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Austin Walter gives Owls’ offense reason for hope

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Rice football had a rough outing against Wake Forest, but senior running back Austin Walter did his part, leaving the game with more than one huge play.

Austin Walter entered Rice football’s Week 5 game against Wake Forest fourth in the country in All-Purpose yards, trailing two players that had already played their fifth game. Pound for pound, there isn’t another athlete that impacts the game as much as he does. That was even more evident after Walter tallied another 256 yards against the Demon Deacons.

Walter had two kickoff returns for 69 yards, led the Owls in receiving with five catches for 32 yards and a touchdown, and led the team in rushing with 18 carries, 165 yards and a score on the ground. When he touches the ball, magic happens. Let’s walk through three of his biggest plays:

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1. The 47-yard run

The offensive line had another up and down day, but they guys up front deserve as much credit as Walter for this big run in the third quarter. When Walter got the handoff from quarterback Shawn Stankavage he had a big hole to run through with nearly 15 yards of open space between him and the Wake Forest safety over the top.

The corner over pursued, wide receiver Aaron Cephus made a big block and Walter turned on the jets, nearly outrunning the rest of the secondary completely before he was pushed out of bounds after a big gain. His speed and commitment to his cuts, paired with excellent blocking, set up the Owls’ biggest play of the game.

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2. The shovel pass

Offensive coordinator Jerry Mack deserves a pat on the back for this play call. In their hurry to get into the backfield the Wake Forest defensive line creates a pocket for Austin Walter in the middle of the field. Stankavage completes the pitch and catch, but Walter explodes once the ball is secured in his hands.

A Wake Forest linebacker trails Walter, but can’t get a hand on him as Walter disappears up the middle. Somehow a safety is able to split a pair of would-be blockers, but Walter makes a shoe-shaking cut that leaves the defender on the ground as he waltzes into the endzone.

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3. The all-effort touchdown

Even though the score was still decidedly one-sided in the Demon Deacons’ favor, Austin Walter’s motor never slowed. The shifty back exploded out of the I-Formation, beating an unblocked linebacker by running through an arm tackle around his shoulders.

Still engaged with the first defender, Walter kept his legs moving and his eyes upfield. That enabled him to pick up his blockers and make one more cut. Then he was off to the races. The Wake Forest safety should have been able to at least force him out of bounds, but by the time he realized what angle he’d need to take, Walter was already past him.

The Rice football offense has work to do before it’s truly functioning at the highest level it’s capable of, but until that happens, Austin Walter is here to smooth out the rough spots. He’s a home run threat waiting to happen and he’s pretty hard to tackle. Give him one block, he’ll get 10 yards. Give him two, and he might just take it to the house — it doesn’t matter if he’s eight-yards away from the endzone or 80, he scores touchdowns..

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Both sides of the ball struggle as Owls fall to Wake Forest on the road

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Rice football dropped their fourth consecutive contest, falling on the road to an explosive Wake Forest squad. Where do the Owls go from here?

Wake Forest scored early and poured it on. Before Rice could catch their breath they were trailing big on the road and the game was out of reach. This wasn’t the prettiest game from either side of the ball. There will be plenty to address in the film room and on the practice field next week before the Owls return to conference play at home against UTSA in Week 5.

Here are a few things that were most evident from the Owls decisive defeat against Wake Forest:

1. This time, the final score almost really does tell the full story

There’s so much more to any one result than can be told be a simple box score. Wins and losses are the statistics that carry the most weight, but how the game was won or loss is just as meaningful when evaluating the result. In this case, it doesn’t require a look much deeper than the 56-24 result to understand the chasm that stood between these two teams on Saturday.

Short of an upset the likes of which Rice fans haven’t seen in quite some time, Wake Forest besting the Owls at home wasn’t an outlandish notion. The Owls’ players knew this would be one of the toughest tests they’d face all season, but the mentality entering the game was centered around the team’s own effort and mindset.

A non-conference win over a Power 5 opponent would have been monumental for the future trajectory of this program, but a loss didn’t need to be another heavy blow to a program that had shown so much progress early in the season. Rice had three losses entering this game, but their defeat at the hands of the Demon Deacons stung as much if not more than the other three losses. You didn’t need to watch this one to feel the magnitude of the defeat.

2. The secondary

The back end of the Rice defense has struggled early on this season. Even though they gave up a sizable chunk of yardage against Southern Miss, they tightened up their defense against big plays. After allowing five combined touchdowns of 30+ yards in their games against Houston and Hawaii, Rice didn’t allow any scores against Southern Miss.

Greg Dortch and Wake Forest erased that four-quarter streak, quickly. Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman connected with Dortch on a 57-yard bomb to kick off the scoring. Dortch already had four steps on several members of the Rice secondary by the time he had hauled in the pass and proceeded to turn on the afterburners and race the remainder of the distance to the endzone.

The ACC’s leading receiver entering the game, Dortch padded his stats against Rice. He scored three touchdowns in the first half, finishing with 163 yards on 11 catches and four touchdowns. Part of what made him so effective was Wake Forest’s effectiveness on the ground. Cade Carney kept the offense on schedule, opening up holes in the secondary as they tried to key in on the offensive backfield.

Dortch is a burner. As much as the Owls tried to keep pace, they weren’t able to stay with him step for step in the open field. That’s not a new concern for this defense. They won’t face many more pass catchers as talented as Dortch this season, but that doesn’t make the problem go away.

3. The offense

Rice tallied three three-and-outs, three offensive yards and three punts in their first three possessions. The offense was rather dismal before Austin Walter jump-started the first touchdown drive of the game early in the third quarter. Thanks to two big plays from the versatile running back, Rice went 72 yards in three plays before Walter took into the endzone on a shovel pass from Shawn Stankavage.

Before that the drive chart was bleak: punt, punt, punt, interception, field goal, fumble, missed field goal, punt. The offensive line wasn’t opening up holes, Stankavage was pressing and the receivers weren’t finding much separation. When one unit did their job, the other pieces let them down. The inability to play fundamentally sound football with any level of synchronization was frustrating, and it showed.

The silver lining was do-it-all ball carrier Austin Walter. When the offense gets stuck in the mud he’s proven he can be the guy that flips the field with one big play. His decisive running style and ability to make a quick cut and explode down the field turned a stalled offense into one that was able to move the ball down the field. He finished the afternoon with 256 all-purpose yards.

For the Owls, Walter’s heroics were too-little, too-late. They were playing catch up all day and had let the deficit grow too large to overcome.

4. Where do the Owls go from here?

This result was ugly. In what felt like the blink of an eye the Owls found themselves in a four-touchdown deficit with no momentum and issues on both sides of the ball. Rice trailed by as many as 25 points to Southern Miss. They fell behind further against Wake Forest, with the 28-0 hole representing their largest deficit of the season so far. Then the gap grew to 35-3 then 42-3 before topping out at 56-10.

When head coach Mike Bloomgren stands in front of the media next he’s going to say a few things that he has to say. He’ll lament the effort against Wake Forest, which he should. He’ll talk about the process, which he should. And then he’ll get back to work on Monday and get to work.

In no way is this rough outing a reason for anyone to jump ship. In fact, it might be the perfect time to buy stock in the Bloomgren era of Rice football. After the 1-0 start, they’ve suffered four straight defeats of increasing levels of frustration.

They’re not going to pack it in. Instead, there will be changes on both sides of scrimmage. Starters will be challenged for their roles and every player is going to have to solidify their claim to being on the field. The fallout from this defeat is where the culture of the program will be tested. If the team can push through, and I expect they will, brighter days are ahead for Rice football.

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3 Keys to Victory over Wake Forest

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Rice football has their eyes on an upset win over Wake Forest on the road. Here’s how the Owls can knock off the Demon Deacons.

1. Win the turnover battle

It’s no secret that Rice is a heavy underdog against Wake Forest in Week 5. Power 5 teams playing against Conference USA opponents at home are generally given the benefit of the doubt. But that doesn’t mean wins are impossible, just ask Virginia Tech.

The easiest way for any underdog to start an upset bid is to win the turnover battle. ODU edged Virginia Tech 1-0 last weekend, scoring off their lone interception to tie the game at 14-14 entering halftime. That momentum sparked what became a program-defining victory.

A win over Wake Forest would be an incredible statement for head coach Mike Bloomgren and his staff in Year 1 at South Main. Taking control of the ball on offense and generating a few takeaways of their own on defense will add more scoring opportunities. The more opportunities they get, the more often the Owls can cash in on them and make this game interesting,

2. Play fundamentally sound on defense

The philosophy of playing top-down defense was stressed by Bloomgren during the week. When all the pieces are working together as they ought to the linebackers close the gap between them and the line of scrimmage and the secondary falls in on top of them.

Rice did a better job of preventing the deep ball against Southern Miss, but they still allowed too much space in the second level, a problem exacerbated by way too many missed tackles.

Southern Miss was 1-of-6 on third down against the Owls. The rate (16.7 percent) is good, the total number of third downs (six) is not. Wake Forest ranks 29th in the country in third down conversions, converting at a clip of 46.15 percent. Making the play on first and second down will set up advantageous situations on third down. Winning those battles more often than not will get the defense off the field.

The Owls don’t need to reinvent the wheel or do anything spectacular. They just need to make their tackles and get off the field on third down. If they can do that, they’ll give the offense a chance.

