The source for Rice sports news

Rice Football 2019 Game Preview: Week 4 vs Baylor Bears

By

Rice Football wraps up nonconference play in Week 4 with a home game against Baylor. How to watch, stats to know, x-factor picks for both teams and more.

It’s been a tale of two very different seasons for Rice and Baylor in 2019. The Owls are 0-3, recipient of losses to Army, Wake Forest and Texas. The most recent defeat at the hands of the Longhorns was painful, but Rice will do their best this week to glean some learnings from the defeat and move on.

The Bears were able to watch Rice play from the comfort of their own homes last weekend. The second Big 12 team to visit Rice in Houston this year, Baylor had the first off week in Week 3. They’d previously defeated SFA and UTSA, both by wide margins.

It’s another all-Texas tussle in H-town. Here’s what you need to know about both Baylor and Rice before their Week 4 battle.

Broadcast Info

Kickoff time | 6:00 PM CT
Venu | Rice Stadium – Houston, Tx
TV | CBS Sports Network
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)
Streaming | CBSSN Online

Audio Preview

Catch the full preview of the Baylor game on Episode 9 of The Roost Podcast. 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

Baylor enters their game against Rice a step ahead of the Owls in their own rebuilding process. Matt Rhule went 1-11 in his first year in command in Waco, improving to 7-6 a year ago with a bowl victory over Vanderbilt to end the season. Now in Year 3, the Bears look to have recovered from a challenged state on the football field. They’ve come a long way.

Rice is in Year 2, coming off a two-win season under Bloomgren in 2018, in some ways a step ahead of the Bears with Rhule. That progress will be tested on the field on Saturday in a game which should feature a heavy ground attack from both teams.

Like Rice, Baylor likes to pound the rock. They’ve averaged 38 carries in their first two games compared to 30 pass attempts. Eight different players have at least one rushing touchdown, including starting quarterback Charlie Brewer who isn’t exactly a mobile guy. There’s no doubt Rice will be more committed to the ground game than Baylor, a strategy which served them well in a near-upset of Army in Week 1.

Series History

All Time | Baylor leads 49-30
Last Five | Baylor leads 5-0
Last Meeting | Home 2016, Baylor won 38-10

Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Stewart – 31/53 (58.5 percent), 364 yards passing, 3 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Walter – 42 carries, 170 yards (4.0 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Trammell – 16 receptions, 204 yards (12.8 yards per reception), 1 TD
Tackles | Alldredge – 21, Chamberlain – 20
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Alldredge – 2 PBU, Four others tied with 1

Baylor Stat Notables

Passing | Brewer – 33/47 (70.2), 362 yards passing, 6 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Bohanon – 13 carries, 177 yards (13.6 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Mims – 12 receptions, 147 yards (12.3 yards per reception), 3 TD
Tackles | Johnston – 11, Miller – 10
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Lynch – 1 INT/1 PBU, Five others tied with 1 PBU

Baylor X-Factor | Wide receiver play

The Rice secondary has taken significant strides from where they were a year ago. Texas got a receiver behind the back line and threw a deep ball for a run in touchdown, but the Owls defensive backs have kept most everyone else in front of them. Baylor will look to test that resiliency.

Denzel Mims (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) and RJ Sneed (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) each pose a size and height mismatch with the Rice corners. Baylor wants to run the ball, but they’ll look to keep the defense honest with this pair of elite playmakers. If the Bears can win through the air, it’s going to be hard for the Owls’ front seven to stay home and do what they do best.

Charlie Brewer isn’t a better quarterback than Wake Forest’s Jamie Newman or Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, but he’s more than capable of getting the ball to his playmakers. How effective he is in that endeavor and how Rice does in those matchups could be a telling factor in how this game will go.

Rice X-Factor | First down

The most important down for the Rice offense is the first one. Winning third down and staying on the field is an area the Owls’ need to improve in as well, but the effectiveness of the offense as a whole is dependent on what the team does on first down. When Rice is able to move the ball, setting up second and mediums they put their run-first offense on schedule.

