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Rice Football 2021 Game Preview: Charlotte

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Rice Football needs a bounce-back win in the worst way as they travel to Charlotte for a Week 10 tilt. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Both Charlotte and Rice football would rather forget their last trips to the gridiron. Charlotte was dismantled by Western Kentucky, falling on the road by a final score of 45-13. Rice played their opponent, North Texas, much closer, but an overtime loss was no more satisfying given the expectations they carried into the game. Both teams need a reset in the worst way. Here’s what you need to know:

Kickoff time | 2:30 PM CT
Venue | Jerry Richardson Stadium – Charlotte, NC
TV | ESPN+
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Charlotte this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. You can also catch the recap of last week’s game on The Roost Podcast, which should be released shortly. 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.)

Sizing up the contenders

Charlotte and Rice each enter this game .500 in C-USA action with four more games to play. The winner is still probably on the outside looking in regarding a potential trip to the conference championship game, but the loser is in danger of tumbling even further down the standings.

Each program has flashed moments of success. Charlotte upset Duke earlier in the season. Rice knocked off UAB. Neither has been able to channel those everything-went-right games into the type of consistency they need to regularly win conference games so far. After being viewed as up-and-coming programs entering the 2020 season, this game has the potential to reinforce those aspirations or crush them, depending on who ends up on which side of the result.

Series History

All Time | Rice leads Charlotte, 2-0
Last Five | Rice leads Charlotte, 2-0
Last Meeting | Away 2016, Rice won 22-21

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Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Constantine – 65/96 (67.7 percent), 806 yards, 5 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Myers – 82 carries, 316 yards (3.9 yards per carry), 7 TD
Receiving | Bailey – 39 receptions, 433 yards (11.1 yds/rec), 2 TD / Patterson – 20 receptions, 296 yards (14.8 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Montero – 54 / Smith – 44 / Garcia – 44
Pass Breakups | McCord/Dunbar – 5, Smith – 4
Interceptions | Smith/Nyakwol – 2, Four others tied with one

Charlotte Stat Notables

Passing | Reynolds – 127/192 (66.2 percent), 1537 yards passing, 16 TD, 5 INT
Rushing | Camp – 74 carries, 451 yards (6.1 yards per carry), 3 TD / Byrd – 92 carries, 375 yards (4.1 ypc), 1 TD
Receiving | DuBose – 37 receptions, 561 yards (15.2 yards per reception), 5 TD / Tucker – 40 receptions, 553 yards (13.8 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Murray – 55 / Watts – 45 / Alexander – 41
Interceptions | Alexander -2, Two tied with one apiece
Pass Breakups | Creamer – 4, Rogers – 3, Ursery – 3

Charlotte X-Factor | Take a few shots, and convert on them

Charlotte has one of the better “intermediate” offenses in Conference USA. The 49ers aren’t quite explosive — they’ve tallied six plays of 30+ yards against conference foes, tied for the second-fewest in Conference USA — but they have a knack for getting 10 yards, and they do it almost as well as anyone else in the league.

Charlotte’s 62 plays of 10+ yards rank third in Conference USA play. While they don’t hit home runs very often, they’ll nickel and dime defenses all the way down the field. If they do start producing players further down the field, the offense can get dangerous, quickly.

A veteran quarterback and two playmaking wide receivers have the ability to give the Rice defense all sorts of trouble. If they do, not only will they be ready to trade punches with the Owls, they might be able to deliver a few knockout blows of their own.

Rice X-Factor | Jake Constantine

Constantine hasn’t been perfect this season, but he’s been a key piece in two of the Owls’ three wins this year. He rallied the team last week, showing off some schoolyard improvisation skills to will the team down the field and force overtime.

With Wiley Green likely to miss extended time after suffering an ankle injury last week and the running game struggling to get going this year, Constantine is going to have to take charge. If he doesn’t, it’s hard to decipher how the Rice offense is going to find enough success to win on the road without his help.

If he plays as well as he’s played up to this point, Rice will put points on the board. And that’s something Charlotte does not want any part of this year. The 49ers rank second to last in conference play, allowing 38.8 points per game.

Pick ‘Em Contest (Subscribers only)

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Injury Report (Subscribers only)

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One Final Thing

Up until last week, Rice hadn’t lost a game to someone they were “supposed to beat” and they’d engineered one of their most memorable upsets in recent memory when they took down UAB on the road. Not that oddsmakers would have had faith in the Owls before, but now they’ve put Rice back in the underdog role. Given how this team faired last week, easing up the pressure can’t be a bad thing.

