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The Roost Podcast | Ep 97 – Rice football knocks off UAB

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Rice football ricocheted from a tough loss to a stunning upset victory. This week we debrief the Owls’ upset win over UAB on the road.

From the lowest of lows back up to the highest of highs, Rice football has run the emotional gauntlet over the past week and change and come out on the better side. The Owls became the first Conference USA team to beat UAB at home since 2014 and the only conference foe to topple the Blazers since their program was reinstated in 2017. How’d they do it? Behind a complete performance from all phases and a near-flawless outing from quarterback Wiley Green.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 97.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping
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  • Rice football vs UAB 
    • Rice wasn’t perfect, but they made the plays when they needed to
    • Offense goes 5-for-5 on fourth down
    • Both the offensive and defensive line played extremely well
    • What do we make of Wiley Green moving forward?
    • Season-long expectations and a quick look ahead at North Texas

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Rice Football 2021: NFL Owls Week 7 Stats Update

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Rice Football is well represented on 2021 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 7.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Team NFL Owl(s) Week 7 Result Week 8
Los Angeles Chargers Christian Covington (DL) — BYE —  — vs New England
Denver Calvin Anderson (OL)
Bryce Callahan (CB)		 at Cleveland (TNF) L, 17-14 vs Washington
Pittsburgh Chris Boswell (PK) — BYE —  — at Cleveland
Detroit Jack Fox (P) at Los Angeles Rams L, 28-19 vs Philadelphia
Tampa Bay Nick Leverett (OL) vs Chicago W, 38-3 at New Orleans
Indianapolis Andrew Sendejo (Saf) at San Francisco (SNF) W, 30-18 vs Tennessee

Offense

Calvin Anderson – OT, Broncos

After seeing some action the week prior following an injury to starter Garrett Bolles, Anderson returned to special teams duty in Week 7. That meant two snaps against the Browns on Thursday Night Football.

Nick Leverett – OT, Buccaneers

Leverett was officially active for the first time this season for the Bucs’ Week 7 win over the Bears. He did not play.

Defense

Bryce Callahan – CB, Broncos

Callahan started and made fice tackles, including a tackle for a loss in the Broncos’ Week 7 loss to the Browns. He has now had at least three tackles and at least one TFL in three consecutive games, two starts.

Christian Covington – DL, Chargers

Covington and the Chargers were on bye in Week 7. They play the Patriots in Week 8.

Andrew Sendejo – S, Colts

Sendejo made two tackles in the Colts’ Week 7 victory over the 49ers. It was his third start in the teams’ last four games.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Perhaps inspired by the Owls’ own fake-punt hijinks, former Rice punter Jack Fox pulled off a fake punt of his own on Sunday:

He only attempted one punt, which went for 36 yards.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell and the Steelers were on bye in Week 7. They play the Browns in Week 8.

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 detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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Rice Football 2021 Game Preview: North Texas

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Rice Football returns to Houston this week to take on a struggling North Texas team. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

North Texas and Rice football could not have had more opposite weekends despite both holding multi-score leads midway through the third quarter of their respective games. The Mean Green surrendered 21 straight points, losing at home to Liberty in a game they controlled for the entirety of the first half, if not longer.

Rice, on the other hand, was able to complete the upset. The Owls became the first Conference USA team to beat UAB at home since the Blazers’ program was reinstated beginning with the 2017 season. Riding high, the Owls now seek to pick up a much-needed win at home. Here’s what you need to know:

Kickoff time | 1:00 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 North Texas 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

North Texas is playing for pride at this point. Discussions regarding the security of head coach Seth Littrell’s job have endured throughout the season with the voices of his detractors growing louder and loud with each successive loss. A bowl game is still nominally within reach, but even that might not be enough for Littrell at this point.

On the other sideline, Rice football very much so has plenty to play for on Saturday. Should they win, they’d even their season-long record to 4-4 and be two wins away from the bowl berth they’ve had their eyes fixed on all year. More still, they’d be 3-1 in league play and firmly in the race for a conference title. Both objectives get much harder should Rice not hold serve on their own turf against North Texas.

Series History

All Time | North Texas leads Rice, 6-5
Last Five | North Texas leads Rice, 4-1
Last Meeting | Away 2020, North Texas won 27-17

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Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Constantine – 49/66 (74.2 percent), 564 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Myers – 71 carries, 284 yards (4.0 yards per carry), 6 TD
Receiving | Bailey – 29 receptions, 290 yards (10.0 yds/rec), 1 TD / Patterson – 16 receptions, 265 yards (16.6 yds/rec), 1 TD
Tackles | Montero – 48 / Smith – 41 / Pearcy – 36
Pass Breakups | McCord/Dunbar – 5, Smith – 4
Interceptions | Smith/Nyakwol – 2, Four others tied with one

North Texas Stat Notables

Passing | Aune – 78/149 (53.4 percent), 851 yards passing, 6 TD, 6 INT
Rushing | Torrey – 164 carries, 853 yards (5.2 yards per carry), 7 TD
Receiving | Burns – 40 receptions, 448 yards (11.2 yards per reception), 2 TD / Pirtle – 25 receptions, 211 yards (8.4 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Davis, KD – 59 / Davis, Tyreke – 39 / Nixon III – 31
Interceptions | Five tied with one apiece 
Pass Breakups | Sanders – 3, Three tied with two apiece

North Texas X-Factor | Get off the field

On paper, the North Texas defense has been ever so slightly a hair below Rice’s defense. If it’s possible to boil the difference down to one specific factor, third down is unquestionably the Mean Green’s Achilles heel. North Texas opponents are converting 47.4 percent of their third down opportunities this season, the second to worst mark in C-USA and the 122nd rate in all of FBS football. C-USA opponents convert on average 43.6 percent of their third down tries against the Mean Green.

UTEP, Florida Atlantic, Marshall, UTSA and UAB own the best third down defenses in the conference. It’s no coincidence those five teams also boast the top five scoring defenses in C-USA. Yes, better defenses (tend to) give up less points, but the North Texas defense could take a substantial leap up the ladder by finding a way to get off the field at a better clip.

Rice wants to grind the clock and extend drives. If the North Texas defense can’t get Rice off schedule, it’s going to make it tough for this team as a whole to do much of anything to get out of sync.

Rice X-Factor | Do it again

When Rice knocked off Marshall on the road in 2020 it managed the feat behind a stellar defensive performance. The Owls picked off the Herd five times that game, returning one of those snags for six points of their own.

That wasn’t the case for Owls against the UAB Blazers last weekend. Rice found success in all phases, from Wiley Green’s first-ever 3-touchdown passing day to a masterful fake punt to the final stand by the defense to close the door. The ask for this team is to do something they’ve done few times in recent memory, do it again.

Safety Naeem Smith used the word resilient in his postgame comments on Saturday. Rice has now proven on multiple occasions they can shake off one bad day and turn the page quickly. The next step is stringing multiple good days together. That can start on Saturday, and if it doesn’t, they’ll have enough firepower to beat North Texas.

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One Final Thing

For better or worse, Rice football gave the rest of their opponents notice of just what they are capable of when they put together a complete game, because that’s exactly what we saw Rice cobble together against UAB. It wasn’t perfect — far from it — but it was arguably the first time this season where all three phases have worked in unison to win a football game.

If UAB was sleeping on Rice at all, something head coach Mike Bloomgren did make a passing comment regarding following the game, that’s not going to be the case again this season. Nobody is going to overlook Rice anymore, largely because Rice has shown its hand.

Now, assuming Rice is going to get the best North Texas has to throw at them, it’s time for them to prove they are what their record says they are. The Owls have a better conference record than North Texas and Louisiana Tech, both of which are still on the Owls’ schedule. Rice can get within one win of a bowl berth simply by beating the teams they’ve already moved above in the standings.

It’s not that simple. But in many ways it is. Rice has beaten a team they weren’t “supposed to” beat. Now they have to beat someone they should.

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All green lights for Wiley Green, Rice football in UAB upset

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From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs, Rice football believed they could right the ship quickly and made that hope reality in an upset win over UAB.

Should we have seen it coming? Maybe. Would any outside the hedges have believed it if they were forewarned? Maybe not. Regardless, for the second time in as many seasons, Rice football has recovered from a road loss to knock off one of Conference USA’s best teams on the road behind the arm of a backup quarterback as 23+ point underdogs. UAB had not lost a conference game at home since the program was restarted in 2017. Until Saturday.

One week removed from being stunned under the lights on the roof of the Alamodome, Rice deployed what head coach Mike Bloomgren dubbed a “green light mentality” and rode it to yet another major victory for the Owls’ program.

“Instead of seeing yellow, instead of being hesitant – because of how much you care about this game and each other – play, and play for each other,” a Gatorade-soaked Bloomgren reiterated following the win. Then he listened on as team leaders like Wiley Green, who dazzled everyone with a 205-yard, three-touchdown outing, and Naeem Smith, who came up with a crucial interception, reiterated that same “green light” mantra.

Whether too timid or too mistake-riddled in previous games, something clicked in the Owls’ psyche on Saturday night at Protective Stadium. “I really think it came down to them freeing themselves to make plays and to play like they’re capable of,” Bloomgren said.

Takeaways: Rice football upsets UAB on the road

That focused, game-ready effectiveness was personified on the Owls’ first drive of the second half. Trailing at the break because of a missed extra point, Rice was facing what looked to be a three-and-out on their opening possession in the third quarter. Then Jaeger Bull snagged the snap on a fake punt and raced 30 yards into UAB territory. Rice would score on that drive to go up by six points, the final margin in the game.

“That’s something Coach Monfiletto drew up, gosh, maybe a month and a half ago, maybe prior to the Arkansas game,” Bloomgren remarked of the fake. He said it wasn’t even the first time Rice had called the play during this game, admitting to checking out of the call previously when they didn’t get the right look.