Eventual third and short situations give Rice a wide-open playbook, something especially significant if they’re starting a backup quarterback again this week. Rice didn’t win first down against Texas until late in the second half. By the time Rice started to gain momentum in that department, the score was out of hand.

The running game will set the tone, but it’s going to take a team effort from the offensive line and receiving corps to ensure Rice can set the tone early. Opening things up from the start will change the complexion of this game.

Injury Report

Wiley Green has been cleared and will start for Rice on Saturday but Tom Stewart is still expected to be in the mix at quarterback. A full injury update is available here.

Need More?

The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Season Preview has four pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth chart, important new arrivals and depth chart breakdowns for each foe. Better yet, it’s not just speculation, each profile was created with insight from local experts who cover those teams day in and day out. Pick up your copy today and get four pages and more than 1,000 words on Baylor.

Pick ‘Em Contest

If you haven’t yet, make sure you submit your entry for The Roost’s weekly pick’em challenge. Choose an answer to each of the six questions below and submit them on the forum thread to enter.

  1. Will the Rice defense register their first interception?
    Yes / No
  2. Which team will throw more incomplete passes?
    Rice (or tie) / Baylor
  3. Who kicks the longest punt for Rice?
    Barnes / Nunez
  4. How many Rice players will have at least six tackles?
    Over 5.5 / Under 5.5
  5. Will Rice score more points in the first half or the second half?
    First Half (or even) / Second Half
  6. Who wins?
    Rice / Baylor

One Final Thing

This is the last in an arduous string of nonconference games for Rice in 2019. Keeping the active players healthy and getting injured plays back to full health should be at the top of the Owls’ priority list. While the strength and conditioning staff and medical team are focused on those efforts, the team will prepare for their last chance at a nonconference statement.

Losing to Baylor won’t doom the season, but the Owls are cognizant of the opportunity at hand. In their home stadium with three weeks of their own film to assess and improve on, Rice should put a better product on the field than they did in Week 3. That’s going to be critical for team morale as they enter into conference play the weekend following.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football Film Room: Breaking down Owls’ offense vs Wake Forest

By

Rice Football dropped their first home contest to Wake Forest on Friday. Carter Spires takes us beyond the box score, unpacking the Owls’ offense and more.

Hey y’all, it’s Carter, and welcome back to the film room! This week we’re gonna be breaking down a couple of plays in the passing game. We’ll take a look at two plays from the Rice offense, breaking down the emergence of playmakers at wide receiver and quarterback. Then we’ll look at one for the Rice defense to highlight the growth in the secondary and show that sometimes great offense just beats great defense.

Play 1 | Wiley Green to Brad Rozner

Rice Football, Brad Rozner, Wiley Green

Setup

It’s Rice’s second drive of the game, 6:06 to go in the first quarter. Rice is down 14-0. It’s second and 10 from the Wake 44. Rice has 11 personnel (1 back 1 TE) on the field in a spread set with two wide receivers stacked to the field (the wide side of the field), and Wiley Green is in the shotgun with Aston Walter behind him and to his right.

Bradley Rozner is the “Z” receiver to the boundary (the short side of the field), which is the strong side here because the TE (can’t tell which one) is lined up on that side. Wake responds by showing a split safety look, with the corner playing off Rozner and “rover” (a hybrid OLB/S/nickel similar to Rice’s Viper) Luke Masterson playing the seam about 7 yards off the line of scrimmage.

More: 5 Takeaways from the Owls’ Week 2 game against Wake Forest

The rover is Green’s key on this play, which after a bit of back and forth with myself I’m fairly sure is an RPO (more on that in a bit). Rozner is going to run what’s called a glance route or skinny post—that is, he’ll stem his route vertically, then break toward the middle of the field at a shallow angle. If the rover bails at the snap (i.e., if Wake is playing Cover 2 to that side to bracket Rozner), Green will hand the ball off to Walter, because in that case, Rice has 6 blockers to Wake’s 6 defenders in the box.