Still, this team has to be feeling some pressure. They’re on the precipice of losing control of a postseason bowl appearance. To get there, Rice needs to win three of four, a feat they’ve done once already this year. They haven’t won three in a row yet, though, a feat the Owls’ haven’t achieved since the final three games of the 2019 season. For a team that has been erratic from week to week, preserving that margin of error seems like an absolute necessity.

Whether it’s a coincidence or not that the Owls have been more proficient on the road than they have been at home doesn’t really matter. All that matters right now is finding a way to win this game. After the UAB win, it was easy to think ahead at what could be. Now that luxury has passed and all eyes have to be on Charlotte. The wiggle room is running out.

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Rice Football rally comes up short against North Texas

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Rice Football dropped a heartbreaker in overtime to North Texas, falling at home in what was a very winnable game for the Owls.

Nothing has come easy for Rice football this season so it shouldn’t really be all that surprising when the Owls found themselves locked in a four-quarter struggle against a North Texas team that hadn’t composed all that many impressive performances to this point in the season. Credit the Rice with this: when faced with the tall task of traveling 89 yard to force overtime, they rose to the challenge. Unfortunately, they couldn’t finish the game off the same way, falling at home to North Texas. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Bring out the cart… again

On the Owls’ first drive of the game, Wiley Green took the shotgun snap and dropped back to pass. He was quickly greeted by a swarm of green, which sacked the newly-appointed Rice starter who was injured on the play. That marks the second time Green has left a game with an injury this year and the third game in which Rice has lost a starter during the course of the contest.

Injuries happen in college football. No team is immune. But when it comes to the quarterback position at Rice, the injury luck (or lack thereof) has gotten out of hand. Green was also knocked out of the game against Texas earlier this year. Luke McCaffrey also left that game with an injury. Then Jake Constantine, who took over for both following the Texas game, was hurt midway through the Owls’ game against UTSA.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week 

That’s FOUR quarterbacks injured to the point they had to leave the game over the course of eight games. The vast majority of teams across the country won’t lose one starting quarterback to an injury this season. Some will get unlucky and lose two. Rice has doubled that. And it’s not the first season this team has had to improvise at the most important position on the field.

Getting any sort of offensive rhythm established when you’re forced to swap out the key cog so repetitively can’t be easy. If nothing else, Rice football has had plenty of practice.

The ugliest 12-minute drive of all time?

If Rice were to submit some game film as proof of their upward ascent, it’s hard to imagine more than a snap or two from this game against North Texas would make the highlight reel. Somehow, Rice managed to run 12 consecutive plays inside the redzone and walk away with just three points. The Owls spent seven minutes within striking distance of the endzone after being handed multiple fresh starts via personal fouls called on the North Texas defense.

The offensive line was not having their best day and was flagged for holding twice in that redzone sequence. It seemed to become problematic enough that Rice nearly grounded the ball entirely, looking to take the points and tie the game rather than risk being knocked out of field goal range by sack or penalty.

North Texas responding to the 19-play, 12:07 Rice drive with a nine-play, 1:52 touchdown drive of their own further added to the frustrations of failing to capitalize on so many tries within a stone’s throw of the endzone. That entire sequence underscored a sloppy day for both sides of the ball.

Build the whole plane out of fourth down

There’s probably a more impactful name than the “it” factor, but that elusive clutch skill is something Rice has been looking to nurture for several years now. They caught lightning in a bottle by converting on five consecutive fourth down tries against UAB. Then they kept it going, converting on fourth down twice against North Texas. They’ve now converted six seven eight NINE consecutive fourth down attempts. And two of those came via long pass plays rather than the Owls’ typical jumbo package.

Putting the ball in the endzone without as many heart-stopping moments is the optimal solution, but if you aren’t perfect on that front, being able to get one yard when you need it most is a skill worth having in your toolbelt.

Waiting for the Rice offense to show up in any form or fashion has been a frustration for some time. If it takes fourth down to get things in gear, so beat it. Yes, Rice needs to get to the point where it does take a miraculous streak of do-or-die moments, but it’s better to find messy offensive success than no success at all.

Pinball season bounces on

It’s starting to get exhausting. The sheer erratic nature of the 2021 Rice football team doesn’t make any sense. A week removed from the most significant victory over a C-USA West opponent under head coach Mike Bloomgren’s watch, the Owls lost to a listless North Texas squad that hadn’t beaten an FBS opponent since a two-point win over UTEP to close out the 2020 regular season. The win previous to that? It was over Rice.

If Rice could congeal its good days and bad days, the middle-of-the-road option might very well have a similar record to the 3-5 line the Owls currently hold in the standings. Granted, that more mellow iteration probably doesn’t beat UAB, but probably ought to have beaten North Texas.

On the positive side, if you’re going to have the lows, complimenting them with massive road upsets over conference foes is quite possibly the “best-case scenario” given the circumstances. On the other hand, a team with enough talent to win those big games has enough talent to win the other ones too. They just haven’t been able to string together any sort of consistency.

A bowl game is well within reach. Knowing what this team is capable of makes it seem decidedly foolish to count them out at this juncture. But they need to find a way to smooth out this rocky road or weight the die they keep rolling. The upside they forgo with disappointing games like Saturday is far too great.

Digging deeper

Every week we’ll have a stat, storyline or key learning from the game reserved for our subscribers.

Penalties compound poor play

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Rice Football 2021: Offense preps for encore as UNT game looms

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It was a positive week of practice for Rice football as they prepare for North Texas. Halfway through the season, the Owls are finding their rhythm.

Who wasn’t on the field was almost as big of a story for Rice football this week as who would be available. The depth chart will have differences based on availability, but those who will go have been active on the practice field this week.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today.

Finding the right ryhthm in the backfield

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Rice Football: Injury updates — October 2021 Patreon Q&A

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Questions this month were short and sweet, focused on the health of various Rice football players we haven’t seen on the field in some time.

We had several questions submitted for the October mail bag as Rice football passes the midpoint of the season and looks ahead toward a matchup with North Texas. Injuries, and primarily when the limited players will be back on the field, were the overwhelming theme.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Q&A’s are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

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Rice Football 2021: North Texas presser quotes, updates and depth chart

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Rice football returns home to take on North Texas in Week 9. Here’s what Mike Bloomgren had to say about the matchup, injury updates and depth chart notes.

This is the first of a couple of updates coming this week as Rice football prepares to take on North Texas. We’ll include updates from head coach Mike Bloomgren’s midweek press conference, then dig further into the details on the depth chart and what the team looks like on the field headed into the weekend.

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Rice football is riding high, on the arm of Wiley Green and reinforcements from a handful of younger faces that are becoming key cogs in the Owls’ program. The depth chart continues to evolve, hopefully for the better, showcasing the depth the Owls have built over the last several seasons. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

“I’m just so proud. You don’t have to talk about him being our Game One starter. You can talk about him being our Year One starter in this program. All of the peaks and valleys that we’ve gone through as a program with Wiley [Green] together. How we’ve come out the other side a little bit in this game. It meant the world to me. There’s nobody I would have rather seen that success and the fact that he was able to go out there, turn it loose and play the way he’s capable of playing in a green light manner meant everything to me. It really did. I said it after the game, he put on a quarterback clinic. That’s exactly what he did.” – Mike Bloomgren on Wiley Green

“What I see on film is a very good football team. I see a dangerous football team with skill all over the place. A team that’s played a great schedule (and) a really difficult schedule. I know that it’s going to take us preparing the way we did last week and even better for us to come out here and go 1-0 this week. That’s our challenge. Our challenge is real simple: prepare the way we know that we need to, go out there and practice in such a way and then find a way to still go green light on Saturday to give ourselves the best chance to win.” – Mike Bloomgren on North Texas

“I just feel like this is a team that is just very confident in what we’re doing right now. I know we look back two weeks ago and it’s a little different story but I think that really helped grow us into the team that we are today and hopefully we can continue that going into this next week. But again, that’s kind of what we’re really focused on. Not too worried about the past and just continuing to go 1-0 this week.” – Wiley Green on how this team has changed

“We talked about having this green light mentality and that is just not being hesitant — because you care so much about the team that you don’t want to mess up — but instead just giving absolutely everything you can every single play, having this green light mentality where you don’t worry about the last play but you worry about this one. I think that makes a big difference in our confidence.” – Wiley Green on the team’s ‘green light mentality’

“It was the best feeling, just coming together as a brotherhood. It was the best feeling ever. Of course, last week and the week before that we didn’t show really our full potential. But everything just came together, we clicked as a unit from start to finish. And hopefully we can do that next week against North Texas.” – Gabe Taylor on the win over UAB

Depth Chart

The Rice football depth chart continues to evolve, including a change at the most important position: quarterback.

Rice Football

Going Green

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