3. Establish the running game

Rice averaged a respectable 4.7 yards per carry against Southern Miss which measures up favorably with the 4.4 yards per carry allowed by the Wake Forest defense so far this year.

It’s worth noting, though, that number is inflated by an impressive 62-yard touchdown run by Austin Walter. Outside of that scamper, Rice averaged 2.7 yards per carry. Emmanuel Esukpa, the Owls’ bellcow running back, averaged an underwhelming 2.1 yards per carry. He ran hard, there just weren’t many holes for him to hit. That must change if the Owls want to pull off the upset against Wake Forest.

Esukpa and the offensive line working in concert need to be able to find a way to move the ball on the ground. If that works, the rest of the offense flourishes. An effective running game takes the pressure off of quarterback Shawn Stankavage and gives the defense a break.

As Bloomgren often says, the best kind of defense is the defense standing on the sideline. That only happens when the offense can effectively control possession. For Rice, that starts on the ground.

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Owls’ special teams surging under the direction of Pete Lembo

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Coach Mike Lembo has turned the Rice football special teams unit into the gold standard for special teams in college football.

Special teams coordinators around the nation need to focus their attention on South Main. The Rice Owls are the cream of the crop when it comes to special teams, and they’re just getting started. Through four games, Rice ranks ninth in kick return defense, 24th in punt return defense, fifth in net punting and 20th in kick returns.

The man behind the resurgence is special teams coordinator and associate head coach Pete Lembo. One of the new additions to the 2018 staff, Lembo’s impact cannot be understated. His focus on skills that translate from special teams to each individual players offensive or defensive position has created a synergy that drives the program forward.

Part of the success has come from the team’s commitment to the discipline of special teams. Head coach Mike Bloomgren dedicates a meaningful amount of practice time to the oft-forgotten unit. He’s expanded beyond punting and kicking to creative plays – like the successful 2-point conversion the Owls’ pulled off against Southern Miss.

“Coach Lembo is always going to spend the hours and time on task to make sure we have options,” said Mike Bloomgren. Whether it’s fakes, kickoffs, formations or different looks for the defense, Bloomgren has been staunch in his commitment to “stealing points” wherever he can.

That aggressiveness has led to a culture that focuses on finding the “hidden yardage” and maximizing every play. Lembo knows the early success is only a taste of what is to come, saying the team is “starting to understand how important [special teams] is and starting to understand what a difference it can make.”

Jack Fox and Austin Trammell are producing at a high level and the special teams unit continues to elevate the play of the entire team. If ranking in the top 25 in four different statistics is the start, the finish should be worth waiting for.

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Owls face internal test against Wake Forest

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Rice football isn’t in must-win mode quite yet, but the effort in Saturday’s game will determine how committed the Owls are to getting better.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren won’t say it explicitly, but his team faces a potential watershed moment against Wake Forest. The results from the Southern Miss team didn’t sit well with this team and Saturday’s tilt with the Demon Deacons marks the first return to action after that disappointing performance.

The Owls’ options on Saturday are simple: press on and continue to grow or acquiesce to a hum-drum season. When evaluating his team’s performance against Southern Miss, Bloomgren was slightly confused, going as far as to say “We didn’t play like us. We didn’t play like we want to.”

Bloomgren’s most honest, and starting statement put this team on notice. Now is the time to show up. Rice football might lose again, but it won’t be from lack of effort.

It wasn’t the first weekend we were tested. It was the first weekend we didn’t respond. I can’t look you in the eye and tell you we made progress in last week’s game, and I told the team that in no uncertain terms. I wish I could tell you why, I wish I could explain to you why we didn’t make the progress we all wanted to make because it’s not like they don’t want to make the progress. We just simply didn’t perform.Mike Bloomgren

This puts the 2018 Rice football team at a crossroads. It’s not win or go home, it’s want or go home. If they pack it in they’ll still probably manage to pick up another win along the way, showing improvement from the 1-win campaign a year ago.

But this team is mad. “They outhit us,” Bloomgren vented. “We say intellectual brutality, but just saying it and creating the hashtag doesn’t mean you are it.” Becoming what they want to be and reaching that end goal is a ways away, but as he said in the Owls’ midweek press conference, this is a process, and it’s not going to be easy.

Saturday’s game against Wake Forest isn’t just a test against a solid Demon Deacons squad. It’s an internal battle, between each player and himself. This is a make or break moment for this team, and the future of the season hangs in the balance. Their resiliency is the backbone of progress.

With that progress will eventually come wins. Ultimately, that’s why Mike Bloomgren left Stanford and ended up at South Main. After practice this week he cocked his head and said with a grin, “My wife is prettier after a win. Everything in your life is better after a win. We’re in this to win.”

The wins will come. On Saturday, we need to see the effort.

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