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News: 2023 Rice Football Season Preview and Free Trials

June 29, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

Access to the premier source for Rice football content has never been easier. Subscribe now on our free trial and get everything you need to know for the upcoming season.

In prior years, The Roost has offered digital magazines previewing the upcoming Rice Football and Conference USA seasons. With the move to the AAC and the growth of our subscriber base, we’re transitioning to a different method of delivery this year and have some exciting news to share.

For the upcoming 2023 season, all Rice football season preview content and opponent previews will be available for subscribers on Patreon. And, there’s more… for the first time we’re offering a 7-day free trial.

Subscribers will get access to every written update in our library during their trial period. That includes more than 600 posts… and counting. There are a couple of 2023 Rice Football season preview pieces already on the site and more will be pushed out over the next several weeks.

Read the previews, check out some of our recent features, go back and refresh yourself on spring ball and more. Then, once you’ve seen checked it out yourself, we hope you make the decision to stick around for the season.

Become a Patron!

You can also check out these already unlocked pieces to get a flavor of what to expect:

DJ Arkansas makes a tackle in the 2023 Rice Football Spring Game.

Rice Football 2023 Spring Notebook 10: Defensive Takeaways

Posted: April 19, 2023

The Rice Football defense once again had a productive spring. Here’s what we learned about that side of the ball. Despite coming out of the wrong side according to the final score in the 2023 Rice Football Blue and Gray Game, the defense had a largely positive spring. They asserted their will in the prior […]

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

Rice Football Recruiting: Breaking down the 2023 signees – Offense

Posted: February 1, 2023

The 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class started with a quarterback and continued to add offensive firepower. Here’s how this side of the ball stacks up. Rice signed 24 players during the Early Signing Period. Of those players, 18 are current high school seniors and 15 of them play on the offensive side of the focal […]

Rice Football

Rice Football 2022 Season Preview: Defensive Line

Posted: July 23, 2022

As part of our 2022 Rice Football Preseason Preview series, next we’ll examine the offensive line position and discuss the Owls’ plans for that group. Following years of injuries and inconsistencies, Rice football has now accumulated a surplus of riches along the defensive line. Defensive coordinator Brian Smith will have to decide how he’ll deploy […]

Rice Football, Luke McCaffrey

Rice Football: Luke McCaffrey, Wide Receiver — Patreon Q&A

Posted: March 31, 2022

All eyes are on the newest Rice football wide receiver Luke McCaffrey, the focal point of our March 2022 Patreon Q&A. On the opening day of spring practice, Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren almost nonchalantly mentioned Luke McCaffrey had been the one who suggested he move from quarterback to wide receiver. The comments added […]


Already a subscriber? You’re good to go. Stay tuned in the weeks ahead as the season preview updates start rolling out. They’ll all be shared directly on Patreon as well as our 2023 Rice Football Season Preview hub.


Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium, Sidebar Tagged With: 2023 Rice Football Season Preview, Rice Football

“He’s a Bulldog”: Parker Smith’s Journey to Rice Baseball Ace

May 22, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Baseball, Parker Smith
March 03, 2023: Game One of the Shriners College Classic of the game between Texas Tech Red Raiders and Rice Owls at Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas. (Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics)

 

From youth summer camps to Friday night starts, Parker Smith has turned childhood dreams into reality as Rice baseball’s ace.

Parker Smith’s desire to one day play for Rice baseball began as early on as his elementary school years. The initial passion was cultivated at Reckling Park, the Owls’ ballfield which hosted the collegiate team every spring before giving way to youth camps in the summers — the very same youth camps Smith grew up attending.

Smith, a Bellaire native from just down the road, was only 10 years old or so at the time, but he still remembers being on that field and having those dreams.

He dutifully came to camp at Rice year after year, ostensibly there to learn about baseball. But the ballpark itself and the traditions and trimmings of Rice baseball which surrounded it started to make a mark on his young mind, too.

A pastime that began, he later joked, “just so my parents could get me out of the house”, continued to grow. Summer camps turned into private lessons, first with volunteer assistant Clay Van Hook and then with volunteer assistant Pat Hallmark. It was during those days the dream really began to take hold.

“I was around the ballpark a lot and it kind of imprinted on me,” Smith said “I knew my way around the offices and the [pitching] lab.”

Almost by happenstance, Rice had become a part of Smith before he had become a part of Rice. Smith continued to show up and continued to learn.

Every young boy dreams of playing in the major leagues from the moment they first pick up a bat. Smith certainly had those aspirations too, but it wouldn’t feel right if his path didn’t first go through West University Place and Rice baseball.

Eventually, the proverbial call would come, albeit in a manner Smith could never have anticipated. A right-handed pitcher with a successful high school career at Bellaire, Smith had been lightly recruited, which came with one reassuring caveat. His dream school, Rice, wanted him to make the short drive to South Main and play for the Owls.

There was a catch, though, and it was a big one. Recruited initially by head coach Matt Bragga, Smith had been informed the Owls would be moving on from the manager following the 2021 season. If he were to commit, it would be to a program without a coach.

Many players would have balked at such a suggestion. Commit without a coach? But Smith was deadset. He wanted to pitch for Rice. So, despite the uncertainty, he made the leap and committed to the university of his boyhood dreams.

Bragga was relieved of his duties soon after. Weeks later, Rice would announce the hiring of current head coach Jose Cruz Jr. That fall Smith was on campus and just like that his Rice career — a dream that had been cultivated and nurtured for more than a decade — had become a reality. But there was still more work left to be done.

Wednesday

For those who follow college baseball, there’s something unconventionally curious about midweek games. In short: they’re breeding grounds for chaos.

The most established pitchers, the aces, are reserved for Friday night. If a team is chock full of arm talent, that might bleed into Saturday, perhaps even Sunday. All bets are off by the time you get to Tuesday or Wednesday.

It’s unusual for 15-run games to happen very often on Fridays when both teams are throwing their top arms. By Wednesday, however, things can get squirrely fast.

Wednesday is the proving ground for underclassmen, for veterans struggling to climb the ladder back into more prominent weekend roles. That’s primarily where Smith landed in his first year on campus and it’s when he earned his first start, just down the road against Houston Baptist.

Smith was dominant that night, earning his first career win while tossing six innings of shutout ball with four strikeouts. He allowed just two hits. The next week, also on a Wednesday, he was tagged for six runs (although only two were earned) in 4.2 innings against Baylor. To this day, he’s never given up more runs in a collegiate game. Thus were the ups and downs of learning on the job.

Despite the ever-changing assignments, Smith made the most of a challenging freshman season. By midseason he was appearing regularly on the weekend, tallying three Saturday appearances and four Sunday outings. He was never the front-line Friday night guy, that was Cooper Chandler’s role, but he was getting closer and closer to the top of the pecking order.

Looking back, Smith attributes some of his early struggles to that constant uncertainty. “Bouncing around and not being able really to have a routine [was hard],” he said. Would one bad night get him banished to the back end of the bench? The worries crossed his mind, he admitted.

Even with those doubts, Smith’s talent had a knack for overcoming adverse circumstances. He made the final start of the season for the Owls on May 21 against FIU, throwing 5.1 innings and allowing three hits and one run en route to a Rice win, ensuring the only series sweep the team registered all year.

The victory was a high point, both for the Owls and for Smith, who felt a change coming to a program yearning to take the next steps back toward greatness.

The first-year pitcher ended the regular season with the best ERA among Rice baseball starters (4.19) and made the second most starts on the team (10), three of which came against crosstown rival Houston, earning Smith a selection to the All-Silver Glove team. It was a promising beginning for the young hurler who seemingly hadn’t yet found his groove.

Following the season finale against FIU, head coach Jose Cruz Jr. singled Smith out specifically in his postgame comments. “He’s a freshman,” Cruz Jr. said, “and we have big plans for him.”

Good

Baseball truly is a year-round sport, particularly for those with an itch to better themselves and hone their craft. Smith, as many players do, made the commitment to offseason work.

Following his debut freshman season he packed his bags and headed west to the California Collegiate League where he spent the summer as a member of the Santa Barbara Foresters. Something clicked for Smith while pitching with the Foresters. In seven starts, he went 5-0 with a 2.31 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP with 37 strikeouts in 25 innings.

His final outing came in the league championship game and he dazzled, throwing six innings of one-run ball, allowing just four hits and striking out five. Behind Smith’s strong start, the Foresters won the title.

The triumph was the capstone moment in a summer of growth and self-assurance. “It was the first time where the ERA had been kind of eye-popping,” Smith said. “It was nice to know, ‘I’m good. I can hang with anybody,’ and that mentality I kind of brought into this fall and spring.”