If the rover flows downhill at the snap to play the run (based on the alignment of Wake’s front, I think he’s responsible for the strongside C-gap, between the tackle and the TE), then Wake has the numbers advantage in the run game and Rozner is in single coverage, so Green will pull the ball and throw it to him. Since there’s no middle-of-the-field safety in this coverage, a completed pass to Rozner here could mean a huge gain (and it does!)

The Play

On whether this is an RPO: the broadcast the color commentator identified it as such because LG Nick Leverett pulls at the snap, but that can sometimes be window dressing for a play-action pass. The rest of the OL doesn’t exactly fire downhill (look at Clay Servin). What sells me is that RT Justin Gooseberry, after a quick double team, climbs to the second level to block the linebacker, which he wouldn’t be doing if it were a called pass. So I’m fairly certain this is an RPO.

It’s a pretty easy read for Green. Masterson is creeping downhill even *before* the snap. He’s already taken a couple steps forward by the time Walter reaches the mesh point. As such, Green doesn’t even have to hesitate at the mesh point; he quickly pulls the ball and flips it to Rozner, who does a great job of breaking his route in time to box out the corner. He makes the catch, slips the corner’s tackle attempt, and makes it all the way inside the 5 on the play. First and goal, Owls.

Play 2 | Tom Stewart to August Pitre

Rice Football, Tom Stewart, August Pitre

Setup

2:16 left in the 1st quarter and Rice is down 14-7. They have it 2nd and 7 on the Wake 26 on Tom Stewart’s first full drive at QB. Rice is in 20 personnel (2 backs no TE), in another shotgun spread set. Rozner is the lone receiver to the boundary. August Pitre is wide to the field. Austin Trammell is in the slot, and Stewart is flanked by Nahshon Ellerbe (right) and FB Reagan Williams (left). Wake is again in their nickel personnel, showing a split safety look.

The Play

At the snap, the safety and both outside corners bail deep while the nickel back and linebackers drift into shallow zones. The TV camera is too zoomed in for us to tell exactly what happens, but since we later see the safety running towards Pitre from the middle of the field, it looks like they bailed into Cover 3 (in this case a very basic 3 deep/4 under pure zone coverage) from the split safety look.

Both Trammell and Pitre stem their routes vertical at the snap. Trammell breaks his off into a curl (a type of comeback route, often used to find holes in zone coverage) a couple of yards past the first down marker. He’s briefly open if Stewart fires the ball out right as he breaks his route, but it looks like Stewart wants Pitre all the way*.

It’s difficult to tell what route Pitre is running, again because of the camera, but it looks like he breaks his route inward just before disappearing from view. But by the time the ball reaches him, he’s breaking back toward the sideline, meaning this is some kind of double-move, either a post-corner or post-out.

More: Previewing the Owls’ Week 3 game against Texas

Either way, he finds some space under the outside corner’s deep third and above the nickel’s shallow zone. (The nickel might have been in a position to make the play, but he spent a long time lingering to make sure Reagan Williams wasn’t going to leak out of the pass protection and catch a checkdown underneath). Both are closing hard as the ball’s in the air though, so the window ends up being a tight one.

It’s a perfect play from both Stewart and Pitre. Stewart puts the ball high where only his guy can get it, and Pitre shows off his leaping ability to high point the ball and come down with it. First and goal, Rice. They’d tie the game on a zone-read keeper from Stewart the next play.

Play 3 | Jamie Newman to Scotty Washington

Rice Football

Setup

Sadly, I probably shouldn’t *only* show Rice’s best plays in this column. I want to highlight this particular Wake TD though, because it dovetails with what Matthew and I said on the pod this week. Several times against Wake, the Rice DBs were in position to make a play and were simply beat straight up by Jamie Newman’s pinpoint passing and the size and athleticism of his gargantuan receivers.

