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Breaking down the 2019 football schedule

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The 2019 Rice Football schedule has been finalized and published. Here are three takeaways from the Owls’ upcoming slate.

Date Opponent Location
Fri, Aug 30, @ Army West Point, NY
Sat, Sep 7, Wake Forest Rice Stadium
Sat, Sep 14, Texas NRG Stadium
Sat, Sep 21, Baylor Rice Stadium
Sat, Sep 28, Louisiana Tech Rice Stadium
Sat, Oct 5, @ UAB Birmingham, AL
Sat, Oct 19, @ UTSA San Antonio, TX
Sat, Oct 26, Southern Miss Rice Stadium
Sat, Nov 2, Marshall Rice Stadium
Sat, Nov 16, @ Middle Tennessee Murfreesboro, TN
Sat, Nov 23, North Texas Rice Stadium
Sat, Nov 30, @ UTEP El Paso, TX

1. Two bye weeks

You’re not reading that incorrectly, Rice has two off weeks (Oct. 12 and Nov. 9). That’s true of every team in college football this year. The calendar falls a bit differently with a later Thanksgiving. To make sure everything is accounted for the season is stretching just a bit. There will be the same amount of games, but it will be spread over one more weekend. College football fans will be just fine with that arrangement.

2. Home cooking

Rice starts 2019 on the road against Army, but returns for a four-game homestand. That’s two games longer than the Owls’ longest stretch of home games in 2018 and the longest stretch of home games since 1986 — Rice hosted Lamar, SMU, Southwest Texas and Texas.

3. Tough sledding

Army finished No. 19 in the final AP Top 25 poll of 2018. Texas finished No. 9. Nine of the Owls’ 12 opponents went to a bowl game last season. Rice plays both UAB and Middle Tennessee, the two championship game representatives from Conference USA. Outside of a large chunk of games at home, you couldn’t draw up a road which was that much more challenging.

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Owls set for big recruiting weekend

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With a few weeks remaining before National Signing Day, Rice football is working to finish off their 2019 recruiting class.

National Signing Day, February 6, is fast approaching. Rice signed 17 players during the early signing period —  a three day stretch in December which seems like so long ago. Now, though, the holidays are over and coaches and players trickling back to South Main.

Soon the final push for the 2019 Rice Football class will begin in earnest. That starts with an extremely important official visit weekend kicking off on Friday. Rice is tentatively scheduled to host nine players including a few signees. Here are five priority targets the Owls are after this weekend:

Brian Chaffin – Center from Stanford (Grad Transfer)

Graduations, injury losses and transfers have left a leadership void on this team. Bringing in the right veterans who understand the culture Bloomgren is trying to create at Rice would be a big catalyst to this program. Chaffin is one such player. An Under Armor All-American out of high school, Chaffin was a top-10 center in the nation. Recruiting by Bloomgren while he was at Stanford, he played in 28 games over the last three seasons along an impressive offensive line.

Reagan Williams – Fullback from Stanford (Grad Transfer)

Williams is another Stanford product with meaningful collegiate experience. The fullback played in 32 games over the past three seasons and could be the second Pac-12 fullback transfer in two years for Bloomgren. Rice added Gio Gentosi last year, who capped off the season with his first career touchdown. Needless to say, the fullback is an important piece in this offense.

Cooper Laake – Defensive Tackle from Austin, Tx

A former Texas Tech commit, Laake’s recruitment opened up when Kliff Kingsbury was replaced in Lubbock by Matt Wells. Laake has offers from Colorado State, Oregon, and Purdue among others. He’s a gamechanger up front. The 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive tackle would be an even bigger addition in light of recent transfer news at the position.

Jovoni Johnson – Dual Threat QB from Conway, AR

Losing a commitment at the 11th hour wasn’t part of the plan at quarterback, but Rice could rebound nicely with the addition of Jovoni Johnson. Standing 6-foot-5 with some nice wheels, Johnson has intriguing raw talent. He threw for 1,339 yards and ran or 853 yards during his senior season, tallying 30 combined touchdowns. He’s being targeting by Arkansas for a walk-on spot but Rice would prefer he heads south to Texas.

Tom Stewart – Pro Style QB from Harvard (Grad Transfer)

Given the health concerns at quarterback last season it would be prudent for Rice to invest in another veteran arm who’ll be ready to come in and play immediately if needed. Stewart saw action in five games in his first two years at Harvard before appearing in nine contests last fall. He threw for 1,974 yards and 15 touchdowns with five interceptions. His teammate, wide receiver Justice Shelton-Mosley, is also high on the Owls’ priority list.

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Owls in the NFL – 2018 Wrap up

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Rice football has nine alumni currently active on NFL rosters. Here’s how the NFL Owls fared through the entirety of the 2018 season.

Chris Boswell, K (Steelers) – Boswell made 13 of his 20 field goal attempts this year, missing more than four attempts for the first time in his professional career all the while dealing with injuries which caused him to miss two games. His highlight play came in Week 12, a 2-yard touchdown pass on a fake field goal. He ended the season on IR.

Bryce Callahan, CB (Bears) – Callahan set career highs in tackles (45), tackles for a loss (6) and quarterback hits (5), tying personal bests for passes defended (6) and interceptions (2). Like Boswell and several other Owls, he ended his season on IR, missing the Bears’ final three games of the regular season.

Christian Covington, DE (Texans) – Covington had a strong season which came to an end in the Texan’s Wildcard Round loss to the Colts. Highlighted by a 2.5 sack breakout against the Titans in Week 12, Covington finished the year with a career-best 3.5 sacks and eight quarterback hits.

Phillip Gaines, CB (Browns) – Gaines started the year with the Bills before being cut after seven games. He was picked up by the Browns and played in four contests before an injury forced him to miss the remainder of the season. Between both stops he registered 39 tackles and two passes defended.

Vance McDonald, TE (Steelers) – McDonald was an important piece in the Pittsburgh offense this season, finishing third on the team in targets, receiving yards and touchdowns, trailing only Antonio Brown and Vance McDonald. All such marks were career highs.

Andrew Sendejo, S (Vikings) – Sendejo was productive for the Vikings in five weeks before suffering a groin injury that ultimately landed him on injured reserve. He started the first five weeks, registering 27 tackles, 21 of them solo. He was on pace for a career-best 67 solo tackles before his season came to an end.

Jordan Taylor, WR (Broncos) – Taylor never saw the field for Denver this season after hip surgery landed him on the PUP list to start the season. He was able to return to practice in mid-October but was never activated during the season.

Luke Wilson, TE (Lions) – Wilson started eight games for the Lions this year. He caught 13 passes for 87 yards, failing to score for the first time in his six-year NFL career.

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Pete Lembo hired by Memphis

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Pete Lembo will be named the special teams coordinator at Memphis, opening up a vacancy on the Rice football coaching staff.

The Roost can confirm reports that assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Pete Lembo is off to Memphis where he’ll join Mike Norvell’s staff.

After head coaching stints at Lehigh, Elon and Ball State, Lembo served as the special teams coordinator at Maryland for two years prior to his arrival at South Main. In one brief season with the Owls, Lembo produced a special teams unit that ranked as one of the best units in the nation across a variety of aspects.

The Rice offense and defense each had their ups and downs last season, but the special teams stayed consistently strong from start to finish. Rice was led by Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Year, Jack Fox, who will pursue opportunities in the NFL this spring. Hayden Tobola finished third in the nation in field goal percentage (.909). Austin Walter finished eighth in kick off return average (27.3).

The special teams ranked 17th in the nation in overall efficiency, by far the best finish of the Owls’ three phases. Lembo’s handiwork made a positive impact on the totality of the special teams program, which ranked 114th in efficiency the year prior to Lembo’s arrival.

Expect head coach Mike Bloomgren and his staff to work quickly to fill the opening. National Signing Day is only a few weeks away, ideally, the Owls’ staff will be back at full strength before its time to finalize their 2019 class.

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Conference USA Football leads the way with 4-2 finish in bowl games

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Conference USA football represented themselves well in the 2018 postseason, finishing 4-2, the best record in the Group of 5.

Rice football wasn’t in the postseason in 2018, but the Owls saw several of Conference USA’s bowl teams firsthand last season. Middle Tennessee, North Texas, UAB, Marshall, FIU and Louisiana Tech represented CUSA in bowl games, finishing 4-2. Rice played four of those squad and will play the other two in 2019.

Conference USA finished with a 66.7 winning percentage in bowl games, the best record of any conference in the nation. Here’s how each CUSA squad’s bowl appearance turned out:

New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 15) – Utah State 52, North Texas 13

North Texas won sixth of their first seven games and three of their final six. One of those four losses was a blowout at the hands of an extremely talented Utah State team which was receiving votes in the most recent AP Poll. Even without head coach Matt Wells, who moved on to Texas Tech, the Aggies proved to be too much for the Mean Green.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 15) – App State 45, Middle Tenn. 13

App State, too, was without its head coach. Scott Satterfield is the new head man at Louisville, but that didn’t seem to matter much in the New Orleans Bowl. Mountaineers’ wide receiver Malik Williams threw two touchdown passes. If that doesn’t sum up how bad of a day at the office it was for MTSU, I’m not sure what will.

Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl  (Dec. 18) – UAB 37, NIU 13

UAB’s storybook ceiling finished with a blowout win over a strong Northern Illinois team. The Blazers finished with a program-best eight wins in 2017 and improved on that in 2018, winning 11 games. Entering the offseason head coach Bill Clark received several Coach of the Year recognitions and a raise, which makes him the highest paid coach in the conference.

Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (Dec. 20) – Marshall 38, USF 20

Marshall dropped the hammer on one of the most bizarre seasons in college football history. South Florida started the year 7-0 with wins over two Power 5 teams (Illinois and Georgia Tech). The Bulls lost their last six games and never came close to beating Marshall.

Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl (Dec. 21) – FIU 35, Toledo 32

FIU won a back-and-forth shootout in what was the most exciting CUSA bowl game. After a Christian Alexander touchdown pass to Sterling Palmer gave the Panthers a 14-10 lead the two teams traded six more scores. Both teams scored in the final 45 seconds, but FIU clung to a 3-point lead, emerging with their ninth win, the best mark in school history.

Sofi Hawai’i Bowl (Dec. 22) – Louisiana Tech 31, Hawai’i 14

Hawai’i kept things close until Louisiana Tech exploded for three touchdowns in the third quarter. Warriors’ quarterback Cole McDonald was benched for his struggles midway through the second quarter and Bulldogs’ quarterback J’Mar Smith and company put this game to bed before the fourth quarter rolled around and McDonald was put back into the game.

Here’s how the rest of the conferences and independent teams fared:

Power 5

SEC: 6-5*
ACC: 5-5*
Big Ten: 5-4
Pac-12: 3-4
Big 12: 4-3

Group of 5

Conference USA: 4-2
Mountain West: 3-2
Sun Belt: 3-2
American: 2-5
MAC: 1-5

Independents: 2-1

*pending National Championship Game between Clemson and Alabama

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