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“Do or Die”: Matt Sykes emerges as Rice Football’s go-to guy

October 13, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

From a one-catch campaign to becoming the go-to guy, Rice football wide receiver Matt Sykes has stepped up in big ways when his team has needed him most.

Rice football wide receiver Matt Sykes had the best spring of any player at his position, bar none. It was hard to walk through the halls of the Brian Patterson Center and avoid the chatter about the transfer wideout’s big step forward. Coaches and teammates were quick to speak of his playmaking ability at practices. The drumbeat for a breakthrough season was there.

But at the same time, it was just spring football.

Countless players have shown out in the spring when nobody wearing a different color jersey breaks across the middle of the field and delivers a jarring hit the stakes are lower. Translating practice into game day has always been the differentiator between good and great. Sykes had done all the right things, but he still hadn’t done it on Saturdays, not yet.

Sykes caught one pass in his first season at Rice following a transfer from UCLA. Injuries and inconsistent play kept him from making a more meaningful impact that season. Then came the strong spring and a chaotic fall camp that transformed the Owls’ feel-good story from a luxury to a desperate need. Sykes wasn’t going to be eased into his new role. He was needed now.

Landon Ransom, Rawson MacNeill and Thai Bowman were thought to be the Owls’ top three receivers entering the season. All three of them were injured in some capacity by the time the 2024 season began. Suddenly, Sykes’ emergence was essential.

Debut

In the Owls’ season opener against Sam Houston, Sykes caught six balls for 74 yards, both career-highs in his fifth season of college football. He followed that up with two catches for 47 yards and his first Rice touchdown grab a week later against Texas Southern. For a receiving corps decimated by injuries in need of a playmaker, Sykes delivered.

“I feel a lot more comfortable,” Sykes said, evaluating the difference between his first and second season on South Main. “Getting a lot of reps, just feeling back in my flow. [I’m] really confident, playing fast.”

Sykes would continue to be the primary target for Rice quarterback EJ Warner as the season progressed. As the offense ebbed at flowed, having No. 8 on the field proved to be a positive more often than not. As his production on the field grew, expectations came with it. More and more was asked of Sykes as the offense tried to find its way.

“The thing that I’m most impressed with him and most pleased with him about is that I think he wants to step up. I think he’s capable of doing it. Like I said, he hasn’t arrived yet, but I think he’s on his path to being that guy,” receivers coach Bobby Kennedy said. “Because of him and the way he works, you think, okay, maybe he can get this done. Maybe he can really, really, really be the guy. And if he continues to have some more success, I’m excited to see what happens as games go on because I think he’s got it in him.”

Although so much of what Sykes did on the field was encouraging, there were still growing pains that come with less experienced players growing their roles so quickly. Sykes struggled through some concentration drops against Army and had a pass tip off his hands into the waiting arms of a defender for an interception.

“He just became a dominant catcher of the ball, like he was so confident in his ability, he saw the ball in the sky and went and got it,”

Adversity is part of the game, but it’s also one of the reasons Sykes’ coaches theorize he’d yet to emerge in a significant way on Saturdays. Coaches pointed to a lack of confidence in the old Matt Sykes, a tendency to get in his own head and get rattled with things didn’t go according to plan. The veteran player had struggled when faced with trying situations in the past, but with no relief coming, something was going to have to change.

Sykes responded to a rough start against Army with a flawless touchdown grab later in the game. Then he authored the best game of his college football career.

Against Charlotte the following week Sykes hauled in a career-best eight passes for a career-high 97 yards. A 25-yard reception in the fourth quarter put Rice in position to attempt a game-winning field one play following what could have been a debilitating penalty that set the offense back near midfield.

At that point, the grab was one of the most high-leverage moments in Sykes’ well-traveled career. This time, he made the play.

Miracles

Unfortunately, Rice football didn’t win that game. A missed field goal at the end of a regulation made Sykes’ valiant effort for naught. For as far as he had come to that point, the Owls still needed a little bit more from their new go-to receiver. Could Sykes transcend from reliable to game-changer?