That’s frustrating, but it’s better than getting beat because you were out of position or couldn’t stick with your man in coverage. This play was bad for Rice, but it shows some promise for the Rice secondary (or for Andrew Bird, at least) in conference play.

Wake is in an 11 personnel shotgun spread set, with two receivers to the field, and the RB and H-back both lined up on the offense’s right. Rice is in their base defensive personnel, which we’ll call a nickel here, because Treshawn Chamberlain is most definitely lined up as a DB rather than a LB. They’re showing a five-man front with a Cover 1 man-under look in the secondary, with Chamberlain as the deep safety. They’re playing press-man on the outside receivers, as is preferred in DC Brian Smith’s scheme.

We’re mainly concerned with Andrew Bird, lined up as the boundary corner on Scotty Washington (who checks in at a whopping 6-foot-5, 225 pounds), but I do wanna highlight the versatility of these Rice defenders. The Viper role often has nickel DB/outside linebacker responsibilities, but Chamberlain is playing deep safety in Cover 1. Blaze Alldredge, the starting weakside (“Will”) linebacker, is lined up as a standup defensive end. George Nyakwol, the starting free safety, is basically playing linebacker. These guys can do it all!

The Play

At the snap, Rice sends all five defenders on the line. Antonio Montero and Nyakwol follow on a delayed blitz**. Unfortunately, none of Rice’s players on the front can beat their blocks in time to affect the throw. Newman gets the ball out fast enough that Montero and Nyakwol don’t have time to get home even though they have numbers to that side with both blitzing.

Meanwhile, Bird plays outside leverage at the snap, wanting to seal Washington off from the sideline since he’s got help to the middle of the field. Washington stutters the outside, getting a clean release. Bird does well to recover, staying engaged and in phase with the receiver throughout the route.

Both of them see the ball in flight when they’re at about the 5-yard line, and Bird even manages to negate Washington’s height advantage enough to get a hand in at the catch point. Unfortunately for him, Washington is not only four inches taller than he is, but 50 pounds heavier as well, and I’m guessing that a fair amount of those 50 pounds are muscle. Washington hangs on to the ball, and it’s a TD for Wake.

The Roost Podcast Ep 7 | Wake Forest recap and Texas Preview

It didn’t work this time, but in this play you can see exactly what Brian Smith wants this defense to be against the passing game. Physical man coverage on receivers paired with aggressive and hopefully confusing pressure from the front. If Jamie Newman were a little less accurate or a little less comfortable in a compressed pocket, or if Scotty Washington were even 2–3 inches shorter, this play goes as planned for Rice. As Rice’s players continue to develop in the scheme (and in the long term, as the staff continues to recruit players who fit it), they’ll get even better at executing.

So there you have it. We asked for some playmakers to step up for Rice in the passing game, and they did that against Wake. (I didn’t break down a play for Austin Trammell, but he was stellar as well). And while this weekend’s game against Texas is going to feature a similarly capable QB and even more enormous receivers, not many C-USA teams can replicate that. If Rice’s secondary maintains this level of play when they get to the conference games, the results will look a lot better.

Notes

*I’m not entirely familiar with this route combination (a hitch from the slot with a post-corner or post-out from the outside receiver), so I can’t tell you for certain what the read for the QB is. It seems to be the same basic principle as a smash concept (which is a corner route from the slot over an outside hitch)—that is, you put a high-low stress on the curl/flat defender. If he stays shallow to rob the underneath route, you throw the deep route. If he goes deeper into his zone to take away the vertical route, you throw to the underneath receiver.

**For Nyakwol this is probably a “green dog” blitz—i.e., he’s assigned to cover the RB in man, but if the back stays in pass pro, he blitzes.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2019 Game Preview: Week 3 vs Texas Longhorns

By

Both Rice Football and Texas will be hungry for a win after suffering tough home losses in Week 2. How to watch, stats to know, x-factor picks for both teams and more.

