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The Roost Podcast | Ep 213 – Rice Football rolls past Charlotte

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The first conference win of the Scott Abell era concluded on Thursday night with Rice Football cruising past Charlotte on the road. Here are our reactions to the win.

With the nation watching in Prime Time on Thursday night, Rice football was clearly the better team in their controlled takedown of Charlotte on the road. The Owls improved to 3-1 for the first time to start a season since 2001 and this year’s squad showed improvement in multiple phases of the game from last week to this week. You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 213.

Episode Notes

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Rice Football vs Charlotte Game Recap

  • Start to finish, Rice football controlled a conference game
  • The offense is showing growth each and every week
  • Scott Abell and the Owls play aggressive, and it’s working
  • The defense is physical, and that’s okay
  • Another banner week for the Owls’

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s College Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts, but now under the DCTF banner. If it’s happening in college football in Texas, we’re talking about it. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Rice Football 2025 Game Preview: Navy

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Rice football heads to Navy with first place in the American Conference standings up for grabs. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Navy was idle this week. Rice football was anything but. The Owls stole the national spotlight on Thursday, cruising to victory over Charlotte on the road on ESPN to improve to 3-1 for the first time as a program in more than 20 years. That sets up a big game with first place in the American Conference standings on the line. Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup between Rice and Navy.

Kickoff time | 2:30 PM CT
Venue | Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium – Annapolis, MD
TV | CBS SN (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Sizing up the Contenders

Navy was picked to be one of the frontrunners of the American Conference in the preseason media poll. Rice football was not. The Midshipmen are already off to a strong 2-0 start in league play and could get even further ahead by dispatching the upstart Owls from down South.

More: Rice Football Position Grades Through Four Games

On the other hand, Rice might just be able to further legitimize their hopes of a Cinderella run by knocking off one of the conference’s top dogs at their place and wouldn’t be blamed if they did stumble to a quality opponent in a tough road tilt.

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Last Time Out

Make sure you check out The Roost Podcast every week this season as we review the Owls’ most recent game, breaking down the key moments, decisions and their impact on the outlook of the program moving forward.

Series History

All Time | Rice leads, 7-6
Last Five | Navy leads, 4-1
Last Meeting | Home 2024, Rice won 24-10

Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Jenkins – 35/48 (72.9 percent), 269 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing | Jenkins – 57 carries, 215 yards (3.8 yards per carry) – 3 TD / Jackson – 58 carries, 293 yards (5.1 yards per carry), 2 TD / Alexander – 42 carries, 222 yards (5.3 yards per carry)
Receiving | Dickmann – 15 receptions, 123 yards (8.2 yds/rec) / Turner – 9 receptions, 49 yards (5.4 yds/rec) / Ransom – 6 receptions, 63 yards (10.5 yds/rec), 1 TD
Tackles | Awe – 29 / Morris – 28 / Anyanwu, Stevenson, Kane – 15
Pass Breakups | Crump – 6 / Porter, Williams – 3 / Kane, Daley – 1
Interceptions | Kane – 1

Navy Stat Notables

Passing | Horvath – 18/25 (72.0 percent), 328 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Tecza – 45 carries, 272 yards (6.0 yds/car), 4 TD / Hovarth – 41 carries, 245 yards (6.0 yds/car), 3 TD / Heidenreich – 24 carries, 209 yards (8.7 yds/car), 3 TD
Receiving | Heidenreich – 10 receptions, 126 yards (12.6 yds/rec), 1 TD / Hutchinson – 3 receptions, 70 yards (23.3 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Parker – 20 / Pirris, Robinson – 19 / Willis – 14
Pass Breakups | Oniha – 3 / Ross, Hamilton – 2 / Willis, Moutome – 1
Interceptions | Ross, Hamilton, Parker – 1

Navy X-Factor | Stand Out on Defense

Much will be made about the level of impact Horvath’s insertion into the offense had on this Navy program and while that certainly was crucial, Navy’s defense was almost equally important in the program’s rise a year ago. The Midshipmen were third in the conference in turnovers forced and have forced five through three games in 2025.

