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College Football Upsets: The anatomy of the successful underdog

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College football upsets highlight every fall Saturday, but not all are created equal. How do the biggest underdogs pull off the most improbable wins?

When Rice football meets Texas on the gridiron on Saturday there won’t be anyone in the stadium unaware of the chasm separating the two teams. Texas, although soured by a close loss to LSU a week prior, is still a Top 15 team with College Football Playoff aspirations. Rice is looking for their first win of the season and their first win over the Longhorns since 1994. The biggest college football upsets always start out with equally insurmountable odds.

Some would call an upset of this magnitude all but impossible. And that’s mostly true — team’s separated by such a talent gap rarely play close games, let alone upset-worthy contests.

But it happens. Every single year.

Every season the college football world is stunned when an “unbeatable” national brand falls to an underdog, a team who seemingly came out of nowhere to stun the nation. The thing is, if Rice can do the unthinkable and beat Texas, they won’t even be the first distant longshot to pull off an upset of that caliber this season.

Starting with Georgia State’s shocker against Tennessee in Week 1 and stretching back to Appalachain State’s wild win over No. 5 Michigan in 2007, I’ve detailed the who and the how behind some of college football’s biggest upsets in recent memory with the help of media members who know these games well. If Rice football wants to be next on the list, these are the blueprints to follow.

2019 | Georgia State over Tennessee

Scott Watkins, 247 Sports


Scott Watkins primarily covers Troy, a program familiar with big-time upsets. The Trojans famously knocked off Ed Orgeron and LSU at Tiger Stadium in 2017. Meaning to ask him about that thrilling upset, Watkins mentioned another piece he’d put together shortly before the 2019 season — one detailing what needed to happen for lowly Georgia State to knock off the Tennessee Volunteers. Not only did his prediction come true, but the details of how it would need to happen were spot on.

Watkins called for staying strong in the trenches, sticking to the team’s own strengths rather than resorting to gadget plays, winning the turnover battle, surviving the Tennessee surge and winning on special teams. Entering the fourth quarter, Georgia State had done each of those. Tennessee led 23-21, but the Panthers were right in the thick of the fight.

Then the dam broke. Georgia State exploded for 17 points in seven minutes. Tra Barnett and Dan Ellington had touchdown runs. Brandon Wright delivered the dagger, a 48-yard field goal with 2:37 to play.

Scott’s biggest takeaways

“Georgia State needs to find success in all five categories in order to call down lightning in Neyland on Saturday. That may seem a daunting task for a young program coming off of a two-win season, but this is college football and the Sun Belt has certainly seen crazier.”

2007 | Appalachian State upsets No. 5 Michigan, 34-32

Zach Bigalke, Saturday Blitz

Perhaps the biggest upset in college football history almost never happened. Appalachian State didn’t have Michigan scheduled until February 2007, claiming an open spot in the Wolverines schedule after their original opponent had backed out. App State was coming off back-to-back FCS National Championships, but the talent gap was so wide that sportsbooks didn’t publish a betting line, expecting Michigan to win with ease.

Not only did App State hang with Michigan, they pushed the home team to the brink. In the end, it all came down to a 37-yard field goal attempt for Wolverines’ kicker Jason Gingell. What happened next has become one of the most iconic moments in underdog history:

Zach says the incredible finish was no fluke. “[Corey] Lynch and Jerome Touchstone had worked regularly on a play they called the Furman Block. With the two lining up wide of Jake Long, Touchstone drew Michigan blocker Shawn Crable out of the play, freeing Lynch for a free run on the kicker. On the final kick, it worked so well and Lynch had such a clear path that he almost overran the kick as it hit him in the stomach.”

You don’t see many Top 10 teams scheduling FCS champs nowadays, making the setup for an upset of this caliber almost unrepeatable. But it does give testament to one unwavering tenant of this sport: anything can happen on any given Saturday.

Zach’s biggest takeaways

“App State came into this contest with supreme motivation while their opponents largely thought their counterparts were walkovers. (That is almost certainly a given in pretty much all upset situations.) While the AP stated before the game that they ‘aren’t expected to be anything more than sacrificial lambs’, the Mountaineers did not harbor that expectation for themselves.”

2013 | UCF upsets No. 8 Louisville, 38-35

Eric Henry, Underdog Dynasty

Led by Teddy Bridgewater, the undefeated Louisville Cardinals seemed on a collision course with Florida State in the ACC. UCF was 5-1 at the time, but Blake Bortles and company wasn’t expected to be able to go toe to toe with Bridgewater or future NFL wideouts Eli Rogers and DeVante Parker.

Louisville marched out to a 28-7 underscored by a defensive touchdown midway through the third quarter, putting the underdog on the ropes. Then the rally started.

As Eric Henry recalls it, “the recipe for their comeback was equal parts their own doing as much as it was Louisville taking their foot off of the gas.” Staked to a three-touchdown lead with seven minutes to play in the third quarter, Louisville relaxed.

UCF kept fighting. The Knights outscored the Cardinals 31-7 over the final 22 minutes, capped off with a two-yard touchdown pass from Bortles to Jeff Godfery in the final minute.

Eric’s biggest takeaways

“The thing that stands out to me vividly is just how quickly the Louisville crowd was taken out of the game by the time the 4th [quarter] started which is a huge factor when trying to pull off the upset on the road.”

2016 | Houston upsets No. 3 Oklahoma, 33-23

Sam, Scott and Holman Podcast

The stakes of the Houston Cougars’ 2016 season opener against No. 3 Oklahoma could not have been any higher. Houston was being mentioned as a possible dark horse to reach the College Football Playoff. Far from a Cinderella, the odds still slanted significantly away from this Group of 5 program set to square off with Baker Mayfield.

As good as Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr. was in this game (23/40 for 321 yards and two passing touchdowns) the Cougars were able to trade punches with Oklahoma into the second half thanks to a deeper-than-expected roster.

It was speedster Brandon Wilson, not Ward, who broke the game open midway through the third quarter. He returned a missed field goal by Sooners’ kicker Austin Seibert 100 yards for a touchdown. The kick would have given Oklahoma a 20-19 lead. Instead, the favorite trailed 26-17.

More: Sam joins The Roost Podcast to discuss more on the Cougs’ big upset

As Sam put it, Wilson was one of a collective of unheralded guys “outperforming their recruiting rankings, but with the underdog mentality.” The nobodys had become somebody’s. “This is what every Group of 5 school fan base wants, but rarely gets even at resource-rich schools like the University of Houston.”

Staked to that two-score lead, Houston would hold Oklahoma to a lone fourth-quarter touchdown, never being threatened after the huge special team’s play thrust them into the driver’s seat.

Sam’s biggest takeaways

“The 2012-14 Houston recruiting classes would produce 17 players who went on to either be on an NFL roster or be named to multiple all-conference teams. That’s incredible when you consider none of those 17 players were rated higher than a 3-star by any recruiting service. Most of those players were still on the Cougar roster in 2016, guys like Greg Ward Jr, Tyus Bowser, Matthew Adams, Steven Dunbar, Brandon Wilson and Steven Taylor. ”

2018 | UCF upsets No. 7 Auburn, 34-27

Eric Henry, Underdog Dynasty


This UCF upset had very different circumstances than the 2013 game. Rather than falling behind and having to rally, UCF kept things close with Auburn in the Peach Bowl. Auburn led 3-0 after the first quarter; that was a statement in itself.

From there, UCF was on an even-enough footing to mount a counter assault. Following a strip-sack of Jarrett Stidham by the UCF defense, McKenzie Milton’s second quarter touchdown run gave UCF a jolt of energy.

Eric reiterated, “Score quickly”. UCF had three scoring drives in that second quarter. Two of them lasted less than one minute, the third took just over three minutes off the clock. Suddenly, a narrow Auburn lead turned into a 13-3 halftime deficit, officially placing the SEC favorite on upset alert.

The teams traded blows in the second half. With UCF keeping the margin within a touchdown the entire time. Then the Knights lowered the hammer. Chequan Burkett nabbed a pass from Stidham near midfield and returned it for a touchdown, pushing the UCF advantage to 34-20 with 5:56 remaining in regulation.

Eric’s biggest takeaways

“You need some type of big-play. Something that says to the favorite that you can play on their level.”

2018 | Old Dominion upsets No. 13 Virginia Tech, 49-35

Ed Miller, Virginia Pilot

An innocuous home-and-home series took a turn for the worse for Virginia Tech when starting quarterback Justin Jackson went down with an injury. The game was dead even through the first half and stayed close through the third quarter, with Old Dominion trailing 28-21 entering the fourth.

Merely staying with the No. 13 Hokies was impressive, and Old Dominion had done so by not overthinking their plan of attack. Wide receivers Travis Fulgham and Jonathan Duhart would each finish the year with more than 1,000 yards. They were the focal point of the Monarchs’ attack. Fulgham caught nine passes for 188 yards and a score. Duhart grabbed nine of his own for 142 yards and three touchdowns.

Duhart’s final touchdown of the game broke a 35-35 tie with five minutes to play. Running back Jeremy Cox finished the Hokies with a 40-yard score in the final two minutes to salt away the win.

Ed’s biggest takeways

“In ODU’s case, they found something that worked and stuck with it. Namely they were able to exploit match-ups on the outside in the passing game. ODU was also playing at home, which certainly helped. They had an older team – with 21 seniors. I think in some cases an underdog with experience can beat a more talented squad that might be younger.”

So how does an underdog pull an upset?

As evidenced by even these select few games, no upset is created equal. The differences between the Georgia State’s and UCF’s of the world couldn’t be any more readily apparent. But both were able to achieve their goals.

There’s something to be said for the mental fortitude of each of these teams. They clearly didn’t believe their games were unwinnable, more so, they continued to fight when faced with deficits that lasted even into the fourth quarter. They knew that any close game could turn on its head in an instant. These games did.

Momentum changing plays, particularly on special teams, were huge — look no further than Houston’s 100-yard missed field goal return or App State’s game-winning field goal block.

All of that is predicated on having enough talent on the roster to stay in the game. Rice has proven they’re much better than they were a year ago. Are they talented enough to keep pace with Texas? We’ll just have to wait and see. I can tell you this, there’s not a single person on South Main who believes the Owls can’t do this.

Rice football knows its identity. They know the formula to keep a talented opponent on the ropes. All that’s left is to execute, get a few breaks, and hang on. If they can do that, the 2019 Owls can add their name to this illustrious list of underdogs.

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Rice Football Film Room: Breaking down Owls’ offense vs Wake Forest

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Rice Football dropped their first home contest to Wake Forest on Friday. Carter Spires takes us beyond the box score, unpacking the Owls’ offense and more.

Hey y’all, it’s Carter, and welcome back to the film room! This week we’re gonna be breaking down a couple of plays in the passing game. We’ll take a look at two plays from the Rice offense, breaking down the emergence of playmakers at wide receiver and quarterback. Then we’ll look at one for the Rice defense to highlight the growth in the secondary and show that sometimes great offense just beats great defense.

Play 1 | Wiley Green to Brad Rozner

Rice Football, Brad Rozner, Wiley Green

Setup

It’s Rice’s second drive of the game, 6:06 to go in the first quarter. Rice is down 14-0. It’s second and 10 from the Wake 44. Rice has 11 personnel (1 back 1 TE) on the field in a spread set with two wide receivers stacked to the field (the wide side of the field), and Wiley Green is in the shotgun with Aston Walter behind him and to his right.

Bradley Rozner is the “Z” receiver to the boundary (the short side of the field), which is the strong side here because the TE (can’t tell which one) is lined up on that side. Wake responds by showing a split safety look, with the corner playing off Rozner and “rover” (a hybrid OLB/S/nickel similar to Rice’s Viper) Luke Masterson playing the seam about 7 yards off the line of scrimmage.

More: 5 Takeaways from the Owls’ Week 2 game against Wake Forest

The rover is Green’s key on this play, which after a bit of back and forth with myself I’m fairly sure is an RPO (more on that in a bit). Rozner is going to run what’s called a glance route or skinny post—that is, he’ll stem his route vertically, then break toward the middle of the field at a shallow angle. If the rover bails at the snap (i.e., if Wake is playing Cover 2 to that side to bracket Rozner), Green will hand the ball off to Walter, because in that case, Rice has 6 blockers to Wake’s 6 defenders in the box.

If the rover flows downhill at the snap to play the run (based on the alignment of Wake’s front, I think he’s responsible for the strongside C-gap, between the tackle and the TE), then Wake has the numbers advantage in the run game and Rozner is in single coverage, so Green will pull the ball and throw it to him. Since there’s no middle-of-the-field safety in this coverage, a completed pass to Rozner here could mean a huge gain (and it does!)

The Play

On whether this is an RPO: the broadcast the color commentator identified it as such because LG Nick Leverett pulls at the snap, but that can sometimes be window dressing for a play-action pass. The rest of the OL doesn’t exactly fire downhill (look at Clay Servin). What sells me is that RT Justin Gooseberry, after a quick double team, climbs to the second level to block the linebacker, which he wouldn’t be doing if it were a called pass. So I’m fairly certain this is an RPO.

It’s a pretty easy read for Green. Masterson is creeping downhill even *before* the snap. He’s already taken a couple steps forward by the time Walter reaches the mesh point. As such, Green doesn’t even have to hesitate at the mesh point; he quickly pulls the ball and flips it to Rozner, who does a great job of breaking his route in time to box out the corner. He makes the catch, slips the corner’s tackle attempt, and makes it all the way inside the 5 on the play. First and goal, Owls.

Play 2 | Tom Stewart to August Pitre

Rice Football, Tom Stewart, August Pitre

Setup

2:16 left in the 1st quarter and Rice is down 14-7. They have it 2nd and 7 on the Wake 26 on Tom Stewart’s first full drive at QB. Rice is in 20 personnel (2 backs no TE), in another shotgun spread set. Rozner is the lone receiver to the boundary. August Pitre is wide to the field. Austin Trammell is in the slot, and Stewart is flanked by Nahshon Ellerbe (right) and FB Reagan Williams (left). Wake is again in their nickel personnel, showing a split safety look.

The Play

At the snap, the safety and both outside corners bail deep while the nickel back and linebackers drift into shallow zones. The TV camera is too zoomed in for us to tell exactly what happens, but since we later see the safety running towards Pitre from the middle of the field, it looks like they bailed into Cover 3 (in this case a very basic 3 deep/4 under pure zone coverage) from the split safety look.

Both Trammell and Pitre stem their routes vertical at the snap. Trammell breaks his off into a curl (a type of comeback route, often used to find holes in zone coverage) a couple of yards past the first down marker. He’s briefly open if Stewart fires the ball out right as he breaks his route, but it looks like Stewart wants Pitre all the way*.

It’s difficult to tell what route Pitre is running, again because of the camera, but it looks like he breaks his route inward just before disappearing from view. But by the time the ball reaches him, he’s breaking back toward the sideline, meaning this is some kind of double-move, either a post-corner or post-out.

More: Previewing the Owls’ Week 3 game against Texas

Either way, he finds some space under the outside corner’s deep third and above the nickel’s shallow zone. (The nickel might have been in a position to make the play, but he spent a long time lingering to make sure Reagan Williams wasn’t going to leak out of the pass protection and catch a checkdown underneath). Both are closing hard as the ball’s in the air though, so the window ends up being a tight one.

It’s a perfect play from both Stewart and Pitre. Stewart puts the ball high where only his guy can get it, and Pitre shows off his leaping ability to high point the ball and come down with it. First and goal, Rice. They’d tie the game on a zone-read keeper from Stewart the next play.

Play 3 | Jamie Newman to Scotty Washington

Rice Football

Setup

Sadly, I probably shouldn’t *only* show Rice’s best plays in this column. I want to highlight this particular Wake TD though, because it dovetails with what Matthew and I said on the pod this week. Several times against Wake, the Rice DBs were in position to make a play and were simply beat straight up by Jamie Newman’s pinpoint passing and the size and athleticism of his gargantuan receivers.

That’s frustrating, but it’s better than getting beat because you were out of position or couldn’t stick with your man in coverage. This play was bad for Rice, but it shows some promise for the Rice secondary (or for Andrew Bird, at least) in conference play.

Wake is in an 11 personnel shotgun spread set, with two receivers to the field, and the RB and H-back both lined up on the offense’s right. Rice is in their base defensive personnel, which we’ll call a nickel here, because Treshawn Chamberlain is most definitely lined up as a DB rather than a LB. They’re showing a five-man front with a Cover 1 man-under look in the secondary, with Chamberlain as the deep safety. They’re playing press-man on the outside receivers, as is preferred in DC Brian Smith’s scheme.