Not only did they get the right look on that particular snap. They executed. And that’s essentially the story of how Rice football went from a 45-point drubbing to one of the top two victories of the Mike Bloomgren era. A team that was out of sync finally got on the same page.

They didn’t play like a team facing a yellow, cautionary beacon. They had the green light and took full advantage of it. Much like things finally aligned and Rice was ready to attempt the gutsy fake punt, all phases played inspired football at the same time. Right up until the final whistle.

Bloomgren said the defense broke the huddle to “Green Light” prior to the stop that won them the game in the final seconds.

Safety Naeem Smith, who tallied his second interception of the season in the third quarter, fittingly put words to what was a strenuous game. “Nothing has ever been perfect this season. Guys have been injured, other guys have had to step up, but I just loved the resilience of our team. It was not a perfect game at all today, and at the end of the day this was a big-time win for our program and this is something that we need to continue to snowball, going forward. This is not it.”

Perhaps Bloomgren needs to tell his team they’re multi-touchdown underdogs every week. Maybe Wiley Green was right after the game when he looked back at the journey he and this team have been on. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” he said of this moment, which he credited to God and the effort of his team. “I think it shows that a lot can come of a rough four years, a lot of ups and downs, but if you keep your faith and you keep hammering, great things are going to come.”

Rice football walks out of Birmingham 2-1 in conference play with a 3-4 overall record. The Owls remain alive, albeit behind UTSA, in their hunt for a division title. They’re three wins away from the bowl trip they’ve had inked on their list of goals since before the season began.

Bloomgren diagnosed his team’s crucial flaw as a “crisis of confidence”, going on to say “They had every reason to quit, when you get beat like we did last week.” But they didn’t quit. They leaned into that green light belief and Bloomgren now leads a team that has very much so regained its swagger. Is this the breakthrough? Maybe. This team certainly hopes so. More importantly, they’re starting to believe it.

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Conference USA Football 2021: Week 8 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 8.

Team Week 8 Result Week 9
Charlotte  vs FAU (Thrs) L, 38-9 at WKU
FAU at Charlotte (Thrs) W, 38-9 vs UTEP
FIU vs WKU L, 34-19 at Marshall
LA Tech vs UTSA L, 45-16 at Old Dominion
Marshall — OFF —  — vs FIU
MTSU at UConn (Fri) W, 44-13 vs Southern Miss
North Texas vs Liberty L, 35-26 at Rice
Old Dominion — OFF —  — vs LA Tech
Rice at UAB W, 30-24 vs North Texas
Southern Miss — OFF —  — at MTSU
UAB vs Rice L, 30-24 — OFF —
UTEP — OFF —  — at FAU
UTSA at Louisiana Tech W, 45-16 — OFF —
WKU at FIU W, 34-19 at Charlotte

Notable Week 8 results – Standings

Bye-bye, Blazers

If Rice football was still feeling the aftereffects from their blowout loss to UTSA in Week 8, they didn’t show it in their first-ever trip to Protective Stadium. Rice struck first, pulled out a few tricks of their own and held on for their second win as a 23+ point underdog in as many seasons, knocking off the defending champs on the road and snapping UAB’s 15-game C-USA winning streak in the process.

Front(Road)runners

Entering the weekend, UAB and UTSA were tied atop the West standings along with UTEP. The Miners were off, but the other two top teams played and with the Blazers falling at home, UTSA leaves the weekend as the only 4-0 team in Conference USA. The Roadrunners will still have to face the Blazers this season (in San Antonio on Nov. 20), but for the time being, UTSA controls its own destiny.

Streak slipping?

Louisiana Tech has the longest-running streak of consecutive bowl appearances in Conference USA, but the Bulldogs are in danger of missing the postseason for the first time. They now sit at 2-5 with a road trip to UAB still on the schedule. The margin of error is shrinking in Ruston.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Intrigue in the East

Florida Atlantic made an emphatic case to be the frontrunner in their Thursday night rout of Charlotte, but the 49ers still find themselves near the top of the division standings. So too, does Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers visit Charlotte in Week 9 in a game that could — at the very least — put one team firmly out of contention, should they fail to win it.

Taking advantage of your chances

It’s been a tough season for Southern Miss, and although it might take longer than some in Hattiesburg would like for this team to regain their swagger, they’ll have a golden opportunity in front of them in Week 9. Fresh off a bye against a Middle Tennessee game that has been erratic, the Golden Eagles will have one of their better shots at a win. They’d best take advantage of it.

Testing UTEP

UTEP didn’t play this past weekend, still the bowl-eligible Miners find themselves right near the top of the West standings. But they’ve yet to beat anyone with a winning record. They’ll have the chance to do just that in Week 9 when they travel to FAU. If they can beat FAU on the road, it’ll be hard not to take this team seriously moving forward.

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