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Rice Athletics: Top 10 Moments from 2020

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2020 was filled with highs and lows on the home from, but Rice Athletics made the best of the tough year. Here are some of the most impactful moments.

10. Men’s Basketball upsets C-USA regular-season champion North Texas

Rice basketball started slow out of the gates in conference play this past March, falling to 1-7 with a home game against 8-1 North Texas entering the final month of the season. Not only did the Owls put up a fight, they knocked off the eventual regular season champs. Rice shot 53.6 percent from three and hit 15 triples, includes three apiece from Drew Peterson, Trey Murphy, Robert Martin and four from Ako Adams.

9. Football signs Top 5 C-USA recruiting class

You can read more about the recent signees in detail in our recruiting updates over on Patreon. In short, the 2021 Rice Football Signing Class edged out the 2020 class for the highest-rated class in program history. The Owls currently hold the No. 4 class in C-USA and a Top 100 class in the country with a few spots remaining before National Signing Day in February.

8. Women’s Track and Field wins C-USA Indoor Championship

For the fourth time in program history and the first time since 2009, the Rice women took home the gold in the C-USA Indoor Championships. Grace Forbes and Michelle Fokam helped spur the Owls victory. Head coach Jim Bevan was recognized afterward as the Coach of the Year.

7.  Swimming top Tulane in duat meet

In their only home meet of the fall, Rice swimming emerged with a win. The Owls were dominant in the pool in the two-day meet, winning 15 of 21 events, including 400-freestyle relay. Rice set a facility record in the event, closing out the meet with a resounding 245-146 final score.

6. Women’s Basketball avenges Old Dominion loss

The Rice women’s basketball team saw a 30-game conference winning streak snapped on the road against Old Dominion. It was only fitting the Owls closed out the regular season with a rematch against the Monarchs. The game marked the final time senior Erica Ogwumike took the court for the Owls, making the victorious sendoff that much sweeter.

5. Grace Forbes wins C-USA Title

The women’s cross country squad only made one appearance this fall, but Grace Forbes made it count. The sophomore left her competition in the dust, crossing the finish line with no foes in sight. Her strong showing propelled the Owls to a fourth place finish in the meet.

4. Erica Ogwumike selected in WNBA Draft

The Ogwumike family name had already become a mainstay in WNBA circles before Erica Ogwumike played her final season at South Main. Her sisters, Nneka and Chiney, were both No. 1 overall selections. Erica went from off draft boards to becoming a third round pick of the New York Liberty, which was then traded to the Minnesota Lynx. Ogwumike said she was just grateful to hear her named called.

3. Women’s Basketball win’s second consecutive regular season title

Not only did Rice get revenge when they beat Old Dominion to close out the regular season this spring, they clinched their second consecutive regular season championship. The Owls were the favorites to cut down the nets in the conference tournament and to make a repeat appearance in the NCAA Tournament before COVID-19 concerns forced the cancelation of the remainder of the season.

2 Jack Fox named to NFL Pro Bowl

Released by the Chiefs last season, Fox signed a futures contract with the Detroit Lions in the offseason and won the Lions’ starting punting job in camp. From that point on, he took the NFL by storm. Fox led the NFL in most key measures for most of the season before being named to his first Pro Bowl. He’s the 12th Owl to earn a spot on a Pro Bowl roster and the first since fellow specialist Chris Boswell in 2017.

1. Rice Football shuts outs No. 15 Marshall

Rice football hadn’t beaten a ranked opponent in more than two decades when they made the trip to a cold Huntington, WV on Dec. 5 to play a then undefeated No. 15 Marshall squad. Not only did Rice win, they shut out The Herd, forcing five interceptions on their way to the upset win, a marquee victory for Rice. The Owls became the first team in 206 games to shut out Marshall at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

Honorable Mentions…

How about you? Which of these moments from Rice Athletics did you enjoy the most? Which Rice Athletics events should be added to the list?

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The Roost’s 2020 Rice Football Season Superlatives

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The Roost’s 2020 Rice Football Season Superlatives exist to honor exceptional Owls who made a difference on the field this season. Here’s the complete list.

There were many individual performances worth recognizing in the 2020 Rice Football season. In addition to the more traditional awards below, make sure to check out The Roosties, the second annual award show from The Roost Podcast, which features a different angle of honors. From our favorite plays to the players we were most wrong about in the preseason, we cover some of the more creative superlatives on the show.