Sykes almost didn’t get that chance. A week and a half later he found himself in a hospital bed, forced to check himself into the emergency room on the Monday evening prior to the Owls’ next game against UTSA. He stayed in the hospital for almost three days. “He was essentially ruled out,” Bloomgren admitted.

The situation got so dire that the team elevated multiple scout team players during the week to take reps with the first team offense. Corner Sean Fresch even made a cameo appearance as a receiving threat. It was all hands on deck with Sykes, regrettably, sidelined.

Then the first miracle happened. Sykes walked out of the hospital and was cleared to return to practice. Members of the coaching staff were making resurrection jokes on the sideline while inwardly breathing sighs of relief that their top passing game option would be on the field, still not knowing for sure how much he’d have in the tank to give. As it turns out, he had plenty.

Days removed from his hospital bed, Sykes hauled in seven receptions for 85 yards, setting a career-high in receiving for the fourth time this season and the third consecutive game. This time, though, it wasn’t just the counting stats that told the story.

With nine seconds remaining on the clock on third down, Rice had the ball at the UTSA 18-yard line trailing by four points with one time-out. Even by conservative estimates, that meant the Owls had time for two shots at the endzone should they require it. Warner took the snap, dropped back and fired a missile to the middle of the field, finding the fingertips of Sykes at the top of the capital C in the white RICE OWLS lettering that adorned the navy blue endzone.

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Blanketed by a defender who had one hand already on his jersey and another swiping at the ball, Sykes momentarily juggled the pigskin in the air before hauling the precious rock into his arms, which smacked the turf in bounds milliseconds later. At that moment, fans listening to the radio broadcast heard longtime Rice Owls Voice announcer JP Heath exclaim, “Matt Sykes pulls down a miracle, back of the endzone, Rice scores.”

Touchdown. Not only had Sykes secured the ball, he’d won Rice the game.

“I knew I was definitely one of the reads to get open on the post and I know EJ likes to take chances with me so I knew, regardless, that I had to win my route,” Sykes said after the game. “I knew that was a must-do, do-or-die moment, so I had to come down with it.”

In so many ways, Sykes’ journey has been unbelievable. A fifth-year senior who had one catch to his name and was bound to a hospital bed just days before had somehow transformed into a storybook ending.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Sykes said. “I don’t think I’ll ever have something like this again, to feel this great.”

The 2024 version of Matt Sykes remains a work in progress. There will be more highs and lows along the way. But it’s hard to imagine where Rice football would be without him.

“He just became a dominant catcher of the ball, like he was so confident in his ability, he saw the ball in the sky and went and got it,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said of Sykes’ ascension. “That’s the standard he set for himself and what we have to expect of him. When you ask what’s different, I think it came down to confidence in allowing him to grow into the player we thought he could be.”

** This story has been modified from its original version ** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **
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Rice Football 2024: UTSA Game Week Practice Report

October 10, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football is back in action this week against UTSA in search of a much-needed win. Here’s what we learned from the Owls at practice this week.

There was some good news on the injury front for Rice football over the bye week and lots of shifts and contortions with the depth chart as the Owls attempt to replace players still not able to participate and account for changing numbers in various position groups. Here’s where the team stands prior to the UTSA game this weekend.

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Rice Football squanders fourth-quarter lead in loss Charlotte

September 28, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football had their chances to put the game away against Charlotte, but couldn’t close when it mattered most. The Owls are 1-4.

A 10-0 halftime lead was not enough as Rice football fell by a single point to Charlotte at home on Saturday night. In the final two minutes, Rice had chances to win the game on offense, but couldn’t convert a third and short. They had a chance to win on defense, but allowed a go-ahead touchdown in the final minute. They had the chance to win with special teams, but a last-second kick sailed wide.

“I think I’ve given this speech a few too many times this year,” Bloomgren said at the podium following the Owls’ fourth loss in five games. “We performed better than we have been, but when the crunch time was here in that fourth quarter we failed in all three phases and Charlotte made more plays.”

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Trust your playmakers and let them produce

In the highest leverage moments, it’s the stars that have to shine. For Rice football right now, that means the most critical offensive moments should involve Dean Connors and EJ Warner and/or Matt Sykes. They’re not the only talented playmakers on this offense but that trio has largely been at the forefront when that offense is moving the ball well.

Warner overshot a makeable touchdown pass to Sykes on the Owls’ first possession but redeemed himself soon afterward with a nice dish to Jackson for the opening score. Connors had more rushing yards on his first touch of the game than Charlotte did in the entire first quarter.

Now, this reality comes with a very real, and very important caveat: your playmakers have to produce.

Warner hasn’t overcome his tendency to elevate throws downfield. He overshot Sykes on multiple third downs in the first half. Sykes was better this week than he was against Army a week ago, but his lack of consistency has been part of what’s gummed this offense up at times. Both have played better as the season progresses, but each would (correctly) admit they have room to grow.

Dean Connors has been and continues to be the most valuable man on this side of the ball. He only touched the ball seven times in the first half; that’s not enough. He finished with 16 touches for the game and 135 yards of total offense. Your best offensive weapon — and Connors is most certainly that — needs more of the ball.

“We got other good backs. We don’t want to just wear Dean out. If you tell me Dean is going to get 20 to 30 touches every game, that’s probably the right number,” Bloomgren said after the game. “16 total touches? Would you wanna program a few more for him? Absolutely. He’s a really good player, but the flow of the game was going the way it was.”

Rice does have other good backs, but 16 is not 30. It’s not 20 either.

Rice racked up 463 yards of total offense, their highest total against an FBS opponent yet this season. It’s not a particularly impressive number on the whole, but it’s a step in the right direction. Those playmakers have to get things going if this offense is ever going to come close to the ceiling it’s shown in previous years.

Bring out the depth

So much of the discourse this offseason around the Rice football roster centered on the depth the Owls’ had accumulated in Bloomgren’s seventh season. Unfortunately, the only way to truly evaluate that depth is to have it forced into action. The results have been mixed when former twos and threes have been thrown into the first with the first units this season, but Saturday’s win against Charlotte probably doesn’t happen without some important contributions from former backups being asked to step up.

The offense line, featuring just two players in the same position they played on opening day, consistently opened up holes for the running game. Both Dean Connors and Taji Atkins got to the second level on plays that were blocked well. Although he took a few shots, Warner wasn’t sacked.

Likewise, the defense churned out some big plays from lesser-known faces. Peyton Stevenson and made consecutive plays to help stonewall a Charlotte drive in the second quarter. Daveon Hook led the team in tackles. Mutombo had the interception and followed it with a sack. None of those three were on the two-deep against Sam Houston in Week 1.

The go-ahead fourth quarter touchdown was scored by Elijah Mojarro, who wouldn’t have been on the field had Boden Groen been healthy.

What an incredible play call by the offensive staff.

What an incredible effort from Elijah Mojarro.

CLUTCHpic.twitter.com/tJFlC0kTDZ

— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) September 29, 2024

Obviously, the Owls would love to have as many of their starters back on the field as possible. A bye week with extra rest will help those efforts, but even if reinforcements do arrive, this depth matters. Especially if Rice wants to make good on some of their preseason aspirations and get things turned around.

Unfortunately, the reliance on depth has it’s downsides too. Kicker Enoch Gota missed his first do-or-die attempt of his young career, turning what could have been a celebratory night into another painful defeat.

The defense gets some of its swagger back

The Rice offense got a big play from Dean Connors but didn’t put any points on the board in the first quarter, turning the ball over inside the redzone and punting on their ensuing possession. That put the onus on the defense to make sure they kept their team in the game.

Aided by favorable field position on a few occasions, the defense delivered one of their better starts to a game this season. Blake Boenisch didn’t suit up on Saturday, but the Owls still held Charlotte to 1.2 yards per carry in the first quarter. The safety room was as depleted as it’s ever been under head coach Mike Bloomgren, but they limited Charlotte quarterback Trexler Ivey to 5-of-10 passing for 35 yards on the 49ers’ first three offensive series.

The Charlotte never got in gear under Trexler Ivey. When they did finally get the ball across the 50-yard line midway through the second quarter they were swiftly turned away by this interception from defensive lineman Joseph Mutombo, who has seen an elevated role in the defense partly because of the slew of injuries in front of him.

Joseph Mutombo with the big INT in the first half. pic.twitter.com/4n9M7ekHA6

— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) September 29, 2024

Charlotte finally found life under backup quarterback Deshawn Purdie, who connected on three deep passes, all of which resulted in scoring drives. That was essentially it for the Charlotte attack. Three plays. But it was enough.

As the offense works through its challenges in real time, more and more pressure is going to be put on this defense to win games. On Saturday against a woeful Charlotte offense, they came close enough but got little help from the other phases. If they can translate that to more talented opponents, Rice is going to have a fighting chance to win some games, but they’re the last bastion of hope for a team that’s hurting.

Losing on the Margin

A fourth down pass interference call against Sean Fresch changed the outcome of this game. A block in the back penalty on the ensuing possession might very well have swung the outcome, too. Both plays exemplified the dangerous tightrope Rice Football attempted to walk in this game. Rice let a bad Charlotte team stick around to the point where one blown coverage could shift the result of the game.

The best teams in the sport create margin. You can afford a bust on any particular play or phase of the game when there’s a buffer to cover those shortcomings. When you’re stuck in a one-score game, every mistake matters. Teams with more faults make more mistakes. There’s some truth to the old adage that good teams stay good and bad teams stay bad.

This is a bad football team right now.

One that, in Bloomgren’s own words “failed in all three phases” to one of the few teams left in the country that had yet to beat an FBS opponent. It’s hard to imagine a lower point than this in a season that was supposed to be a breakthrough campaign. Picked to finish in the thick of a competitive AAC, Rice football sits dead last in the standings and they have yet to play UTSA, Tulane, Memphis or South Florida.

This is a team out of excuses and out of answers. There’s a lot of soul-searching to be done during this bye week from everyone in the program. This isn’t how this season was supposed to go.

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Fourth and the Woe Zone

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Rice Football marched off the field by Army at West Point

September 21, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football fell behind early and saw their hopes drown in the Hudson River, falling on the road to Army in a one-sided affair.

Army’s clock-control offense had its way with the Rice football defense, striking early and holding on for dear life. The Owls found themselves in comeback mode — not a place a struggling offense wants to be. Things were downhill quickly from there as Rice fell to 1-3 on the season. “We got Army’d today. We didn’t do anything to stop it. Not a lot of fun to be a part of,” head coach Mike Bloomgren painfully acknowledge afterward. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Undisciplined start

Discipline was the word of the week around South Main. Everyone was quick to mention that for everything Army might lack in athleticism, they made up for in poise and discipline. This was a team that wasn’t going to beat itself. And if you didn’t do your job and stay focused, you were going to get beat.

That’s what made it particularly disheartening when the Owls were flagged for a penalty on the opening kickoff (duplicate jersey numbers) and promptly allowed a 41-yard touchdown pass just a few plays later. When it was the Owls’ turn on offense everything appeared to be going according to plan before Rice was flagged again, this time for having too many men on the field. Moved back from third and short to third and long, Rice failed to convert and punted.

The two penalties in the first two drives were preventable mental mistakes. Those things happen on occasion, even to the best of teams, but for them to happen on this particular Saturday after how much the Owls preached discipline this week was disappointing. Tack on penalties later for a snap infraction and an illegal formation and you see a team that was not as locked in as they needed to be.

“Your margin for error is going to be small against an Army team. You don’t want to give them an inch, much less five yards or any kind of first down.” Bloomgren said. “So those are the things that you do beat yourself up about, rightfully so. That’s on us. You can’t do those kind of things.”

The Owls’ reasons for concern were validated on Saturday. Rice had one possession in the first quarter and allowed Army to score on its first two possessions. As expected, Army didn’t mess up. Rice did.

Running loose

Rice and Army met most recently in 2019. In that game, Rice held Army to 14 points and 231 yards on the ground. Schematically, the Owls were well prepared for the Black Knights option attack. Since that time the Rice football roster has gotten much better, particularly in the trenches. Even though the Army rushing attack had been productive this year, there was reason to believe Rice would be able to battle it out along the lines. That wasn’t the case on Saturday.

Put simply, Army annihilated Rice on the ground. The nation’s leading rushing attack had its way with the Owls’ defense.

Army quarterback Bryson Daily ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns… in the first half. He got up to 252 total yards in the second half including a 6-for-9 day through the air with two more touchdowns, a near-flawless outing from the Black Knights’ quarterback.

Entering this game, the Rice defense wasn’t supposed to be the problem, but they had simply no answer for the quarterback run game. This won’t be the last option team that Rice faces this year. FAU’s quarterback is a powerful runner, too.

The Owls’ run defense has officially been put on notice.

Offensive sparks

If there was a silver lining to this game, and that’s a huge supposition after such a tough result, it was the brief signs of life from the Rice offense. Outside of the third down woes — we’ll get to that shortly — Rice was able to run the ball effectively and EJ Warner was more accurate in the passing game. He made a few nice throws down field on Saturday and while his receivers didn’t do him many favors, the offense did move down the field with more frequency.

It’s probably telling, though, that the most impactful offensive play involved some trickeration:

At least we had this.

This was a fun play.pic.twitter.com/Tf5YhQwxcl

— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) September 21, 2024

Warner consistently put too much air under the ball when he took shots down the field. His interception was almost directly caused by overshooting Matt Sykes, who isn’t a short receiver. The willingness to look down the field was there, seen on display on his touchdown pass to Sykes in the third quarter.

Nice hitch and go from Sykes on the TD pass from Warner in the third quarter.pic.twitter.com/ky9NtzMzfF

— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) September 21, 2024

If he can improve his touch, there’s a chance for this side of the ball to coalesce into a productive unit. If not, this side of the ball is going to be in trouble when the running game struggles.

Must win, already

It’s too early in the season to be here, but Rice football already faces a must-win game next weekend against Charlotte. Frankly, this game against Army had already neared that territory, but there is no putting the genie back in that bottle.

Had Rice beaten Army, they’d have the prospects of a 2-0 start to conference play going into the bye, salvaging what was such a tumultuous start to the 2024 season. After how bumpy the first few weeks of this season have been, that possibility was a breath of fresh air.

Instead, Rice is playing to avoid an even more gruesome beginning to what was meant to be a breakthrough season. It’s hard to put into words how quickly this year has pivoted from a daydream to a nightmare, but the last stand officially takes place on Saturday. A win against Charlotte gets Rice into the bye week 1-1 in conference play with a lot of time to do some soul-searching. If Rice wants to go bowling for a third consecutive year, this is their chance to get off the mat.

When asked about that added pressure, Bloomgren did not shy away. “I don’t know if there’s any need to add any pressure. I think we all want to win so badly,” he said. I think our effort is great. How do we sharpen up our details? How do we sharpen up our ability to do it on game day?”

Ultimately, that’s the most important question of all and one that must be answered come next game day.

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Rice Football smothered in Bayou Bucket loss to Houston

September 14, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football fell behind early and never threatened to catch up, ceding the Bayou Bucket to Houston after a one-year sojourn at South Main.

It had been more than 20 years since Rice football had claimed the Bayou Bucket in successive seasons. That streak will continue for quite some time longer after Saturday’s loss at TDECU Stadium. There’s one game left in the series as things stand and Rice can’t wait for another shot to redeem themselves from a rough outing in their biggest rivalry matchup. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Going Sideways

Notwithstanding their big day on the scoreboard against Texas Southern, the Rice football offense has struggled to move the ball north and south this season. They’ve largely been a horizontal offense utilizing their speed to the edges to outflank their opponents and slowly matriculate their way down the field. When you’re playing a less talented opponent, that works. When you’re playing a Big 12 team that is just as athletic as you are if not more so, it’s impossible. Rice found that out the hard way, early on.

The first three plays from scrimmage were a Dean Connors run off left tackle followed by a swing pass to Connors off the left side and then a flat out to Boden Groen. They gained seven yards and punted. EJ Warner was under a decent amount of pressure early but misfired on most of his shots down the field. Rice didn’t get any points from their offense until there were 68 seconds left in regulation.

Against FCS competition, Rice has scored 69 points. Against FBS foes the Owls have mustered just 21 in twice as many quarters.

If there was a weak link, it was hard to identify. Warner missed some receivers downfield, the protection regularly failed to give him time to work and the receivers did not generate nearly enough separation. There were moments when everything seemed to come together, but the passing game was flat and horizontal making it near impossible to sustain any meaningful drive.

Rice had one snap on the plus side of the 50 in the first half and seven such plays in the second half. They were 2-for-13 on third down. For an offense, it doesn’t get much worse than this.

The personnel is the personnel. The staff is the staff. They’ve got to figure something out, fast.

Defense staves off a massacre

In hindsight, leading the nation in sacks through two games should have been the clear indicator that this current iteration of Rice football would be led by its defense. A tough opening quarter, which included 35 total yards from the offense and a punt return score, would have been so much worse if the defense hadn’t picked up the slack.

Josh Pearcy added to that sack total on the opening drive, although that takedown probably could have been credited to a few Owls, which is a testament to just how dominant the front seven has been so far this season.

More please, Mr. Pearcypic.twitter.com/hysLudiRdM

— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) September 15, 2024

The defense was burned for a handful of chunk plays but largely limited the backbreaking Houston punches to a pair of long first-quarter runs by Re’Shaun Sanford and a screen touchdown following a special teams mistake. A 37-yard run up the gut by Donovan Smith was the cherry on top of a garbage time sundae.

Forced to carry the load for the totality of the game, the defense added three sacks to their total and did a reasonable job containing Houston quarterback Donovan Smith and the Cougars’ rushing attack, which tried its best to drain the clock as quickly as it could. It might not have been a great day from the defense as a whole, but this phase of the ball wasn’t the reason Rice lost on Saturday.

Special teams roulette

Many of the largest swings in this game came in the sometimes overlooked third phase of football. Houston’s second touchdown was a 75-yard punt return touchdown. A few series later, a muffed punt by Sean Fresch was followed by a 44-yard touchdown from the Cougars on the very next play.

The Owls’ punt return woes didn’t stop there. Tyson Thompson, Fresch’s replacement, was leveled on his first return, putting the ball on the deck. Fortunately, Rice recovered and was aided further by a targeting penalty on the Cougars. The Owls were only in need of being bailed out because Thompson failed to signal for a fair catch, perhaps hoping to make the most of a rare opportunity.

While so many of his teammates struggled, Rice punter Alex Bacchetta was a bright spot on Saturday night at TDECU Stadium. Bacchetta punted seven times in the first half and two more in the second. The Rice football program record is 12 punts in one contest, most recently achieved by Jack Fox in 2018.

Bacchetta had one bad boot, a 24-yard on his first touch of the game. The remainder of his kicks were booming blasts. He averaged 42.2 yards per punt, 44.2 yards apiece when excluding the first dud. He was superb, but special teams on a whole were way too erratic in the moments that mattered most.

Behind schedule

Beating Houston would have gotten the Owls to 2-1, par for the season according to oddsmakers, with a marquee win and a rivalry trophy retained. The loss, while not unexpected from a spread standpoint, officially puts Rice behind expectations with a road trip to Army looming.

Picked to finish in the middle of the AAC, presumably with another bowl trip in tow, it’s time to officially put all of those aspirations on hold. Rice could very well achieve both of those objectives, but the team that was talked about as a dark horse to contend for the AAC title quite frankly hasn’t shown up to play in this season. Beating an FCS squad is nice, but the remainder of the schedule is against FBS opponents, against which Rice is 0-2.

Maybe things would feel a bit more hopeful if Rice had found a way to not stub their toe in their opening game against Sam Houston, but right now this is a team with more questions than answers and there are still two more games to play before the first bye week of the season.

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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Alex Bacchetta, Boden Groen, Dean Connors, EJ Warner, game recap, Josh Pearcy, Matt Sykes, Rice Football

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