It’s not just turnovers, though. Navy is third in the conference in sacks per game (3.0) — Rice leads the league at 3.5. The Midshipmen have also forced a decent clip of negative plays. That must be the focal point as they prepare to face off against the Owls’ option attack this week.

Getting Rice behind schedule, whether by disciplined gap assignment or a key big play or two in the right moments will help Navy force the game flow to conform to how they’d like to to progress. That would put them in the driver’s seat and put the visitors in trouble.

Rice X-Factor | Limit Horvath’s Legs

If there’s been a weak spot in what has largely been an impressive season for the Rice defense, it’s been their ability to limit the quarterback run game. Louisiana’s Walker Howard carried the ball for nine times for 47 yards, averaging 5.2 yards per carry and scoring once on the ground. Prairie View A&M’s Tevin Carter ran 15 times for 65 yards and score. Even Houston’s Connor Weigman tallied a rushing touchdown.

Rice was able to neutralize Charlotte’s quarterback run game, but a backup quarterback was under center for most of that contest.

None of those quarterback’s hold a candle to Navy’s Blake Horvath who led the American last year with 7.1 yards per carry, racking up 1246 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns on the ground. Horvath hasn’t been quite as dynamic this year, but Navy really hasn’t needed him to be with the rest of the offense rising to challenge. If things get close, Navy is going to lean on his legs. Rice has to have an answer.

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One Final Thing

A down-and-out Rice football program, playing with an interim head coach, soundly mopped the floor with Navy last season when the Midshipmen had conference championship aspirations. That same Navy program returned some key pieces on offense and head coach Brian Newberry but did see a good amount of turnover on defense.

Rice looks a lot different than it did the last time these team’s met, but they’ve nearly matched their win total from a season ago and appear to be playing with a great level of energy and focus under the new leadership of Scott Abell. The Owls are trying to find their place in the American Conference food chain and haven’t been eaten by any of the conference’s bigger fish quite yet.

Already playing with house money, Saturday’s tilt with Navy offers a very real touchstone to compare what the old regime was able to do at its best with the infancy stages of the Owls’ new leadership which is only scratching the surface of where they believe this program is heading. It’s a perfect example of a program with very little to lose facing one with expectations and a long memory.

Rice football has already won as a double-digit underdog on the road this season — they haven’t lost away from home under Abell yet, in fact — and will come ready to play. Navy had better be ready.

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American Conference Football 2025: Week 4 Roundup

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American Conference Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron this week.

TeamRecord This WeekResultUp Next
Army1-2 (0-1)vs North TexasL, 45-38 (OT)at ECU (Thrs)
Charlotte1-3 (0-1)vs Rice (Thr)L, 28-17— OFF —
ECU2-2 (0-0)vs BYUL, 34-13vs Army (Thrs)
FAU1-2 (0-0)— OFF — —vs Memphis
Memphis4-0 (0-0)vs ArkansasW, 32-31at FAU
Navy3-0 (2-0)— OFF — —vs Rice
North Texas4-0 (0-0)at ArmyW, 45-38 (OT)vs So Alabama
Rice3-1 (1-0)at Charlotte (Thr)W, 28-17at Navy
Temple2-2 (0-0)at Georgia TechL, 45-24— OFF —
Tulane3-1 (0-0)at Ole MissL, 45-10at Tulsa
Tulsa2-2 (0-1)at Oklahoma St (Fri)W, 19-12vs Tulane
UAB1-2 (0-1)at TennesseeL, 56-24— OFF —
USF2-2 (0-0)vs South Carolina StW, 63-14— OFF —
UTSA2-2 (0-0)at Colorado StW, 17-16— OFF —

Storylines // Standings // Preseason Poll

American On Top

The American Conference has put the nation on notice in the opening weeks of the 2025 season. The conference already holds six victories over Power Conference teams:

  • Army (def. Kansas State, Week 2)
  • Memphis (def. Arkansas, Week 4)
  • South Florida (def. Florida, Week 2)
  • Tulane (def. Northwestern, Week 1; def. Duke, Week 3)
  • Tulsa (def. Oklahoma State, Week 4)

That doesn’t include South Florida’s Week 1 win over a ranked Boise State team and a handful of other impressive non-conference wins. This week, Tulsa took center stage with a Friday national spotlight game in which they took down Oklahoma State for their first win in Stillwater since 1951. Meanwhile, Memphis has been playing so well that their come-from-behind win over Arkansas barely registers as an upset.

Mean Green Ace First American Conference Test

Don’t look now, but North Texas might be dangerous. The defense, if not legitimately good, is definitely better and the offense continues to hang points in bunches. They made things interesting on Saturday by allowing Army to come back and force overtime, but they finished the job to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2018.

New Look Owls

Another American team turning back the clock, Rice football reached 3-1 for the first time since 2001 with a suffocating win over Charlotte in head coach Scott Abell’s conference debut. The Owls’ new offense was the center of attention in the college football world on Thursday night and put up 28 points, their most against an FBS foe so far this season.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

So You Want to be First Place?

The winner of this coming weekend’s matchup between Rice Football and Navy will find themselves atop the American Conference Standings. For Navy, that’s old hat. The Midshipmen spent a good chunk of last season at least sharing the best record in the league. But Rice is in the first year of a new coaching regime and wasn’t supposed to be quite this good this early.

Shaky Ground

On the other hand, East Carolina and Army both entered the year with moderately high expectations and while a conference title might not have been expected, falling down the standings and picking up a third loss by Week 5 certainly wasn’t where either of these programs hoped to be. Both need a bounce back win, but only one will get it.

Can Tulsa do it again?

The story on Friday night in Stillwater was just as much a funeral dirge for Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State as it was trumpeting Tulsa’s arrival. The Golden Hurricane could earn some additional respect if they can prove they’re no one-hit wonder. They host Tulane in what has the potential to be one of the bigger games for the program in recent memory.

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Rice Football: First Third of the Season Grades

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Here’s our Rice football report card for every position group through four games, doing our best to provide an honest assessment of the Owls so far.

A Thursday night tilt against Charlotte gives Rice football a chance to catch it’s collective breath on Saturday and rest up before a suddenly pivotal game against Navy this coming weekend. It’s also marks the completion of the first third of the season’s game, providing a natural check-in point on the program as head coach Scott Abell works to rebuild it in his image.

From the starting quarterback to the secondary, here’s our evaluation of where things stand through four games and one standout at each position who deserves some extra recognition.

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Rice Football Races Past Charlotte in Prime Time

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Rice Football improved to 3-1 for the first time since 2001, dispatching the Charlotte 49ers in a prime time win on national television.

With the nation watching, Rice football put their gun-choice option offense on display on Thursday night, grinding out a road win over Charlotte in head coach Scott Abell’s American Conference debut. The Owls improved to 3-1 on the season.

“It’s exciting. It shows the world, it shows everyone that it’s different this year for Rice,” said senior linebacker Andrew Awe. “A lot of times [in the past] when we were down, we were down and out. But this year it’s different. We’re a contender for conference this year. We play hard every snap.”

Awe’s 11 tackles led the team and paced a defense that racked up six sacks and nine tackles for a loss. Turning in another solid performance in which many were, understandably, fixated on the new offense. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Hello, America

Rice football was the standalone game on Thursday night on ESPN, giving anyone slightly curious about the Owls’ new offensive scheme the chance to flip on the game — on their TV, not via a streaming service — and take in the option attack. Rice did not waste the opportunity to showcase it.

