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Rice Football 2022 Game Preview: FAU

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Fresh off a bye, Rice football heads east to the beach this week to play FAU. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

After a grueling opening month, both Rice football and FAU were off this past weekend, giving them time to recover and get healthy before they start the second half stretch of their 2022 seasons. Prior to the break, Rice upset UAB for the second time in as many years while FAU fell to North Texas in Denton just up the road. Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup of Owls against Owls.

Kickoff time | 5:00 PM CT
Venue | FAU Stadium – Boca Raton, FL
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs FAU on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. Look for a recap of the game on the site afterward as well as on The Roost Podcast, which should be released early next week. 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

FAU enters the game in a precarious position. Following a tough nonconference stretch that included games against Purdue and UCF, the Owls fell at home to North Texas. They bring a 2-4 record into their first game after the break. A win would help their bowl aspirations and keep them in the mix for a conference title run. A loss might knock them out of both.

Conversely, Rice football is feeling much better about where they’re at exiting their open week. 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference. These Owls can take another step forward with a win on the road against a team that was originally projected to finish near the top of the conference standings.

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Series History

All Time | Rice leads, 2-1
Last Five | Rice leads, 2-1
Last Meeting | Home 2016, FAU won 42-25

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Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | McMahon – 87/136 (64.0 percent), 1080 yards, 9 TD, 7 INT
Rushing | Broussard – 75 carries, 192 yards (2.6 yards per carry), 8 TD / Montgomery – 24 carries, 186 yards (7.8 yards per carry), 0 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 31 receptions, 361 yards (11.7 yds/rec), 3 TD / Rozner – 15 receptions, 312 yards (20.8 yds/rec), 3 TDs / Esdale – 19 receptions, 239 yards (12.6 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Taylor – 26 / Conti, Morrison – 25 / Nyakwol – 19
Pass Breakups | Dunbar – 3 / Morrison, Taylor, Fresch – 2 / Three others tied with one
Interceptions | Taylor – 2 / Morrison, Nyakwol, Chamberlain – 1

FAU Notables

Passing | Perry – 115/203 (56.7 percent), 1512 yards, 15 TD, 5 INT
Rushing | McMammon III- 84 carries, 512 yards (6.1 yards per carry), 2 TD / Mobley – 63 carries, 325 yards (5.2 ypc), 3 TD
Receiving | Wester – 39 receptions, 442 yards (11.3 yards per reception), 8 TD / Edrine – 19 receptions, 287 yards (15.1 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Williams – 58 / Adams – 34 /  Toombs – 33
Pass Breakups | Mungin – 3 / Antoine – 2 / Adams, Toombs, Young, McKithen, Cook – 1
Interceptions | Toombs – 2 / Young, McKithen – 1

FAU X-Factor | Keep the ball in front of you

Florida Atlantic is tied for eighth in Conference USA in explosive plays allowed on defense. Only two programs have allowed more 20+ yard plays than the Owls (28) who have also been burned on plays of 50+ yards on five separate occasions. The latter is one play better than Charlotte which owns the second-worst defense in the FBS.

Interestingly enough, FAU has actually been pretty good when it comes to getting off the field on defense if they can keep the ball in front of them. They rank second in Conference USA in opponent’s third down conversion rate (33.8 percent). It’s been the big play that’s done them in time and time again.

Through five weeks, Rice has only produced 18 plays of 20+ yards, which ranks 10th in the conference. But the Owls do have plenty of playmakers capable of breaking off a big run or racking up copious amounts of yardage after the catch. FAU needs to be ready.

Rice X-Factor | Get the run game going

Rice football has found ways to win, ultimately that’s what really matters, but running the football efficiently really hasn’t been as critical to the team’s success as one might have expected. The Owls have averaged 3.6 yards per carry or worse in each of their last three games and haven’t reached the 150-yard rushing mark against any of their FBS opponents yet this season.

FAU is the worst run defense Rice has faced this season, coming in at 100th nationally allowing 173 yards per game on the ground. North Texas ran for 300 yards against this team in their last game and as a result, FAU was never able to get their offense into rhythm.

That’s exactly the kind of game Rice would love to play, especially on the road. Better still, it would serve as one more data point in the Owls’ 2022 offensive resurgence. Putting together a complete game, one where the defense stands tall and the offense can move the ball through the air and on the ground would continue to push Rice towards the top of the conference where they want to be.