That mental shift meant everything to Smith.

“No matter what happens, who does something, who hits a home run off you, that didn’t make me bad,” Smith recounted. “I missed a spot. I’m still good. I’m still better than the hitter in the box, no matter what.”

“No matter what happens, who does something, who hits a home run off you, that didn’t make me bad. I missed a spot. I’m still good. I’m still better than the hitter in the box, no matter what.”

More than any strikeout total or ERA threshold, that discovery unlocked something inside of Smith and set the course for a breakthrough 2023 season. He didn’t add any pitches or drastically overhaul his approach on the mound. He believed in himself, truly believed, and attacked the offseason with a zealousness that was impossible to miss.

Cruz Jr. took notice of the intensity with which he approached his training. “He wants to be great,” he said of Smith. “He works really hard. He wants the ball.”

Aided by pitching coach Parker Bangs, the Pigpen Pitching Lab and that extra level of determination, Smith set out to improve the little things. His only meaningful mechanical adjustment came with his windup motion. His offseason focus became cleaning that up and streamlining it to the point where it was as good as he could make it.

In Smith’s eyes, those tweaks have made all the difference. “The pitches break later, they’re sharper and they move better,” he said of the changes. “Being able to clean [the mechanics] up is why that’s been able to happen.”

Everything felt right and performed well in intrasquads. All that was left was to take those adjustments to the field and throw against players in different jerseys.

Ace

The 2023 Rice baseball season arrived and Smith was tested immediately. The Opening Day starter for the first time in his collegiate career, Smith would breeze through the first two innings at Reckling Park against Louisiana before trouble arrived in the third.

Smith hit the first batter. Then, after a wild pitch, he fell victim to a bunt single that put two men on without any outs. A single put Louisana ahead 1-0. Soon after, another single made it 2-0. Then a sac fly put Smith and Rice in a 3-0 hole.

In the span of 15 minutes of action, Smith had fallen behind 3-0 in what was, at that point, the most prominent start of his pitching career.

“I would have crumbled,” Smith said. “Last year, once things started going bad, they went really bad.”

Rice Baseball, Parker Smith
March 03, 2023: Game One of the Shriners College Classic of the game between Texas Tech Red Raiders and Rice Owls at Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas. (Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics)

Not this year, though. Not only did Smith get out of the inning without allowing further runs, he sent nine of the next 10 Louisiana batters down in a row, allowing one walk sandwiched in between what could only be described as a dominant stretch through the middle innings.

By the time Smith was relieved in the top of the seventh inning by Krisha Raj, Rice had the lead and Smith was in line for the win if the Owls could hold on. Louisiana would rally to take the lead, spoiling a final decision for Smith, but even without the win, the groundwork for a breakthrough season had been laid.

In baseball terms, Smith’s final line — 6 innings pitched, three earned runs allowed, five hits, one walk and five strikeouts — qualified as a quality start. He’d given his team innings and kept them in the game. It wasn’t a perfect outing, but it was good, really good. And it put his team in a position to win. And that was the ultimate goal, after all.

For Smith, how he got there was almost as important as the end result.

“We have a mantra in our pitching staff,” Smith said. “Pitch by pitch. You focus on the pitch that’s at hand. You don’t focus on any other pitch. You focus on what you’ve got to do now, in this moment, and don’t let everything else weigh on top of you.”

“It’s one pitch. You’ve done it a million times. And then you get the ball back, and it’s the next pitch.”

That’s how Smith has attacked the season, pitch by pitch. His 2.75 ERA is the lowest of any starter in Conference USA and ranks inside the Top 25 among all pitchers in the nation. Rice baseball — a program renowned for its pitching prowess — hasn’t produced a qualified pitcher with an ERA that low since 2018.

There was no doubting it. Smith had turned himself into a bonafide ace. His head coach agrees.

“He’s a bulldog.” Cruz Jr. said. “He works hard. His stuff has been really good. He’s able to move the ball around the zone. He has multiple pitches to get you out on. He’s a complete Friday night guy. And he wants the ball.”

Desire

Sitting in the dugout on the morning of the Owls’ final regular season game, Smith drank in the entire surreal experience. “People know who I am now,” he joked with an amused smile on his face. “It’s kind of fun to be the first ‘ace’ in a good while.”