After allowing a field goal on defense, the Rice offense took the field and calmly marched 75 yards down the field in nine plays, churning through 4:26 on the clock and ending in the endzone. Rice attempted just two passes, the second of which was a pop pass over the top of the run-hunting defense for a score.

Charlotte entered the game allowing more than 4.5 yards per carry against FBS opponents, so there was expectation that Rice would be able to find success on the ground. On the opening drive, it was Quinton Jackson who ripped through the defense and drove the offense down the field. Quarterback Chase Jenkins would enter the fray a few drives later, cutting back for a massive 34-yard scamper just before halftime.

For those onlookers who wanted to see what this Rice football offense could be, those two drives showcased it at its best. However…

With the Good, Comes the Bad

A run-first offense looks brilliant when it works, but what happened between the Owls’ first half touchdown drives showcased the dangers that come with building an offense that often eschews the passing game. Those two scoring drives accounted for 15 plays and 150 yards, but they were bookends to three consecutive three-and-outs — nine plays, 14 yards.

The difference between 10 yards per play and roughly 1.5 yards per play was palpable.

Abell didn’t seem overtly concerned. He mentioned they’d tried more triple option concepts on those drives that didn’t work before pivoting to different components of the offense. “It’s kind of just football, right?” Abell remarked. “At time they’re going to stop us. They’re going to force us to punt. And that’s okay. We’ve been good on special teams all year. We’ve been good on defense.”

And while it wouldn’t ever be used as an excuse, it’s hard not to connect Charlotte’s consecutive scoring drives to open the second quarter with a Rice defense given very little breathing room by it’s counterpart on the other side of the field. Charlotte ran 40 plays before halftime. Rice ran 24. That’s too many plays to ask a defense to defend without missing a step.

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The negative play is a very real threat to this offense. Rice had a second-half drive torpedoed with a holding penalty that put them in second and long. They settled for a 55-yard field goal, which Enoch Gota pushed just right. That’s not a special teams problem; that’s a flaw inherent to this offense.

Offense Clicks and Finds Redemption

Fortunately those woes would prove to not be fatal on Thursday. Rice opened the second half with a 75-yard touchdown drive to go up by two scores and was much more successful moving the sticks in the second half.

After closing the second quarter with a touchdown drive, they marched down the field to open the third quarter with another 75-yard scoring progression. They outscored Charlotte 14-3 in the middle eight, seizing control of the game.

“We did a good job responding before the first half ended and we came out in the third quarter rolling,” running back Daelen Alexander said. “I think we showed in the third quarter what we can do with the offense, fully.”

Once again, after a slower start, the final stat sheet looks rather impressive for the Rice offense. The Owls had three different players with at least 70 yards rushing and probably could have stretched those totals further if they hadn’t ratcheted things down in the final frame. Quinton Jackson rushed for 80 yards. Alexander and 73 yards and two touchdowns. Jenkins ran for 71 yards and a score. All three averaged north of 6.7 yards per carry.

He Just Wins

Scott Abell was hired because he’d won at places where it was historically hard to win. There was tremendous optimism (and expectation) that he’d be able to bring winning to South Main, but even the most ardent believers probably didn’t see this coming. With the win over Charlotte on Thursday, Rice improved to 3-1 the season. It’s the first 3-1 start for Rice football since 2001.

But that’s not all. Abell became the first coach to open their Rice tenure 3-1 since Bo Hagan did so in 1967. The win was the first win Rice football has ever had in their American Conference opener, falling in their first two tries since moving to the league. In fact, Rice hadn’t won a conference opener on the road since 2017.

The statistics like that are plentiful. They all painted slightly different variations of a reality that’s becoming more believable with each passing weekend. Rice football might just be in a different place than they’ve been in quite some time and Abell is the unquestioned catalyst.

“I’m not surprised, but I am very proud of this team and this group,” Abell said. “I’m proud of where we are. I’m not surprised, and for those who are seeing this for the first time, we’re just at the beginning of this. Stay tuned. There’s more to come. And I look forward to what’s next for us.”

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