Rice Football fell behind early and saw their hopes drown in the Hudson River, falling on the road to Army in a one-sided affair.
Army’s clock-control offense had its way with the Rice football defense, striking early and holding on for dear life. The Owls found themselves in comeback mode — not a place a struggling offense wants to be. Things were downhill quickly from there as Rice fell to 1-3 on the season. “We got Army’d today. We didn’t do anything to stop it. Not a lot of fun to be a part of,” head coach Mike Bloomgren painfully acknowledge afterward. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:
Undisciplined start
Discipline was the word of the week around South Main. Everyone was quick to mention that for everything Army might lack in athleticism, they made up for in poise and discipline. This was a team that wasn’t going to beat itself. And if you didn’t do your job and stay focused, you were going to get beat.
That’s what made it particularly disheartening when the Owls were flagged for a penalty on the opening kickoff (duplicate jersey numbers) and promptly allowed a 41-yard touchdown pass just a few plays later. When it was the Owls’ turn on offense everything appeared to be going according to plan before Rice was flagged again, this time for having too many men on the field. Moved back from third and short to third and long, Rice failed to convert and punted.
The two penalties in the first two drives were preventable mental mistakes. Those things happen on occasion, even to the best of teams, but for them to happen on this particular Saturday after how much the Owls preached discipline this week was disappointing. Tack on penalties later for a snap infraction and an illegal formation and you see a team that was not as locked in as they needed to be.
“Your margin for error is going to be small against an Army team. You don’t want to give them an inch, much less five yards or any kind of first down.” Bloomgren said. “So those are the things that you do beat yourself up about, rightfully so. That’s on us. You can’t do those kind of things.”
The Owls’ reasons for concern were validated on Saturday. Rice had one possession in the first quarter and allowed Army to score on its first two possessions. As expected, Army didn’t mess up. Rice did.
Running loose
Rice and Army met most recently in 2019. In that game, Rice held Army to 14 points and 231 yards on the ground. Schematically, the Owls were well prepared for the Black Knights option attack. Since that time the Rice football roster has gotten much better, particularly in the trenches. Even though the Army rushing attack had been productive this year, there was reason to believe Rice would be able to battle it out along the lines. That wasn’t the case on Saturday.
Put simply, Army annihilated Rice on the ground. The nation’s leading rushing attack had its way with the Owls’ defense.
Army quarterback Bryson Daily ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns… in the first half. He got up to 252 total yards in the second half including a 6-for-9 day through the air with two more touchdowns, a near-flawless outing from the Black Knights’ quarterback.
Entering this game, the Rice defense wasn’t supposed to be the problem, but they had simply no answer for the quarterback run game. This won’t be the last option team that Rice faces this year. FAU’s quarterback is a powerful runner, too.
The Owls’ run defense has officially been put on notice.
Offensive sparks
If there was a silver lining to this game, and that’s a huge supposition after such a tough result, it was the brief signs of life from the Rice offense. Outside of the third down woes — we’ll get to that shortly — Rice was able to run the ball effectively and EJ Warner was more accurate in the passing game. He made a few nice throws down field on Saturday and while his receivers didn’t do him many favors, the offense did move down the field with more frequency.
It’s probably telling, though, that the most impactful offensive play involved some trickeration:
At least we had this.
This was a fun play.pic.twitter.com/Tf5YhQwxcl
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) September 21, 2024
Warner consistently put too much air under the ball when he took shots down the field. His interception was almost directly caused by overshooting Matt Sykes, who isn’t a short receiver. The willingness to look down the field was there, seen on display on his touchdown pass to Sykes in the third quarter.
Nice hitch and go from Sykes on the TD pass from Warner in the third quarter.pic.twitter.com/ky9NtzMzfF
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) September 21, 2024
If he can improve his touch, there’s a chance for this side of the ball to coalesce into a productive unit. If not, this side of the ball is going to be in trouble when the running game struggles.
Must win, already
It’s too early in the season to be here, but Rice football already faces a must-win game next weekend against Charlotte. Frankly, this game against Army had already neared that territory, but there is no putting the genie back in that bottle.
Had Rice beaten Army, they’d have the prospects of a 2-0 start to conference play going into the bye, salvaging what was such a tumultuous start to the 2024 season. After how bumpy the first few weeks of this season have been, that possibility was a breath of fresh air.
Instead, Rice is playing to avoid an even more gruesome beginning to what was meant to be a breakthrough season. It’s hard to put into words how quickly this year has pivoted from a daydream to a nightmare, but the last stand officially takes place on Saturday. A win against Charlotte gets Rice into the bye week 1-1 in conference play with a lot of time to do some soul-searching. If Rice wants to go bowling for a third consecutive year, this is their chance to get off the mat.
When asked about that added pressure, Bloomgren did not shy away. “I don’t know if there’s any need to add any pressure. I think we all want to win so badly,” he said. I think our effort is great. How do we sharpen up our details? How do we sharpen up our ability to do it on game day?”
Ultimately, that’s the most important question of all and one that must be answered come next game day.
Digging deeper
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Third down woes