Uncertainty at quarterback lingers for Rice following Wiley Green’s early departure from the Owls’ Week 2 loss to Wake Forest. Green was released from the hospital late Friday night after all post-injury tests came back negative. In his absence, Rice fell at home 41-21.

Things didn’t work out much better for Texas. Starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger is still healthy, but the Longhorns lost a one-score slugfest with LSU in one of the more prominent games of last weekend. The defeat hasn’t killed the lofty aspirations in Austin, but it did eliminate any margin of error this team had with conference play looming.

Here’s an outlook on both sides prior to their Week 3 clash:

Broadcast Info

Kickoff time | 7:00 PM CT
Venu | NRG Stadium – Houston, Tx
TV | CBS Sports Network
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)
Streaming | CBSSN Online

Audio Preview

Episode 7 of The Roost Podcast is live now. 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.) This week Carter and I broke down the good and the bad from the Wake Forest game, talked with someone who covered a recent upset of a highly ranked Big 12 team and moved on to Week 3, discussing how Rice matches up with Texas.

Sizing up the contenders

Despite the early results, Rice looks to be ahead of schedule in their continued rebuild. Texas will be their biggest challenge yet, a battle that coach Mike Bloomgren isn’t willing to cede despite the sizable odds in the Longhorns’ favor.

“I almost hate hearing how much better we are than last year right now,” Bloomgren declared following the Wake Forest game. “I want to find a way to win a game. I want these guys to feel what that’s like in the locker room. I want to beat somebody we ‘should’.”

Texas is in a completely different place. Their missed opportunity for a statement win put a damper on and College Football Playoff aspirations. The Longhorns can’t afford another loss, especially with a date against Oklahoma looming in conference play.

This game is shaping up to be a battle of David vs Goliath. Louisiana Tech fought (and lost) that battle in the season opener in Week 1. Rice has the added advantage of playing the game in Houston. Look for more on the formula to slay a college football giant later in the week.

Series History

All Time | Texas leads 72-21
Last Five | Texas leads 5-0
Last Meeting | Away 2015, Texas won 56-24

Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Stewart – 19/30 (63.3 percent), 185 yards passing, 1 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Ellerbe – 14 carries, 106 yards (7.6 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Trammell – 10 receptions, 107 yards (10.7 yards per reception), 1 TD
Tackles | Ekpe – 17, Montero – 15
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Alldredge – 2 PBU, Ellis – 1 PBU

Texas Stat Notables

Passing | Ehlinger – 59/85 (69.4 percent), 677 yards passing, 8 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Ingram – 21 carries, 107 yards (5.1 yards per carry)
Receiving | Duvernay – 21 receptions, 209 yards (10.0 yards per reception), 3 TD
Tackles | Sterns – 17, Foster – 15
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Green – 2 PBU, Ossai – 2 INT, Overshown – 1 INT

Texas X-Factor | The front seven

The Longhorn secondary was abused by Joe Burrow and the newly prolific LSU passing attack. The Tigers moved the ball at will through the air, something which should encourage the Owls’ own fledgling passing attack. Still, how Texas responds against the Owls running backs will dictate how this game is played.

Texas was stout against the run in their first two games, allowing 2.8 yards per carry to Louisiana Tech and 3.5 yards per carry to LSU. It remains to be seen if that ground success was a product, at least in part, to their leaky secondary. Both prior opponents threw for more than 300 yards and at least two touchdowns.

We’ve seen teams struggle against teams devoted to running the football. Army went into the Big House and came dangerously close to knocking off Michigan in Week 2. If Texas wants to avoid a scare, they must quell the Owls’ rushing attack.

Rice X-Factor | The ground game

The uncertainty at quarterback will push the Owls to learn on their rushing attack against the Longhorns. Rice is confident in backup quarterback Tom Stewart, but he doesn’t yet have the same mastery of the offense that Wiley Green does. Whoever starts, Rice has to get back to their identity.

