Next up for Rice football, the Armed Forces Bowl against Texas State. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.
Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They previewed the Armed Forces Bowl game and discussed the Owls’ upcoming matchup with Texas State.
We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:
Press Conference Quotes
I think, kind of two parts. The first, you’ve got time. Being January 2, that’s a late bowl game so that afforded us some time… And then it gives you a chance to take a look at things you knew you were going to do once you got to spring football, especially in Year 1. There’s so much we can learn from this season. So many takeaways. You just take notes all year. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the benefits of a bowl game
As it sits now, we have a roster of 93 heading to our bowl game, which I’m incredibly proud of. We finished the season at 103. We’re down from 105 — two young men that were no longer with the program for different reasons — and some of those ten that aren’t a part of the count, now. Some of those are fifth year who are at the end of their careers. They’re graduated. They’re starting their real life. They’ve chosen that their football careers are over. There are a handful of guys that have made announcements to go into the portal and those guys are not participating in the game at this point and I don’t anticipate that changing. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the state of the roster and the Transfer Portal
You saw a couple young defensive lineman playing more at the end of the year… I also think they’ll probably be some younger skill guys, maybe offensively that you’ll see show up in the perimeter game that maybe have been waiting for their opportunity or this is the moment now that they get some extra prep. Without mentioning any specific names, I think those are some areas you can look at to see maybe some new names called, some new numbers show up – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on young players who could be more involved
I’m looking at it like how we looked at it going into the Louisiana week. We got that whole break going up to it. Watching extra film, trying to get some tendencies on the guys, resting out bodies. I think the break is a good thing for us. – Running back Quinton Jackson on how the team is approaching the bowl game
It was good to recover the body, get healthy. Guys were beat up. I mean, it’s awesome to be back out here, but I’m pretty sure a lot of guys on defense were itching to get back out here. We got a bad taste in our mouth from USF. We’d like to get back out there against Texas State. – Linebacker Ty Morris on how the team is approaching the bowl game
Full Press Conference
Depth Chart
An updated depth chart is expected to be provided at a later date. For the time being, stay tuned for this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon. That will be published on Friday and has further details on players who have opted out of the game and how the Owls’ might adjust their gameplan, accordingly.
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A tied game after the first quarter wouldn’t stay even for much longer as Rice women’s basketball got things rolling to post a comfortable road win over Grambling.
It came as no surprise when Rice women’s basketball posted a strong defensive start in their Wednesday afternoon road tilt against Grambling. The Owls held the Tigers to 21 percent shooting in the first quarter, yet somehow ended the frame tied. That deadlock wouldn’t last much longer.
The three-ball started to fall in the second quarter, with three different players helping Rice build a nine-point advantage which was quickly stretched to 17 points in the early minutes of the third quarter. Grambling was able to get back within nine on a brief 8-0 burst, but it proved to be a last-gasp effort as Rice seized control after that.
The Owls led by 15 points at the start of the fourth quarter, lengthening that edge to as many as 28 points before a couple of free throws and a layup in the final minute kept the game from turning into a true blowout. All in all, it ended up being a rather expeditious win for Rice, even with the inasuspicious beginnings.
With the win, Rice women’s basketball improves to 9-3 on the season and 4-3 away from Tudor Fieldhouse.
Grambling is bad. Full stop. The 2-9 Tigers had no business being competitive with Rice women’s basketball on Wednesday and, for the most part, they weren’t. All of a sudden the Owls have won six of their last seven, with the lone loss coming to a Big 12 team by a single point. Their only losses on their resume came to a pair of very good teams (South Dakota State and Princeton).
Houston Christian is the only game remaining between Rice and a 10-3 start and a short reprieve over Christmas break begins with a highly-anticipated road trip to South Florida. After a shaky start, much like how this game against Grambling began, Rice women’s basketball is heating up.
Up Next: vs Houston Christian (Sat. Dec. 20 at 2:00 pm)
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Rice Basketball blew the doors off Southwestern Christian in the Owls’ annual School House Mania game, swiftly dispatching the NAIA program at home.
Before a joyous crowd of young onlookers, Rice basketball delivered quite the show at Tudor Fieldhouse on Wednesday morning. The Owls’ annual School House Mania game began with a 7-0 run from the home team and quickly ballooned to a 20-5 advantage in just eight minutes of action.
The entire roster got into the mix with 10 players recording a field goal in the first half alone as the Rice advantage skyrocketed to as many as 25 points before the break. A flurry of threes from Southwestern Christian’s Cole Allen was the only thing keeping their team in the gym. But he wouldn’t connect on any triples after halftime as the game turned definitively in favor of Rice.
A 16-0 run in the middle portions of the ensuing period, followed by a subsequent 8-0 run, came just shy of a 50-point blowout in favor of the Owls. Rice would have to settle for a 47-point victory with five players scoring in double figures.
Rice Basketball improves to 6-6 with the win. The Owls are 5-2 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.
“In a game like this, sometimes you’re trying to see if your team has the discipline and maturity to do the things that you practice every day. There were some obvious moments where that wasn’t the case, but overall, I think we competed. We were a little bit careless with the basketball. In a game like this, when you get a lead and it’s evident that you’re going to win the game, that’s not an excuse to not play the game a certain way. But I thought we settled back in. We shared the basketball and there was an emphasis on us doing a better job of playing with some force at the rim.” – Rice Basketball head coach Rob Lanier
Key takeaway | An Opportunity Awaits
There’s not too much to glean from a blowout win over a non-NCAA opponent other than breath a sign of relief that the game went as it was supposed to go. What the win did accomplish, however, was extending the Owls’ current winning streak to four games in a row. Should they beat Pepperdine on Saturday, Rice would finish out non-conference play 7-6. Do you remember how impossible that seemed after successive overtime losses at Coconut Hoops?
Pepperdine is No. 283 in KenPom, more than 70 spots below Rice basketball, which checks in currently at No. 210. It’s a winnable game and one the program would do well to win in order to ensure they can maintain the momentum they’ve built over the past few weeks.
Garcia was inactive for the Falcons’ Thursday Night Football game against the Bucs. He made his Atlanta Falcons’ debut a week prior against the Seahawks.
Fox punted three times in the Lions’ Week 15 loss to the Rams, averaging 50 yards per kick with a long of 62 yards. He pinned one of his kicks inside the 20 yard line.
Boswell did not attempt a field goal in the Steelers’ Monday Night Football win, but did convert all four of his extra point attempts. He is 21-of-24 on field goals this season, including one blocked kick.
McCaffrey was placed on injured reserve with a broken collarbone suffered during the Commanders’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 9 and is expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
More Owls in the NFL
From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more details on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.
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Rice Athletics isn’t waiting for a new stadium to introduce new sports traditions. A real-life train horn is the latest addition to the Owls’ game day experience.
Scott Abell has always been the kind of guy who strives to get others involved. He’s a program builder, utilizing what he calls his WE values (Win Everything, Win Everywhere, With Everyone) to generate buy-in with his players and staff. But he hasn’t stopped there. Abell has also worked to add touchpoints with the fanbase everywhere he’s gone. From attending pep rallies to driving around campus in a golf cart, he wants to be present.
In an effort to strength that bond with the fans and generate that engagement, Abell introduced a train horn sound effect while he was at Washington and Lee. The program would play the sound through the stadium loudspeakers on scoring plays, rallying up the crowd with its deafening blast.
Once it started, it stuck. It followed him to Davidson, and from there, Abell had hopes of bringing that tradition to South Main.
“Some people get into a turnover chain, whatever. This is kind of my thing,” Abell said. “Some people have the cannons they shoot off when they score. I was looking for something that we could have that when people came to our place, they’d be like, “God, I hate that horn. We’ve now found that.”
Abell’s initial request was met with some trepidation. Rice Stadium is on the older side as far as facilities go and the sound system wasn’t as robust as some within the Rice Athletic Department might have hoped. Playing the noise over the loudspeakers just wouldn’t have the same effect, they posited.
Rather than settle for good-enough. Rice began exploring. Assistant Athletic Director of Broadcast Services Wayne Gibson, who oversees the tech behind Rice gameday experiences began to ask around. He was met with one rather curious idea. What about getting an actual train horn?
With that, Gibson was off. He reached out to some contacts and before long has acquired a five-bell model salvage from a real-life locomotive. That horn, which is a fully functional device that was formerly mounted to the train engine, was put onto a cart for portability. A new compressor and trigger system was configured, enabling the horn to blow on demand. All that was left was to test it out.
Rice debuted the horn for the first time against Houston. It didn’t take long for the limitations to touchdown toots to expand to big offensive plays, turnovers, and even to more rote third down plays, geared toward firing up the crowd. Just a few weeks in, the horn has embedded itself within the gameday experience.
The horn’s impact on campus won’t stop with football. The cart has already been rolled over to soccer games, blaring it’s thunderous note when the Owls score goals. Plans are also underway to utilize the new toy at baseball games and position it in the outfield, although how frequently it gets used remains under discussion.
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