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One Final Thing

Florida Atlantic was picked to finish fourth in the conference in the Conference USA preseason media poll. Rice was picked tenth. Rice has already beaten the No. 2 team, UAB, and gets the No. 1 team (UTSA) at home to end the season. The Texas-based Owls enter this game red-hot while the Floridians aren’t playing their best football. Rice needs to take advantage of this opportunity, even if it does come away from home.

To date, all of the Owls’ 2022 wins have come at Rice Stadium, but Rice has won big games away from Houston in each of the past seasons. The road factor shouldn’t play a large factor in the outcome of this game, instead, that should be decided by how well Rice prepares during the bye week.

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren said it best following the teams’ upset over UAB, “If you look at the second half, if we can learn to play that way for 60 minutes, I don’t know who can beat the Rice Owls right now but the Rice Owls. We just gotta play our game.”

Bloomgren and this team have the opportunity to prove themselves right on that account this coming Saturday. A win would lift them to 2-0 in conference with a real chance to contend for a conference title which suddenly isn’t feeling quite so elusive anymore. All the Owls need to do is play their game.

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Conference USA Football 2022: Week 6 Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 6.

Team Week 6 Result Up Next
Charlotte — OFF —  — at UAB
FAU — OFF —  — vs Rice
FIU vs UConn L, 33-12 vs UTSA
LA Tech vs UTEP W, 41-31 at North Texas
MTSU at UAB L, 41-14 vs WKU
North Texas — OFF —  — vs LA Tech
Rice — OFF —  — at FAU
UAB vs MTSU W, 41-14 — OFF —
UTEP at LA Tech L, 41-31 — OFF —
UTSA vs WKU W, 31-28 vs FIU
WKU at UTSA L, 31-28 at MTSU

Notable Week 6 results – Standings

UTSA hangs on

The rematch of last year’s conference championship game did not disappoint. Back and forth the game went before UTSA was able to pull out the win, cementing themselves as the frontrunners in the conference at the midpoint of the season.

UAB bounces back

The Blazers left Houston last weekend with a sour taste in their mouths, knowing they could have played better and eager to get back on the field soon. They took out there frustrations on Middle Tennessee, blasting the Blue Raiders from the jump to keep themselves in the running for the conference title.

Miners back-and-forth season continues

It’s been a wild ride for UTEP this season and it doesn’t seem to be slowing any time soon. The Miners missed an opportunity to get closer to back-to-back bowl berths, dropping a high-scoring affair to Louisiana Tech.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Get ready for some fireworks

One of the best rivalries in Conference USA takes center stage as WKU visits MTSU. The Hilltoppers have won six of the last seven in this series, which is tied at 35-35-1 all-time. Both teams have shown the ability to put up points in bunches. Even if the defenses do have decent days, it feels like it’s going to take 40+ points to win this one.

All Owls

FAU and Rice entered the bye week headed in opposite directions. The Rice Owls knocked off UAB to improve to 3-2. FAU lost to North Texas to fall to 2-4. Both teams would love to start the second half of their seasons with a win and keep pace in their aspirations for a bowl berth. That starts this coming Saturday in Boca Raton.

A very quiet 3-0?

Not many speculative conference title conversations during the preseason featured North Texas as a potential team in the mix. Already 2-0 and atop the conference standings, the Mean Green can move to 3-0 with a home win over Louisiana Tech in Week 7. The schedule does get tougher, but North Texas has the potential to put itself in the earlier conversation with a win here.

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“There’s actually a book”: How analytics is changing Rice Football

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Rice football has amped up its aggressive decision-making this season. Leaning on analytics and going by “the book” has served them well.

Analytics is a hot-button topic in the world of football today. From the NFL to the college game, everyone has an opinion on what the “computers” say to do in any given situation. Those estimations have made it into broadcasts beyond any individual commentator advising, “You gotta go for it here,” as the teams trot onto the field.

“There’s actually a book,” Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren explained, going on to detail how he approaches such situations in live games. “Whether it’s going for it [on fourth down] or going for two, there are options the book gives you, and there’s sometimes it makes a lot of sense to me. I appreciate the mathematical data behind it because it makes me feel better about my gut decision.”

As the discussion around the subject grows, Bloomgren maintains that he’s kept the same philosophy on analytics. “I haven’t had a proverbial shift in terms of my beliefs,” he said. The caveat? “Where our team is has allowed me to do some of the things I want to do, maybe that’s a better way to say it.”