“I don’t know that you’ve seen exactly what our offense should look like,” Bloomgren said. The Owls’ first two games couldn’t have been more different on the ground. Rice rushed for 6.0 yards per carry against Army, but 1.8 per carry against Wake Forest. Bloomgren called the offensive blueprint against Army “really close” to what he expected the offense to look like, with the caveat the Owls needed to be more efficient the air.

With so much uncertainty around the Rice offense, running the ball well against Texas is paramount. The backfield is deep; five different Owls registered four or more carries against Wake Forest. All of the rushers would benefit from better blocking in the run game from the offensive line.

Injury Report

The latest update on the status of Wiley Green, receivers Zane Knipe and Jake Bailey and others is available here.

Need More?

The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Season Preview has four pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth chart, important new arrivals and depth chart breakdowns for each foe. Better yet, it’s not just speculation, each profile was created with insight from local experts who cover those teams day in and day out. Pick up your copy today and get four pages and more than 1,000 words on Texas.

Pick ‘Em Contest

If you haven’t yet, make sure you submit your entry for The Roost’s weekly pick’em challenge. Choose an answer to each of the six questions below and submit them on the forum thread to enter.

  1. How many different Owls register a reception?
    Over 4.5 / Under 4.5
  2. Who scores first?
    Rice / Texas
  3. How many yards will the Owls’ longest scoring drive be?
    Over 59.5 / Under 59.5
  4. Will the Rice defense intercept Sam Ehlinger?
    Yes / No
  5. Will Texas rush for a touchdown?
    Yes / No
  6. Who wins?
    Rice / Texas

One Final Thing

The non-conference portion of the Rice football schedule was always going to be a learning time for this team. Big picture questions like how hard this team will fight and what the capabilities of the offense and defense in Year 2 were what the Owls needed to understand before conference play arrived. The results on the field, although important, were not and should not be the end-all-be-all in this case. That holds true for the game against Texas.

What Rice does need to do against Texas is fight. Unlike against Army, the Owls seemed to go quiet on both sides of the ball in the third quarter against Wake Forest. Defensive errors and three consecutive three and outs were not a sign of progress, rather of a team that looked emotionally and physically worn down.

The challenges only get tougher against a ranked opponent in Week 3. But, given the circumstances, Rice has largely played well in their first two games. This will be one more chance for Rice to make a statement, both to the college football world and to themselves.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football: Meet Tom Stewart, the Owls’ presumptive new QB1

By

For the second year under Mike Bloomgren, injuries have forced Rice football to make a change at quarterback. Meet Tom Stewart, the Owls’ tentative new QB1.

Mike Bloomgren watched with the same angst as the rest of the Rice Football team on Friday night as starting quarterback Wiley Green lay on the sideline. Green had been hit in an apparent head-to-head collision attempting to score the Owls’ first touchdown of the game. The team’s leader was down, but there was a lot of football still to be played.

So Bloomgren did what any coach would have done in that situation. He pulled the offense together, inserted the backup quarterback, and kept moving forward. This year that backup is Tom Stewart, a graduate transfer from Harvard who joined the Owls this summer.

Stewart battled. He led three touchdown drives against Wake Forest, with a fourth near-score turned away on the one-yard line. He wasn’t perfect — admitting he’d thrown too many balls low and short in his postgame comments — but he kept the Owls in the game in a trying time.

“First off, we had a lot of confidence in Tom,” Blomgren said. “This is not the first time Tom Stewart’s been in this situation. This is the world he’s lived in. Whether it’s him going into his sophomore year as a starter and getting banged up, or him going into his last year at Harvard.”

Unlike graduate transfer Shawn Stankavage who started for Rice much of last season, Stewart comes to Rice with 14 games of experience. He started his senior year, throwing for 1,614 yards and 14 touchdowns with two interceptions. On Friday, Stewart finished 19-of-30 with 185 passing yards and one touchdown. He also added a 10-yard rushing touchdown.