The word ace, as he said it, seemed to come naturally to him. Even if it came accompanied by a humble, “quote-unquote” gesture with his fingers. Truthfully, though, the moniker fits.

Even though so much has transpired since, Smith still carries himself as one who remembered the days spent practicing on the field in front of him as a youngster.

When Smith takes the mound next it’ll be in his first postseason game as a collegiate pitcher. When he steps across the white line painted onto the turf field the wistfulness will vanish and the bulldog will reemerge.

Rice baseball takes on Dallas Baptist in the first round of the Conference USA Baseball Tournament, somewhat ironically, on a Wednesday.

If the Owls are to make a run deep into the tournament they’ll almost certainly need a gem from Smith along the way. He’s been their anchor all season and he’ll be the one called upon when the lights shine brightest.

Much in the same way his mind focuses on the next pitch when he’s on the mound, he hasn’t gotten overly burdened with the challenges that will bring just yet.

“I haven’t even thought about that,” he said with a grin. “It’ll be fun. I’m excited. It’s a challenge and I welcome it. It’s something I look forward to. Bring it on.”


Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Filed Under: Baseball, Featured, Sidebar Tagged With: Parker Smith, Rice baseball

The Roost Podcast joins the DCTF Republic of Football Podcast Network

March 1, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

The Roost Podcast has news! We’re joining the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football community as part of the Republic of Football Podcast Network.

Since The Roost Podcast launched, we’ve endeavored to give you the best Rice football and Rice athletics news and analysis that we can. Today we take that one step further, aligning our brand with one of the best and biggest in the Lone Star State, Dave Campbell’s.

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with the premier source for football coverage in the state of Texas, Dave Campbell’s. The Roost Podcast will be joining the DCTF Network alongside a fantastic team of fellow college football outlets.

Nothing about The Roost website or memberships is changing, we’re still your go-to place for Rice Athletics news and analysis, but now working alongside a podcast network you won’t want to miss. Stay tuned for more news to follow in the weeks ahead.

You can access all of our show notes and our full array of podcasts on our podcast page.

Read the full release from DCTF here.


Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Filed Under: Football, Podcast, Sidebar Tagged With: podcast, Rice Football

Rice Basketball 2023 Roster Tracker

February 25, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

The Rice basketball roster will grow and change between the end of the regular season and the start of the next. Stay tuned here for updates.

Roster churn has become a part of college sports as we know and Rice basketball is not immune to the ebb and flow of players coming in and out. With the 2022-2023 season in the books, this page will serve as a running tracker regarding the roster for the upcoming season as it currently stands. The last official roster is available here.

More: 2023 Rice Basketball State of the Program

Feel free to bookmark it and refer back to it from time to time as players announce their intentions throughout the offseason.

Departing with Eligibility (4)

  • G Quincy Olivari
  • F Seryee Lewis
  • G Jaden Geron
  • G Mason Jones

Departing Seniors/Graduates (3)

  • G Reed Myers
  • G Jake Lieppert
  • F Ben Moffat

Incoming High School Signees (3)

  • F Keanu Dawes
  • F Gabe Warren
  • G Camp Wagner

Incoming Transfers (3)

  • F Sam Alajiki, Cal
  • G Noah Shelby, Vanderbilt
  • F Anthony Selden, Gardner-Webb

Current Expected Remaining Roster (10)

  • F Andrew Akuchie
  • G Travis Evee
  • F Max Fiedler
  • G Alem Huseinovic
  • G Mekhi Mason
  • F Damion McDowell
  • F Jackson Peakes
  • F George Perkins
  • F Cam Sheffield
  • C Ifeanyi Ufochukwu

Rice Basketball News

Rice Athletics, Tommy McClelland

Rice Athletics AD Tommy McClelland shares goals, big dreams for Owls

Posted: August 15, 2023

On Tuesday morning, Rice Athletics introduced Tommy McClelland as its new Athletic Director and gave him the opportunity to share his vision for the Owls. News broke a few weeks ago that Rice Athletics had found its new Athletic Director. The University formalized the announcement soon afterward and on Tuesday, those expectations were fulfilled with […]

Rice Football

Rice Athletics: Tommy McClelland named Director of Athletics

Posted: July 30, 2023

Rice president Reginald DesRoches announced that Tommy McClelland, currently the deputy athletic director at Vanderbilt, will be the Owls’ new AD. In a statement released by the school on Sunday, Rice Athletics has named Tommy McClelland its next athletic director. “We’re thrilled to be able to attract someone with Tommy’s breadth of experience and success,” […]

Rice Athletics, Rice Football, Rice, logo, game preview, Rice Football Recruiting

Report: Rice Athletics targeting Tommy McClelland to be new AD

Posted: July 29, 2023

Not long after the announced departure of Joe Karlgaard, Rice Athletics has reportedly focused its search on Tommy McClelland to be its new AD. First reported by Pete Thamel, Rice Athletics is targeting current Vanderbilt deputy athletic director Tommy McClelland. According to Thamel, the deal is “expected to be finalized in the upcoming days.” McClelland […]

Rice Football, Rice Athletics

Rice Athletics Director Joe Karlgaard to Leave Owls this Summer

Posted: June 20, 2023

Rice Athletics Director Joe Karlgaard is moving on to private business, ending a decade-long tenure at the helm of the Owls’ athletic department. In a statement from president Reginald DesRoches, Rice Athletics announced that athletic director Joe Karlgaard will conclude his time at Rice at the end of July. Effective August 1, Karlgaard will become […]

Rice Basketball

Rice Basketball: 2023 Post-Season State of the Program

Posted: April 22, 2023

The 2022-2023 Rice basketball saw the Owls’ win total rise but was far from perfect. Where does the program stand as it enters the offseason? A strong start in conference play was not enough to secure a first-round bye in the conference tournament, but Rice basketball still managed to win a postseason game in the conference […]


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Filed Under: Basketball, Sidebar Tagged With: Alem Huseinovic, Andrew Akuchie, Anthony Selden, Ben Moffat, Cameron Sheffield, Camp Wagner, Damion McDowell, Gabe Warren, George Perkins, Ifeanyi Ufochukwu, Jackson Peakes, Jaden Geron, Jake Lieppert, Keanu Dawes, Mason Jones, Max Fiedler, Mekhi Mason, Noah Shelby, Quincy Olivari, Reed Myers, Rice basketball, Sam Alajiki, Seryee Lewis, Travis Evee

How five UAB snapshots tell a Rice football story

October 2, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

From a blowout to back-to-back wins, the rise of Rice football parallels the Owls’ progression against the UAB Blazers, one of C-USA’s best programs.

Rice football has faced UAB five times since head coach Mike Bloomgren assumed leadership of the program prior to the 2018 season. The Owls are 2-3 against the Blazers in that time, but the progression demonstrated in that quintet of contests speaks volumes as to just how far this program has come in that time.

To fully understand what made Saturday’s upset win so significant, one must look back in time. Bloomgren certainly has. When meeting with the media following a 28-24 victory that lifted the Owls to 3-2 on the season, Bloomgren was quick to mention how this burgeoning rivalry started.

“They beat the life out of us,” Bloomgren said of that 2018 contest, one that UAB won 42-0 in Houston on the same field where Rice had just avenged themselves.

Bloomgren has been quick to compliment the Blazers in his remarks over the years. Even after the win, he referred to UAB as “the standard in our conference.”

Then came the follow-up question: if UAB is the standard, what does it say about a Rice program that has now taken down that giant twice in successive seasons?

“It means that we’ve taken some real steps in this football program, and I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Bloomgren said between smiles. “I’m incredibly proud of them, to beat them two years in a row means everything.”

The progression

Following the 2018 shellacking, Rice cut the margin significantly the following season, falling to UAB in Birmingham by a final score of 35-20 in a weather-delayed, rain-soaked slugfest. Rice led 7-0 after the first quarter before UAB hit on three long touchdown plays in that contest which proved to be the difference. It was another loss, but Rice had shown a pulse.

In 2020 the teams played their closest game yet. Rice led 13-7 at halftime, another positive step, but the defense could not stop the UAB rushing attack and the offense was held out of the endzone in the second half, losing starting quarterback Jovoni Johnson to injury along the way before falling 21-16.

From a 42-point defeat to a 15-point defeat to a 6-point defeat. The deltas kept dwindling until they flipped for the first time in 2021. To win that game, Rice had to be absolutely perfect. They were.

Gabriel Taylor forced a fumble on the very first play of the game. Juma Otovanio provided a pivotal 50-yard kick return, the Owls’ longest of the season. After completing one of his first four passes, quarterback Wiley Green finished the game by completing 16 of his next 18 attempts for 200 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.

Rice was as close to perfect as they could have dreamed to be and UAB still had a Hail Mary attempt at the buzzer to win the game. It fell incomplete. Rice won.

Defensive end Ikenna Enechukwu participated in that thrilling win and it was in his mind on Saturday when the Owls posted another victory over the Blazers.

“I feel like we’ve been able to play with them for at least the past maybe four years honestly and this is just another time like last year where we put all the pieces together,” Enechukwu said. “We were able to fight for four quarters and really dig in deep during the fourth quarter to come up with a victory.”

Far from perfect

While Rice football did technically play four quarters, they’d rather not write home about most of the first half. The Owls’ opening scoring drive accounted for 75 yards. Rice ended the first half with 75 total yards of offense, making absolutely zero progress on that side of the ball while allowing 17 straight points on defense.

“We played about as bad as we could in the first half,” Bloomgren admitted.

That’s part of what made the win so uplifting. Last year Rice football has to be perfect to squeak by a very good UAB team. This year the Blazers were picked to finish second in the conference in the Conference USA preason poll. Rice was tabbed as the No. 10 team in an 11-team field. And by the Owls’ own admission, they did not play their best brand of football on Saturday, and they still won.

“Who the heck picked us tenth?” Bloomgren joked in the aftermath. “I don’t know if you’re a betting man, but the lines have been off the last few weeks too.” Double-digit under dogs in each of their last contests, Rice has covered all three times and won outright twice, also dispatching Louisiana at home.

On Saturday against UAB, though, it wasn’t their underdog status that propelled them to victory. Rice won because Ari Broussard dominated short-yardage situations, scoring his seventh and eighth rushing touchdowns of the season. He’s currently tied for fourth in the nation in rushing scores and all of his touchdowns have come from inside the five-yard line.

Rice won because Treshawn Chamberlain, following a big hit by George Nyakwol that put the ball on the turf, was the only man on the field to hurry to the football, scooping it up for the go-ahead touchdown. The remaining 21 players on the field assumed it was an incomplete pass. Chamberlain recognized it as a fumble and made the play.

More: Postgame reactions — Rice football upsets UAB, again

Rice won because quarterback TJ McMahon, now 4-0 in games he’s finished at Rice Stadium, has the presence of mind to go down on a play action call rather than force the ball down field. His decision burned 40 more seconds of valuable clock time and made the UAB offense work at a frantic pace.

Rice won because its defense — which allowed UAB to rack up 360 total yards of offense — posted three sacks in the final sixty seconds, including the game-winner by Joshua Pearcy as the clock expired.

Rice won because they took advantage of 12 UAB penalties for 116 yards, ranging from holding to roughing the passer to taunting to everything in between. Flags were flying all night, with penalties to both teams. The Owls endured.

Rice won because they’re a fundamentally different team than the squad that was blasted in Birmingham in 2018. And a different team from the one that couldn’t make the key plays down the stretch in 2020. And from the program which needed perfection to overcome the odds last season.

Not done yet

The 2022 Rice football team had already won with a dominant showing this season. Against UAB, Rice won ugly. And if Rice can beat one of Conference USA’s premier programs without posting a single yard of offense from the second drive until halftime and while allowing 17 consecutive points on defense… watch out.

“The sky’s the limit for this program,” longtime running back Cameron Montgomery said following the game.

And if anyone should have a true sense of the trajectory of this program, it would be Montgomery. One of only a handful of players still on campus that was recruited by former coach David Bailiff, Montgomery remembers every step it took along the way for Rice football to get to this place. He’s not taking his eyes off the prize.

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“We’ll just keep taking it one week at a time. I’d love to take it day by day. I would love for my guys to have a great night tonight, celebrate this win, come back tomorrow, look at the film with a critical eye and wake up on Monday, recovered,” he said.

“And we’ll just keep chopping away at that wood, chopping away at that wood until we knock that tree down.”

If the past few seasons were spent sharpening the ax, Rice football has come out of the gates this season swinging it freely. UAB might not be the last giant (tree) to be felled.


Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Sidebar Tagged With: Cam Montgomery, Ikenna Enechukwu, Mike Bloomgren, Rice Football

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  • News: 2023 Rice Football Season Preview and Free Trials
  • “He’s a Bulldog”: Parker Smith’s Journey to Rice Baseball Ace
  • The Roost Podcast
  • Rice Basketball
  • How five UAB snapshots tell a Rice football story
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