rozner. The Owls’ are still a ways from being fully healthy, but this week brought with it much more encouraging news.

First, Rice football is COVID-19 free after reporting one positive test on Oct. 3. They do not have any players unavailable because of positive tests or contact tracing right now. In non-COVID related news, we’ve seen a turn for the better with several key players who were on the field this week after missing time earlier in camp.

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What’s coming next?

I’ve got a few breakout freshmen that I’ll be sharing soon. It’s probably safe to say a few of them could play important roles this fall, especially if the Owls enter the season banged up. I have some more depth chart updates that I’ll work to have finalized following the third and final scrimmage on Saturday. Stay tuned for another update then, the last before we get to game week against Middle Tennessee.

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Rice Football 2020: Practice Notes, starting quarterback and projected depth charts

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Rice football has two scrimmages in the books. Mike Collins has been named the starting quarterback and the depth chart behind him is starting to materialize.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren has been cautiously optimistic in each of his previous post-practice media sessions. “We’re not where we need to be to play a football game, but thank God we’re not where we used to be,” he said following Saturday’s scrimmage. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last week and we’ve got a lot of progress we need to make in the next two weeks.”

Among the most notable points of progress this week was the official endorsement of a starting quarterback. Grad transfer Mike Collins has officially won that job. As for takeaways from the rest of Saturday, injuries and the announcement of wide receiver Brad Rozner’s opt out took center stage.

After seeing both scrimmages and talking with those close to the program, I’ve put together my first pass at what a depth chart for the Rice football’s season opener against Middle Tennessee might look like.

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For those on the fence when it comes to subscribing, you’ll get access to all previous practice reports and special features throughout the season. Plus, you’ll get to see which true freshmen I think could be starting against Middle Tennessee.

Defense wins the day

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Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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