Rice Football, Tom Stewart
Stewart takes off for a 10-yard touchdown run, the first touchdown of his Rice football career

“It’s my first significant football since November 17th of last year.  So it’s been about 10 months since I’ve strapped the pads on and played someone else,” Stewart relayed following the loss, adding “I think I got confidence by the end of the game, that it’s the same game I’ve always been playing.”

Stewart’s team won that game. He threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns in the process.

The knock on Stewart when he transferred to Rice was never his ability; it only takes one look at his highlight film from Harvard to see his natural ability is evident. What Stewart lacked when he arrived, and has subsequently been working to master, is a complete understanding of the Rice football offense.

To call the Owls’ scheme complicated would be an understatement. As fall camp progressed, the staff could see Stewart thinking more and more as his play on the practice field grew inconsistent. He could make the throws, provided he knew where to go with the ball and who was supposed to be there to catch it.

“I think I got confidence by the end of the game, that it’s the same game I’ve always been playing.”Tom Stewart

That learning lag is what kept Stewart from ever truly having an edge in the battle for the starting quarterback job, putting him second to Green throughout camp. Now it’s real.

Stewart’s latest chance to work with the starting offense didn’t come with the benefit of a red no-contact jersey. He was sacked three times in what he called “a good learning experience… kind of getting thrown into the fire.”

It’s not going to be easy, though. If Green can’t go next week — his status is still very much so up in the air — Stewart’s first FBS start would come against a ranked Texas Longhorns squad at NRG Stadium. Wake Forest flashed plenty of speed and size on both sides of the ball. Texas is supposed to be even better.

Stewart says he’s appreciative of the chance to get his feet wet before he has to potentially play anyone else. He praised the athleticism of the Wake Forest defense, but said he kept coming back to something a former coach of his always used to say. “The essence of playing quarterback is finding the open guy and throwing it to him accurately. And if the guy’s open, it’s just like playing routes on air. You put the ball where you want and good things will happen.”

More: Takeaways from Owls’ Week 2 loss to Wake Forest

That’s easier said than done, but if the injury to Green proves to be anywhere near as serious as it looked, Stewart will get that very test. Friday’s game against the Demon Deacons will serve as Stewart’s reminder to himself, ” I was like, Oh, you know, we’re just playing football.”

There haven’t been any declarations from anyone on South Main yet, and there won’t be. Bloomgren and his staff are too seasoned to hand out free bulletin board material. But the Owls are ready to proceed with Stewart as their starter for the near future.

“We have a lot of confidence when a kid like that can get every rep. It’s gonna have tremendous value for him,” Bloomgren said, “We’ll see where it goes. But we’re going to keep coaching him and he’ll keep growing.”

Stewart is going to have to learn on the job. It won’t be easy, but the Owls have his back. 100 percent.

You can read more on Stewart and the rest of the Rice football quarterback room in The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Season Preview
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football: Wiley Green knocked out, Owls fall to Wake Forest

By

A week removed from a near-upset of Army on the road, Rice Football fell to Wake Forest in a hard-fought home opener, showing growth through adversity.

Through one quarter, Rice football was tied with Wake Forest 14-14. The Owls had withstood the Demon Deacon’s initial charge and rallied, showing more resilience than they had during coach Mike Bloomgren’s first season at South Main. The end result was not according to plan, but to their credit: Rice fought.

The moment generated from a strong Week 1 showing was tested, seeing mixed results. Here are a few immediate takeaways.

1. Green goes down

The speed of the game seemed to get to Wiley Green early. The redshirt freshman quarterback fumbled the ball on the Owls’ first offensive possession. His next turn on the field was much better. Green commanded the offense well, completing passes of 14- and 40-yards.

Green looked as good, if not better than we’ve ever seen him play. He drove the Owls down to the two-yard line before disaster struck. Green took a bootleg run toward the right pylon where he was hit helmet to helmet and went down hard and stayed down. Here’s the hit, for those who want to see. It’s rough.