Defensive Newcomer of the Year — CB Miles McCord

Full Story: Defensive Newcomer of the Year Award

Excerpt: “McCord’s rise is a feel good story. He’s another junior college player turned into a Conference USA mainstay by this coaching staff. But more than anything, he kept an elite defense operating at the same level through a year flush with challenges. When Rice needed someone to hold the line, McCord stepped in and elevated the play of those around him. The Owls will be glad to have him patrolling the boundary for years to come.”

Offensive Newcomer of the Year — RB Khalan Griffin

Full Story: Offensive Newcomer of the Year Award

Excerpt: “Rice had the No. 3 rushing defense in the conference this fall.  One player surpassed 100 yards on the ground against the Owls all season. Preseason all-conference rusher Brenden Knox averaged a meager 3.8 yards per carry on 20 attempts, tallying 76 yards against the stout Rice front seven. Griffin had more than double that after initial contact in his first padded scrimmage. The bar had been set.”

Rising Star — WR Jake Bailey

Full Story: Rising Star Award

Excerpt: “Bailey was gritty and dependable. He was effective at all levels of the field, and he did it with his head down, ready and willing to work. The box scores in a shortened season don’t boast overwhelming totals. The negated plays that were inches away from going the other way don’t help the numbers either. But the player that Bailey became was irrevocably better than the version of himself he was the year prior. And he looked pretty good then.”

Special Team’s Player of the Year — P Charlie Mendes

Full Story: Special Team’s Player of the Year Award

Excerpt: “As good as Rice has been on special teams in three years under head coach Mike Bloomgren, it hasn’t been nearly as smooth of a ride at any other facet of the third phase. Rice muffed punts in three consecutive games this year. Place kicking was good, albeit with a few notable, painful bad bounces. The Owls’ only return touchdown was called back via penalty. But punting, punting was never a problem. Because of Mendes.”

Defensive Player of the Year — LB Blaze Alldredge

Full Story: Defensive Player of the Year

Excerpt: “Boiled down to its core, Alldredge was a culture builder for a program in desperate need of a reformed identity. The defense allowed 36.0 points per game in Alldredge’s first season. This year the Owls surrendered 18.8 points per game. From one extreme to the other. It doesn’t really matter which statistic you pick, Alldredge made the defense better.”

Offensive Player of the Year — QB Mike Collins

Full Story: Offensive Player of the Year

Excerpt: “His 10 passing touchdowns in three games were the most in the first three Conference USA games of any quarterback in school history. He was efficient, leading the offense to 30+ points in two of his three appearances, a scoring total the Owls had only reached twice in their previous 25 games. His final outing came on the road against North Texas. Rice would lose, but Collins would throw for 300 yards for his first time as an Owl.”

Team MVP — WR Austin Trammell

Full Story: Team MVP

Excerpt: “The next time Rice took the field, Trammell was more than involved, he was the centerpiece of the Rice offense. He caught three touchdowns against Southern Miss, torching the entire secondary down the sideline for a 72-yard score. He found the paydirt again in the first quarter of the Owls’ third game against North Texas. In the span of seven quarters, from the end of the first game to the beginning of the third, he scored six times.”

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Rice Football 2020 Defensive Player of the Year: Blaze Alldredge

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Linebacker Blaze Alldredge set a new standard at South Main. The Owls’ captain is our pick for Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year.

The story of how Blaze Alldredge came to be a Rice Owl is a good one, but the impact he’s had on the Rice football program is a legacy still being written.

As he describes it, head coach Mike Bloomgren and Rice football took “a chance on a junior college guy with zero offers out of high school.” A late addition to the 2019 signing class turned into one of the most impressive resumes of any linebacker to walk between the hedges on South Main—and there have been some great ones.

Alldredge first received the call to start on the road against Southern Miss in 2018. He led the team in tackles and had the Owls’ first interception of the year in that game, the fourth contest of the season. But the defense still surrendered 40 points and the Owls lost the game. A fill-in role for an injured man above him on the depth chart turned soon led to his name being inked in permanent marker among the defensive starters.

In almost a perfect juxtaposition of past and present, Alldredge also had an interception in his last road start, coming this fall in Huntington, WV against previously unbeaten No. 15 Marshall. Once more, Alldredge led the team in tackles, but this time the end result was much different. Not only did the defense not allow a single point, they scored a touchdown of their own, courtesy of Alldredge’s roommate Naeem Smith on a pick six.

Alldredge will tell you himself that he’s come a long way from that first start against Southern Miss. The accolades that follow him reinforce that growth. A first-team All-Conference USA selection this year, Alldredge was also on every preseason watch list he qualified for. It didn’t matter who you asked, Alldredge was and is the best of the best.

The only naysayer, to any degree, would probably have been himself. “I just wish I coulda given them more,” he said following his senior season.

What he did give, was impressive. Alldredge finished the 2020 season third in Conference USA in tackles per game. He had at least a share of a tackle for a loss in his last 16 games played, dating back to last year when he finished second in the nation with 21.5 tackles for a loss. He was the heart of the Rice defense, and at the same time, he was the arms, legs, feet and just about everything else. There wasn’t anywhere on the field Alldredge couldn’t be and there wasn’t any job he wouldn’t do.

A team captain, Alldredge’s impact well beyond the field. In the preseason, linebackers coach Scott Vestal said having Alldredge in meetings was “almost like having another coach in the room.” Vestal praised the Alldredge’s inquisitiveness and forward-thinking nature. A student and a teacher, Alldredge would routinely quiz and council young players and help them understand the scheme. He found all the little ways to make the team better.

Boiled down to its core, Alldredge was a culture builder for a program in desperate need of a reformed identity. The defense allowed 36.0 points per game in Alldredge’s first season. This year the Owls surrendered 18.8 points per game. From one extreme to the other. It doesn’t really matter which statistic you pick, Alldredge made the defense better.

“Plays that would have rattled us before,” Alldredge noted, “That doesn’t happen anymore. We have a lot more confidence.” Call it confidence; call it consistency. Call it whatever you’d like to. The net result is a defense that looks entirely different than the unit Alldredge stepped into.

Rice made tremendous strides on defense thanks to Alldredge’s leadership. But in his mind, the bar has been elevated. “In terms of what I’ve accomplished at Rice. I think that that’s going to be best reflected by what happens in the years to come,” he said, following the end of the 2020 season. “I think that we have a really talented linebacker room, we have guys that hopefully, in a couple of years, make you forget about Blaze Alldredge.”

Forget about Blaze Alldredge? Not a chance.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 67 – Rice Football Recruiting Early Signing Period Review

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The 2021 Rice football recruiting class signed its first members this past week. We dig into the class and the storytelling from the Rice creative team.

The Early Signing Period is in the book and the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class is off to a great start. Carter and Matthew dedicate this episode of the podcast to the incoming Owls, their strengths and how they fit with the roster as its currently constructed.

Before getting to X’s and O’s, it seemed fitting to talk to the Owls’ own storytellers. The creative team of Caroline Hall and Trey Jackson took us behind the scenes on #FlightSchool21, telling us how the design elements came together and what it was like sharing this team’s story through a wild year.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 67.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping — Don’t miss this opportunity to subscribe on Patreon. Get two months free when you subscribe to an annual membership today. There’s a lot more in store for this football program, including all our Early Signing Period content. Get the scoop on the Owls’ 2021 class and more now.
    Become a Patron!
  • Interview: Rice Creative – Caroline Hall and Trey Jackson 
    • What goes into the graphics we see on social media?
    • Behind the scenes on the Marshall speech and the Early Signing Period
    • Takeaways and learnings from content creation in 2020
  • 2021 Rice Football Recruiting Class – Early Signing Period Review
    • Offensive evaluations
    • Defensive evaluations
    • Wish list for the rest of the class
    • What will scholarship restrictions have on future classes?

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The Roost’s 2020 Rice Football coverage postseason survey

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The 2020 Rice Football season has come to an end and we’d like to know how we did. Please take a few minutes and consider leaving your feedback.

A season like none other ended with plenty of drama. Rice football experienced the highest of highs with a road upset of No. 15 Marshall, then saw that momentum dashed with a home loss to eventual C-USA champion UAB, ending the 2020 season. The Roost isn’t going anywhere — we’ve got several fall sports in progress and baseball and others will be here before we know it — but we don’t want to miss an opportunity to reflect on the past several months.

Please consider filling out the brief 10 question survey below. Tell us what you liked and what we can do better. Your candor is appreciated. The Roost wouldn’t be what it was without our members.

We typically release this survey on Giving Tuesday, but the calendar has been an adventure this year.  This site, podcast and future projects are all self-funded. If you’ve enjoyed The Roost, please consider subscribing on Patreon or making a donation here.

For a direct link to the survey, click here.

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