Rice Football hoped to limp into the bye week. Instead, UTSA sent the Owls reeling into their open weekend with injury concerns and a crushing loss.
It’s hard to envision a more terrible night than the one Rice football had in San Antonio on Saturday. In the span of 30 minutes of real time, the Owls saw a starting corner back sent to the bench after allowing a long pass, a starting defensive end ejected for targeting and watched in horror as starting quarterback Chase Jenkins was knocked out of the game with a left ankle injury.
While all that was happening, UTSA dropped three touchdowns on their shellshocked visitors. Then the first quarter mercifully came to an end.
Head coach Scott Abell did not mince words in the aftermath. “I’m not sure what to say except for I’m embarrassed by how we played. I’m embarrassed for our program,” Abell said. “I don’t have a lot of words to describe what happened.
All the Owls wanted was to limp into the bye week with some semblance of hope. Instead they’re bruised, physically, and forced to wrestle emotionally with a three-game skid that has made their incredible 3-1 start seem like a distant memory. UTSA meanwhile, scored the most points in a game in their program’s history. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:
Quarterback Woes
As if losing one quarterback to injury wasn’t enough suffering for one night, Rice also saw backup Drew Devillier knocked from the game following a crushing hit in the second quarter. Meanwhile UTSA quarterback, who jogged back to his locker room relatively unscathed, was the only passer to draw a penalty for an aggressive play made against him. It was that kind of night for the Owls in San Antonio.
Jenkins was carted to the locker room following a collision in the first quarter. He returned to the sideline shortly afterward and was spotted coming in and out of the blue medical tent with tape on his left ankle, trying to test it out for a potential return to the game. He did jog down the sideline briefly, but returned to the tent soon afterward. He left it with a boot on his foot and a towel draped over his head.
Devillier’s exit came several drives later on a carry at the end of the second quarter. As he scampered toward the sideline a UTSA defensive back KK Meier came flying out of the secondary to separate the Owls’ quarterback from his footing. Devillier went flying to the turf and was removed from the game, with Rice being forced to spend a timeout in the process.
“It was a tough game for those guys. I’m a little frustrated, I’m not going to lie. For a couple of weeks now I think our guys have taken some hits that they shouldn’t have taken that I think are close to being late or targeting,” Abell said. “They’ve taken some tough shots. That kind of caught up with us today.”
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Devillier was escorted to the locker room before the half came to an end. Things had gotten so dire at that point that AJ Padgett, who had switched from quarterback to tight end during camp and spent time cross-training as the team’s backup long snapper spent halftime taking snaps on the sidelined to server as the de-facto emergency quarterback.
By the time the second half came along, Devillier had been ruled out with a shoulder injury. That left Crayton, who was knocked out of the game at the end of the third quarter, handing the cursed baton to Lucas Scheerhorn, who entered the game questionable with an injury, as the last men standing at the position. Scheerhorn would see the field Padgett would not, meaning Rice played four quarterbacks on Saturday instead of five.
Rice has not played four quarterbacks in a single game since their loss to Texas in 2021. Luke McCaffrey started that game and was replaced after an injury by Wiley Green who was also hurt and replaced by Jake Constantine. TJ McMahon saw two snaps the contest, as well.
As for the 2025 team, Abell indicated Crayton needed stitches but should be fine to return to practice. He didn’t have insight to share on either Jenkins (left ankle injury) or Devillier (left shoulder injury). Scheerhorn, who finished the game, had not thrown in multiple weeks prior to Saturday and impacted how Abell was able to call the offense.
Secondary Swoons
Dealing with a decimated quarterback room would have painful enough — especially after Crayton was on the worse end of a pick-six off a deflection and a fumble returned for a score after he was hit while throwing again on the ensuing possession — but the bad news did not stop there.
After giving up a deep pass on the first possession corner Omari Porter was remitted to the bench in favor of redshirt freshman Lavonte Johnson, who had just recently passed Ephraim Dotson on the depth chart. Johnson and Khary Crump played on opposite sides for the next few possession before Khary Crump was ejected from the game.
Crump’s ejection came on the heels of a scrum following a third and short carry. Crump came flying in and appeared to punch at the pile, although whether he was after the ball or what his target might have been was unable to be seen from any of the available angles. Regardless, Crump emerged from the pile without any flags being thrown. It was when he turned around and appeared to shove the official that the flags went flying and Crump was escorted to the sideline by his teammates, not to return.
That Crump was involved in any sort of altercation is notable given his history prior to arriving on South Main. He touched an official. He turned around, didn’t know the official was there. Thought it was one of their players,” Abell said. “Just wasn’t paying attention to the moment. Gotta be better.”
By the time the second half arrived, Porter was back on the field and Jerrick Harper was playing opposite him. As the deficit grew, a host of players saw the field throughout the secondary. Who is going to be playing corner the next time Rice takes the field? Like at quarterback, it’s another question without a clear answer at this moment.
Thank Goodness for a Bye
No program needs a break more than Rice football does right now. Both sides of the ball have been decimated with injuries at key positions and even the healthy portions of roster didn’t play up to par.
“Holistically, there’s not a whole lot we did right. There’s not a whole lot to be proud. We gotta hit the reset button and get healthy, really take a deep dive on who we are, line back up and get ready to compete,” Abell acknowledged. “At the end of the day, no matter who’s hurt and what’s going on that shouldn’t happen. It shouldn’t look like that. We’ll be better. I’m guaranteeing we’ll be better. We’ll fix this. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
The tackling in the secondary was flat out bad. Neither line had a good night. The quarterbacks were set up for failure, even if they did some things to hurt themselves along the way.
Abell called the next two weeks a time for “soul searching”. Whatever the end result, it’s quite clear they’re a lot of work to be done following a result like this.
“There will be positives, I’m sure on film. But holistically, there’s just not many. You don’t leave this night with a lot of positives,” Abell said. “What I will tell you, we’ll fix this. I guarantee we’ll be better. The next time we step on the field, we’ll be a better football team, there’s no doubt in my mind. I want every Rice Owl to hear that. When we step on the field against UConn, we’ll be a better football team. We’ll be better prepared and we’ll be ready to compete.”
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