The stadium went quiet. Green was down for about 15 minutes as his shoulder pads and helmet were removed. He was transported by a cart to an ambulance which took him to a nearby hospital. Green finished the game 3-for-5 passing for 69 yards, markedly better than his line against Army, 7-for-14 for 62 yards.

2. The offense responds, but can’t sustain

The concerns with Stewart were never talent based. The Harvard transfer has a big arm but wasn’t able to master the offense to the same level as Green, who had more than a year in the system under his belt. When Stewart took over the offense didn’t miss a beat.

Whatever coach Bloomgren told the team in the huddle worked. Trailing 14-0, Rice punched back. Aston Walter took in a 2-yard run on the first play after the resumption of play. The defense forced a three and out. Austin Trammell returned the punt 34 yard and newly inserted quarterback Tom Stewart tied it up with a 10-yard touchdown run.

The second half was a different story. Rice had three consecutive three and outs before Stewart engineered a 71-yard drive down to the 1-yard line. Wake Forest held on fourth and goal, turning Rice away with no points. Stewart would connect with Austin Trammell late in the fourth for his first touchdown pass with the Owls.

3. The good and bad from the Rice secondary

The truth is, the Rice defense matched up significantly better with the Army offense than they did with Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons’ ability to use tempo with speed on the edges put the Owls at a disadvantage. As quickly as Rice practiced the tempo, it took live action for the team to adjust. Losing starting corner Tyrae Thornton six minutes into the contest did not help.

Wake Forest was able to move the ball through the air, but the secondary held up much better than it had at any point last season. I counted three explosive plays through the air in which the Wake Forest pass catchers got behind the Rice defense

  1. 34-yard reception down the seam to tight end Jake Freudenthal in the second quarter
  2. 39-yard laser down the sideline to Scotty Washington in the third
  3. 59-yard touchdown to Washington in the third quarter

One touchdown and three deep shots against an offense that threw for 400 yards last weekend against Utah State is progress.

Wake Forest’s third score in the endzone summed up the difference between the two teams. Corner Andrew Bird matched wideout Scotty Washington stride for stride before quarterback Jamie Newman tossed the ball toward the endzone. Then the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Washington muscled out 6-foot-1, 171-pound Bird for the football.

4. Bend but don’t break

The tenacity and aggressiveness displayed by the Rice defense against Army was equally present against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons found success through the air, but had trouble in the redzone. After two first-quarter scores the Rice defense settled in. Wake was held to short field goals, allowing Rice to hang around well into the second half.

Newman held the ball deep into plays before actioning the run-pass option type plays, but the Owls defense stayed home. Anthony Ekpe and Blaze Alldredge were effective, leading the team with nine and eight tackles, respectively. The safeties kept the plays in front of them.

Film Room: Evaluating the Owls’ fourth down stop against Army

Newman was able to complete passes and move the ball, but this game never got out of hand. When Rice lost on defense, they lost to superior athletes who made superior plays. That’s frustrating, but it’s not the end of the world.

Before Rice moves to contend on the national stage, they’re going to have take control of Conference USA. Losing a talent battle is going to happen when Rice plays some Power 5 opponents, but the Owls will be neck and neck with their CUSA peers.

5. Final thoughts

When the halftime whistle blew on Friday Rice trailed Wake Forest 24-14. Last season the Owls trailed 42-3 at the break. That year-over-year change would have been enough to prove the Owls had gotten better on both sides of the ball. And Rice was missing their starting left corner and their starting quarterback for the majority of that half.

Rice is tired of moral victories. The coaching staff has made that abundantly clear following their close loss to Army in Week 1. The box score didn’t paint the home team in a favorable light, but the evidences of change in the right direction are abundant.

The Owls’ non-conference slate was projected to be a grueling before the season began. No one would have batted an eye if Rice began the season 0-4. They’re not 0-4, they’re 0-2. And we’ve learned a lot about the potential this team has, hopefully avoiding any more injuries.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts