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Rice Football 2021 Game Preview: Southern Miss

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Rice Football opens conference play on Saturday against Southern Miss. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Week 4 could not have gone more different for Rice football and Southern Miss. The Owls notched their first win of the season, leading from wire to wire over Texas Southern. Meanwhile, Southern Miss was shellacked by Alabama in a game that was never as close as the score seemed to indicate. Both squads sit at 1-3 with the chance to turn their seasons around with a 1-0 start in Conference USA action.

Kickoff time | 5:30 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN3
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Southern Miss 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

Southern Miss head coach Will Hall came in with lofty goals before being punched in the mouth in his first month on the job. Sitting at 1-3., all is not lost, but the trajectory of the 2021 season could hang on what happens in the next few games. A win against Rice on Saturday and another against UTEP the following weekend would right the ship and absorb some early frustrations.

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren finds himself in a similar spot. Also 1-3, he’s won every game he was “supposed to win”. At home against a team without an FBS win, this game could prove equally important for the Owls on their quest for the first bowl game since 2014.

Series History

All Time | Southern Miss leads Rice 6-5
Last Five | Southern Miss leads 4-1
Last Meeting | Away, Rice won 30-6

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Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Constantine – 30/38 (79.0 percent), 351 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing | Myers – 43 carries, 224 yards (5.2 yards per carry)
Receiving | Myers – 15 receptions, 119 yards (7.9 yards per reception), 1 TD / Bailey – 16 receptions, 149 yards (9.3 yds/rec) / Patterson – 7 receptions, 180 yards (24.3 yds/rec)
Tackles | Montero – 33 / Smith – 25/ Garcia – 21
Pass Breakups | Smith – 3, Nyakwol/McCord/Dunbar – 2 
Interceptions | Nyakwol/Fresch/Taylor – 1

Southern Miss Stat Notables

Passing | Keyes – 31/62 (50.0 percent), 338 yards passing, 3 TD, 3 INT
Rushing | Gore Jr. – 64 carries, 281 yards (4.4 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Jones – 8 receptions, 88 yards (11.0 yards per reception), 1 TD / Gunter – 5 receptions, 85 yards (17.0 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Shorts – 27 / Stanley – 21 / Habas – 15
Interceptions | Shorts/Daniel -1
Pass Breakups | Shorts – 6 / four others tied with one

Southern Miss X-Factor | Control the line of scrimmage

Through four games, Southern Miss has the No. 20 ranked run defense in the nation. The Golden Eagles held South Alabama to 31 yards on 34 carries, Grambling to 58 yards on 26 carries and Troy to 49 yards on 32 carries. Alabama had their way with this unit, racking up 211 yards on the ground, but Rice won’t present that level of athletic challenge.

Take out the Alabama game and Southern Miss is allowing a staggering 1.5 yards per carry.

If Southern Miss can replicate that on Saturday and force the Rice offense to be one-dimensional, they’ll put the pressure on a quarterback who’s only started one career game at the FBS level. He had a strong debut, but having a running back go for 160 yards and four touchdowns by his side undoubtedly helped.

Rice X-Factor | Get to the quarterback

The Rice defense has seen its greatest level of success this season when it’s gotten pressure on the opposing quarterback. We saw what happens when they can’t get home soon enough last week when a true freshman, making his first start, torched what was presumed to be a stout secondary.

Rice faces another first-year player this week, and one that is still learning on the job. Ty Keyes was head coach Will Hall’s hand-picked man when he got the job. But for as much excitement as he’s generated in Hattiesburg, he’s thrown for 338 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions in three contests. While he might live up to those lofty expectations someday, he’s not there yet. And that presents an opportunity.

The front four has had its moments. They’ll need to find that extra gear this coming Saturday. Pressure and young quarterbacks don’t mix well.

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Need More?

The Roost’s 2021 Rice Football Season Preview has FIVE pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth charts, important new arrivals and positional breakdowns for every team in Conference USA sourced from local beat writers and sources on the ground who cover these teams every day. It’s the most thorough C-USA publication on the market.

One Final Thing

Rice football answered its biggest outstanding question last Saturday in their win over Texas Southern. Through their first three games, the offense hadn’t shown up. 48 points later, it’s evident that side of the ball does have the ability to perform. Whether they can do it at a similar level against a more talented opponent remains to be seen, but now we know the offense can score.