Bloomgren’s aggressive decision-making is intertwined with the team’s success this season. There are examples in every game the Owls’ have played, win or lose, but their most recent outing contained one pivotal moment that summed up where this team and its coach stand on rolling the dice.

More: TJ McMahon providing stability for Rice football at QB (Premium)

Let’s set the scene. It’s fourth-and-one from the UAB 2-yard line. Rice is trailing 27-24 with just over nine minutes remaining in the contest. The Owls’ ultra-successful short-yardage offense was just stonewalled on third-and-one on the previous play.

Bloomgren has a decision here: Kick the gimme field goal and tie the game. Go for it and risk no points at all.

Given how well the defense had played, an argument for either side would have been plausible. Still, it wouldn’t have surprised many watching on to see the Owls take the sure-fire points, tie the game and hope for one more shot with the ball following a defensive stop. It doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to suggest Rice teams of the recent past would have probably opted for that approach. This one didn’t. Bloomgren didn’t. He chose the aggressive option.

Rice ran the ball again, converting on fourth down to move the chains. Following a false start penalty, quarterback TJ McMahon hit Dean Connors in the flat for the go-ahead touchdown which made the score 28-24. Rice would win by that exact margin.

Bloomgren did say “the book” would have recommended going for it all the way up until fourth and four. In that scenario, one in which the Owls’ short-yardage offense wouldn’t have been a real option, Bloomgren conceded he might have taken the points. But when it comes to those high-percentage plays that require physicality in the trenches, Bloomgren was unwavering.

“It’s who we are,” Bloomgren said when asked about the decision. “We’re gonna win games on fourth and one on both sides of the ball. It’s what we’re built on. It’s what we’re built for. I would have been cheating kids if we hadn’t gone for it.”

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As Bloomgren joked earlier in the week, “When it works you made the right call.” But even if it hadn’t succeeded, UAB would have taken over from their own one-yard line and been forced to go the full length of the field to score. Those odds aren’t very good in a neutral situation, much less so on the road against a Rice defense that had started to lock things down.

And thus weighs the delicate decision that decides the fate of real games. Art versus science. Numbers versus gut. Rice football versus everyone.

And that might be the real truth that describes the Owls’ newfound appetite for risk this season. Bloomgren says he’s “tried to be aggressive for our team in games that we needed it” and added that he’s become “more comfortable with that mindset right now.”

“I think our defense is so good,” he elaborated. “We have some much trust in our quarterback and everybody to make it work that its easier to go with what the book says.”

If appearances are indicative of reality to any degree, Rice football has embraced “the book” more than they ever have before. They have the best team they’ve had in a long time and are 3-2 for the first time since the won the season they won the Conference USA Championship in 2013. Leave it to the scholars to dust off history and reinvigorate it. The 2022 Owls hope to ride that inspiration to an equally compelling season.

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TJ McMahon gives Rice Football long awaited answer at quarterback

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Rice Football has its quarterback. TJ McMahon provided production and playmaking ability on a different level from what the Owls have known in recent past.

After years of searching for an answer at the sport’s most important position, Rice football finally has a quarterback. Although he’s only started four games, TJ McMahon has provided a level of production and stability the Owls haven’t had at the position in quite some time.

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Just how impressive and important has McMahon’s arrival been? This feature delves into some staggering truths about the quarterback position during head coach Mike Bloomgren’s tenure.

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

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 128 Rice Football vs UAB Recap

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Another week brought another big win for Rice football. The Owls upset UAB (again) and are 3-2 heading into the bye for the first time since 2013.

In their final meeting in Conference USA, Rice football added more fuel to a possible rivalry fire, beating the UAB Blazers for the second-consecutive meeting. The Owls didn’t play their best brand of football, but won ugly, coming from behind in the second half as double-digit underdogs to take home the big win as they head into the off week.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 128.

Episode Notes

Housekeeping

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Rice Football vs UAB game recap

  • Rice football has found a way to win ugly, and it’s a good thing
  • Offense disappears for most of the first half
  • Halftime adjustments pay huge dividends
  • Defense had their moments, making a huge defensive score late
  • How does this start compare to preseason expectations?
  • Are the offense, defense and special teams all playing better than we might have initially hoped?
  • Where does this team fit in Conference USA?

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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