We’re mainly concerned with Andrew Bird, lined up as the boundary corner on Scotty Washington (who checks in at a whopping 6-foot-5, 225 pounds), but I do wanna highlight the versatility of these Rice defenders. The Viper role often has nickel DB/outside linebacker responsibilities, but Chamberlain is playing deep safety in Cover 1. Blaze Alldredge, the starting weakside (“Will”) linebacker, is lined up as a standup defensive end. George Nyakwol, the starting free safety, is basically playing linebacker. These guys can do it all!

The Play

At the snap, Rice sends all five defenders on the line. Antonio Montero and Nyakwol follow on a delayed blitz**. Unfortunately, none of Rice’s players on the front can beat their blocks in time to affect the throw. Newman gets the ball out fast enough that Montero and Nyakwol don’t have time to get home even though they have numbers to that side with both blitzing.

Meanwhile, Bird plays outside leverage at the snap, wanting to seal Washington off from the sideline since he’s got help to the middle of the field. Washington stutters the outside, getting a clean release. Bird does well to recover, staying engaged and in phase with the receiver throughout the route.

Both of them see the ball in flight when they’re at about the 5-yard line, and Bird even manages to negate Washington’s height advantage enough to get a hand in at the catch point. Unfortunately for him, Washington is not only four inches taller than he is, but 50 pounds heavier as well, and I’m guessing that a fair amount of those 50 pounds are muscle. Washington hangs on to the ball, and it’s a TD for Wake.

The Roost Podcast Ep 7 | Wake Forest recap and Texas Preview

It didn’t work this time, but in this play you can see exactly what Brian Smith wants this defense to be against the passing game. Physical man coverage on receivers paired with aggressive and hopefully confusing pressure from the front. If Jamie Newman were a little less accurate or a little less comfortable in a compressed pocket, or if Scotty Washington were even 2–3 inches shorter, this play goes as planned for Rice. As Rice’s players continue to develop in the scheme (and in the long term, as the staff continues to recruit players who fit it), they’ll get even better at executing.

So there you have it. We asked for some playmakers to step up for Rice in the passing game, and they did that against Wake. (I didn’t break down a play for Austin Trammell, but he was stellar as well). And while this weekend’s game against Texas is going to feature a similarly capable QB and even more enormous receivers, not many C-USA teams can replicate that. If Rice’s secondary maintains this level of play when they get to the conference games, the results will look a lot better.

Notes

*I’m not entirely familiar with this route combination (a hitch from the slot with a post-corner or post-out from the outside receiver), so I can’t tell you for certain what the read for the QB is. It seems to be the same basic principle as a smash concept (which is a corner route from the slot over an outside hitch)—that is, you put a high-low stress on the curl/flat defender. If he stays shallow to rob the underneath route, you throw the deep route. If he goes deeper into his zone to take away the vertical route, you throw to the underneath receiver.

**For Nyakwol this is probably a “green dog” blitz—i.e., he’s assigned to cover the RB in man, but if the back stays in pass pro, he blitzes.

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The Roost Podcast | Episode 7 – 2019 Rice Football Wake Recap, Texas Preview

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Following a breakdown of Rice Football game against Wake Forest, Carter and Matthew look ahead at the Texas game and talk upsets with a special guest.

Rice Football is two weeks into the 2019 season. What have we learned about this team and what questions still remain? You can find all the previous musings on the podcast page.

In Episode 7, Carter and Matthew discuss the ramifications of the Wake Forest defeat and a few positive takeaways from the game. Then they look ahead, previewing the Owls’ Week 3 game at NRG Stadium against Texas on Sep. 14 at 7:00 pm.

Give a listen to Episode 7 below.

Episode 7 Notes

  • News and notes — The pick’em challenge is gaining steam, but we haven’t had a perfect week from anyone … yet. Don’t miss your chance to play along and compete for some end of season prizes.
  • Breaking down the Wake Forest game — Starting with the quarterback position and working all the way to the secondary, there was a lot to work through from the Owls’ second Friday night affair. What happened to the running game? After giving up 41 points, should we be concerned or encouraged by the play of the Rice secondary?
  • The formula for a Texas-sized upset — Sam, from the Scott and Holman Podcast visits and talked about the Houston Cougars’ 2016 upset of Top 10 Oklahoma. What did the Cougars do on that day (with Tom Herman at the helm) that enabled them to shock the college football world and knock off the Sooners? Can the Owls take away some key learnings?
  • Previewing the Texas game — The LSU game provided some meaningful data points about the Longhorns current team. Rice should have a few key areas of advantage, but there’s no doubt this will be the Owls’ toughest tests yet. How does potential starting quarterback Tom Stewart fit into the mix?

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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Rice Football 2019: Week 3 Texas Press Conference quotes

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Coming off two tough defeats, Rice Football players and head coach Mike Bloomgren prepare for their comments prior to their Week 3 game against Texas.

Texas has taken center stage at South Main. Bloomgren, along with wide receiver Brad Rozner and linebacker Blaze Alldredge, met with the media on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming Week 3 matchup.

From Mike Bloomgren

On what the team learned from the Wake Forest game …

“The bottom line is we’re not quite there yet to beat that team. We felt like we had the ability to on the field and certainly at times, it looked like we did. But, we’ve got to keep making progress. We’re just not quite there. But, once again, better day by day. I’m proud of the guys for that and the way they’re working.”

On tangible proof of progress year over year…

“There’s a lot of things, to be honest with you. The fact that we could stand toe-to-toe and the fact that we could move the ball in short-yardage. The fact that when they overloaded the box in the run game and they were running some of their pressures, we were able to attack them through the air. We had a receiver like Bradley Rozner step up and make a few big-time plays.”

On the current state of the quarterback room…

“We played a lot of quarterbacks last year and some of them are still in the program. Evan Marshman is going to be the guy that takes reps with the twos right now. We also, obviously, have JoVoni Johnson who we believe in tremendously. He’s a very talented guy who we’re going to keep growing. I don’t expect to see him in this game this weekend, but, we have some guys that we really trust with some cool tools.”

From Brad Rozner

On the ability of the Texas secondary …

“They’re obviously going to be a little faster than us, that’s kind of why they recruited so highly out of high school but we’re just gonna have to attack them like anybody else. We’re going to bring the fight to them. We’re the underdogs.”

From Blaze Alldredge

On the improvement in the defense this season…

“Giving up quick 14 points [to Wake Forest] but battling back with a stop and getting us back to that 14-14 type game shows a resilience that we didn’t have as a defense last year, in my opinion.”

“Last year I think there were times where we just felt like we couldn’t stop people, no matter what we did. And this year, we just don’t have that feeling at all. When you give up a quick 14 to Wake Forest, it’s easy to go to your sideline and go, dang, we just can’t stop these guys. Whereas instead, it’s an organized huddle where we’re like, okay, we missed these assignments, here’s what we have to sharpen up to get the stops.”

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Rice Football 2019: Owls in the NFL Week 1 Update

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Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books and several Rice Football alums made big plays. Here’s the latest from each of the NFL Owls.

There are currently six former Rice football players on NFL rosters. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Week 1 results

Eagles 32 (Sendejo) – Redskins 27
Cowboys 35 (Covington) – Giants 17
Raiders 24 – Broncos 16 (Callahan)
Seahawks 21 (Ellerbee) – Bengals 20
Patriots 33 – Steelers 3 (Boswell, McDonald)

Chris Boswell, K, Steelers

Boswell converted his only field goal attempt from 19 yards. He scored the Steelers only points of the game. The Steelers host the Seahawks in Week 2.

Bryce Callahan, CB, Broncos

Callahan was questionable to participate in the Broncos’ Monday Night Football appearance against the Raiders. He did not participate. There is currently no timetable for his return. The Broncos host the Bears in Week 2.

Christian Covington, DE, Cowboys

Covington registered two tackles in the Cowboys’ Week 1 victory over the Giants. The Cowboys travel to the Redskins in Week 2.

Emmanuel Ellerbee, LB, Seahawks

Ellerbe did not log any stats for the Seahawks in their Week 1 game against the Bengals. The Seahawks travel to the Steelers in Week 2

Vance McDonald, TE, Steelers

McDonald had a fairly quiet Sunday night, as did the rest of the Steelers offense. He caught two passes for 40 yards in a loss to the Patriots. The Steelers host the Seahawks in Week 2.

Andrew Sendejo, Saf, Eagles

Sendejo finished second on the team in total tackles, notching five in the Eagles come from behind victory over the Redskins. The Eagles travel to the Falcons in Week 2 for Sunday Night Football.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are others Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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