Had the offense not turned up, Rice could be looking at a defense that’s giving up 34+ points per game AND an offense that had shown no life through four games. No thanks.

Now the onus falls on Rice to combine that offense with the defense of old and a reformed special teams unit for sixty minutes. A complete game. If Rice can do that, against a conference opponent, the outlook for the rest of the season could change overnight. If they can’t, the goals they set months ago might still be in reach, but the week-to-week grind will be very real. Either way, we should learn a lot about this team this weekend.

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Rice Football: Jake Constantine delivers when Owls needed him most

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Jake Constantine quarterbacked Rice football to its first win of the 2021 season, providing stability and hope for an offense in need of direction.

When Jake Constantine took the first snap on Saturday night against Texas Southern, he made history. Constantine became the 11th different quarterback to start a game for Rice football since the 2017 season, the most of any FBS program over that time. He also launched that first ball over the heads of the Texas Southern defense for a 73-yard touchdown pass.

For as bumpy as the journey has been for Constantine and for Rice, something clicked for both parties in the Owls’ first win of the 2021 season. Constantine, who was making his first start since falling to No. 2 James Madison in the FCS Playoffs in 2019, looked like he’d been calling shots in the Rice offense for years. He completed 78.3 percent of his passes, throwing for 271 yards, one score and one interception.

Only once since head coach Mike Bloomgren arrived on campus had a Rice quarterback been that efficient, Tom Stewart also went 18-for-23 against Middle Tennessee in 2019. Bloomgren took notice. “From an efficiency standpoint,” Bloomgren recalled from his Rice tenure, “it’s one of the better [quarterback performances].”

He went on to mention a string of outings from Mike Collins last season, citing that as “the standard we’re trying to get to.” Collins completed 61.6 percent of his passes in three games at Rice with 10 touchdowns and just one interception before injuries ended his collegiate career.

More: Rice football downs Texas Southern for first win

Constantine hasn’t gotten to that mark quite yet, but still led the offense on seven touchdown drives, several of which were capped off by a quartet of touchdown runs from Jordan Myers. Rice scored touchdowns on five of six trips to the redzone.

Both Bloomgren and his quarterback lamented Constantine’s lone interception. Still, the tone remained upbeat. For the first time in four tries, Rice had won, and won behind a strong showing from the offense, rather than its defense.

For Constantine, it was the continuation of his own lofty standard. Now in his fourth season as a collegiate starter, he has yet to lose a regular-season game at home, dating back to his days as a freshman at Ventura College. His only blemish in front of his own fanbase came in a playoff game during his sophomore year. “I love winning,” Constantine says with a smile. “We just need to keep moving forward.”

Moving forward, building on one good game and turning it into two, then three will be the focal point as Rice football returns to action against Southern Miss next week. “We want to be a well-oiled machine,” Bloomgren said as he closed out his postgame comments. “We want to be able to put all three phases out there for 60 minutes. I certainly don’t think we’ve put that kind of performance on the field this year, but that’s what we’re working towards.”

Myers, who was responsible for half of those points on his own, is confident they can sustain that success, in large part because of the man pulling the trigger. “That’s the type of QB we need,” he said.

Bloomgren promised to evaluate the film but was confident the split between Constantine and the more mobile Luke McCaffrey paid off well. Has Rice found the right combination to rejuvenate their offense? 48 points, the most scored by a Rice offense at any point under Bloomgren’s leadership, is a good start.

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Rice Baseball: 2021 MLB Owls update – Sep 25

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The 2021 MLB season is underway and Rice baseball alums are busy on the mound and at the plate. Here’s the latest from the MLB Owls from this week.

Glen Otto – Texas Rangers

Otto made what could be his final start of the season on Thursday against the Orioles. He pitched five innings, striking out seven and allowing two runs. The Rangers offered him no support on offense, leaving Otto with his third loss of the season despite a relatively strong outing.

Through September 25, Otto has a 8.02 ERA with a 1.547 WHIP. He’s averaging 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings.

Brock Holt – Texas Rangers

Holt played sparingly for the Rangers this week, appearing in two games where we went a combined 1-for-7 with and RBI.

Through September 25, Holt is hitting .206 with 15 extra-base hits, 22 walks and 45 strikeouts. His OPS is .575 and he’s collected 20 RBI.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

Duffey has been locked-in throughout the month of September, throwing a scoreless frame in each of his eight single-inning outings this month. That included three spotless innings this week in which he struck out five batters, allowing no walks and no hits along the way.

Through September 25, Duffey has a 3.39 ERA with a 1.269 WHIP. He’s averaging 8.9 strikeouts per nine innings.

Lucas Luetge – New York Yankees

Luetge made two appearances this week, allowing two hits and one run last Sunday in a blowout loss to the Indians. He rebounded with a quick, one-batter-one-out performance on Saturday night, inducing an inning-ending line out from Kyle Shwarber that helped preserved what would turn into a thrilling Yankees win.

Through September 25, Luetge has a 2.73 ERA with a 1.125 WHIP. He’s averaging 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

J.T. Chargois – Tampa Bay Rays

Chargois earned his sixth win of the season, and his fifth with the Rays on Wednesday. He worked a scoreless fourth inning against the Blue Jays, striking out two. He also picked up his 14th hold of the year on Monday, also against the Blue Jays.

Through September 25, Chargois has a 2.44 ERA with a 1.026 WHIP. He’s averaging 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

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Conference USA Football 2021: Week 4 C-USA 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 4.

Team Week 4 Result Week 5
Charlotte vs MTSU W, 42-39 at Illinois
FAU at Air Force L, 31-7 vs FIU
FIU at Central Michigan L, 31-27 at FAU
LA Tech vs North Texas W, 24-17 — OFF —
Marshall at App St. L, 31-30 at MTSU
MTSU at Charlotte L, 42-39 vs Marshall
North Texas at LA Tech L, 24-17 — OFF —
Old Dominion vs Buffalo L, 35-34 at UTEP
Rice vs Texas Southern W, 43-34 vs Southern Miss
Southern Miss at Alabama L, 63-14 at Rice
UAB at Tulane W, 28-21 vs Liberty
UTEP vs New Mexico W, 20-13 vs Old Dominion
UTSA — OFF — W, 31-28 vs UNLV
WKU vs Indiana L, 33-31 at Michigan St.

Notable Week 4 results – Standings

Not enough gas

For the second time in as many weeks, Marshall has seen a fourth quarter lead disappear. ESPN projections gave the Herd as much as a 98.8 percent chance to beat East Carolina in Week 3, but that was before ECU scored 21 unanswered to win it in the fourth quarter. The Appalachian State was much closer, but Marshall was unable to hold their nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter. If Marshall wants to contend for a C-USA East title, they’ll have to figure out how to close out ballgames.

Welcome to the win column

Rice football was heavily favored against Texas Southern at home and took care of business, exploding for 48 points on offense, twice the point total they’d accrued through the prior three games. The Owls enter conference play next week fresh off their best offensive performance of the season.

The real deal

It’s hard to discount what Jeff Traylor has done at UTSA in such a short time. Perhaps it should be lauded even more considering the additional challenges poised by taking over a program in the midst of a pandemic. Nevertheless, the Roadrunners just keep winning. At this moment, they’re on a collision course with UAB for best in the West.

 

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Shula Bowl showdown

Butch Davis has never beaten Florida Atlantic in four tries as FIU’s head coach. Not only does this rivaly game career have slightly more importance for the fan base, but it’s also the first conference game for either team this season. FIU is looking to prove 2020 was a speed bump, not the norm. FAU could put themselves in pole position after watching Marshall suffer successive nonconference losses. There’s a lot on the line in this one.

Looking different in 2021

The upcoming game between Old Dominion and UTEP pits programs with nonexistent or disappointing 2020 seasons against each other in what could be one of the more winnable games on either teams schedule this fall. If this opportunity is wasted, the schedules suddenly seem even more daunting than they did at the onset of the year. Will either team prove they’re in a much better place than they were at this point last year?

Give us Liberty

With the understandable exception of a listless blowout at the hands of No. 2 Georgia, UAB has looked every bit the C-USA heavyweight many expected them to be. At this point, the Blazers have one of the conference’s best chances at a national ranking. Holding serve in conference play will be crucial to that end, but getting things started with a resume-boosting win over Malik Willis and Liberty would certainly garner national attention. Blazers, the ball is in your court.

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Rice Football: Owls outpace Texas Southern for first win

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Rice football notched their first win of the season, leading from start to finish in their first-ever meeting with intra-city foe, Texas Southern.

Rice football might very well look back at the first place of their Week 4 game against Texas Southern as the moment things clicked for a team in desperate need of a spark. The Owls had turned to their third starting quarterback in four weeks, but rolled the dice, trusting him to take a shot right out of the gate.

Not only did Weber State transfer Jake Constantine connect on that gutsy opening call, he hit wide receiver Cedric Patterson in stride and watched him gallop the rest of the way into the endzone.

That proved to be the catalyst this team needed, jump-starting a rout of Texas Southern in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Rice offense wakes up

When Patterson crossed the white line of the Rice endzone on that long touchdown pass, he secured the longest scoring play for Rice football since Juma Otoviano’s 80-yard touchdown run against Old Dominion on Nov. 18, 2018. It was also the first time Rice had scored on the first play of a contest since Driphus Jackson found Jordan Taylor for an 88-yard score on Nov. 25, 2014 against North Texas.

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

The couple of firsts pales in significance when compared to the noticeable boost it gave to the 2021 Owls’ morale. After being shut out against Texas and limited to one scoring play against Houston the week prior, Rice put 48 points on the board against Texas Southern. For this team on this day, it didn’t matter who was lined up on the other sideline this offense needed proof that they could do it. And they did.

Now, it wasn’t perfect. Constantine was intercepted on a deep shot on first down following a Texas Southern penalty. A muffed center/quarterback exchange set Texas Southern up for points at the end of the first half. It was a mixed bag, but it was proof the upside exists, nonetheless.

Build the whole plane out of Jordan Myers

Head coach Mike Bloomgren didn’t make it far into his opening remarks in his postgame press conference following the Texas loss before he hinted at what was to come for the Rice offense, specifically who he was going to trust to carry the load moving forward.

“We’ve got to lean on him more,” Bloomgren said of versatile do-it-all utility man Jordan Myers. “We’ve got to give him more opportunities because we trust that he’ll get it done for us.”

On Saturday against Texas Southern, Myers got it done.

He carried the ball 26 times for 160 yards and four rushing touchdowns, the most touchdown runs from a Rice Owl since Nahshon Ellerbe had four against Southern Miss in 2017. He also added four receptions for 48 yards. That included this run, that put away any chance of a late Texas Southern comeback:

Cam Montgomery saw an increased workload, but his carries seemed to eat more from Khalan Griffin’s usual workload than from Myers’ snaps. If anything, it was just enough to ensure Myers was fresh and ready to go from start to finish. He certainly made his presence felt.

Quarterback questions linger, for now

As expected, Rice football played two quarterbacks against Texas Southern. Jake Constantine saw the vast majority of the work, completing 18-of-23 passes for 271 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He looked extremely comfortable in the pocket and delivered on-time, catchable passes to his receivers all night.

McCaffrey entered the game for specific packages, primarily in the red zone. He did not attempt a pass but carried the ball five times for 36 yards and a touchdown. The starter for the Texas game, McCaffrey was relegated to ad-hoc duty in his return to play. Whether or not that remains the plan going forward remains to be seen.

On one hand, Constantine looked very much the part against Texas Southern. Outside of the interception, a first down throw that probably should have been held instead of slung downfield, he led the offense well.

Will McCaffrey be Wally Pipp’d? More importantly, should Rice ride with the hot hand who produced almost as many points in the first half as Rice had scored to that point in three games prior? Very possible, will we see both quarterbacks in action against Southern Miss? Those are the questions that will be asked this week. For now, the Owls will enjoy their first win of the season.

Going 1-0 this week

Bloomgren has an oft-heard mantra that’s heard almost nonstop reverberating off the walls of the Brian Patterson Center. Whether in meetings with the team or media sessions, Bloomgren consistently implores his team to “go 1-0 this week”. For the first time this season, Rice football has risen to that request.

The chances for a thrilling non-conference upset are long gone, all that’s left is for this team to follow Bloomgren’s drumbeat.

A 1-3 start isn’t what anyone at South Main was hoping for, but it was probably the most likely outcome any outside the hedges would have projected prior to the start of the year. So, despite the harrowing highs and lows, Rice has the chance to step back into line with preseason expectations.

If Rice football hopes to beat those expectations and reach their aspirations of bowl games and more, it’s going to take a return to that “1-0” mentality. This week, they checked the box. Now it’s on to Southern Miss.

Digging deeper

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