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Rice Football: Owls outlast North Texas on Senior Day

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The 2019 Rice Football senior class went out with a bang, winning their final home game at Rice Stadium over preseason C-USA favorite North Texas.

The hot start exhibited by Rice football in their win over Middle Tennessee last weekend carried over into their final home game of 2019. Before North Texas had run their fifth offensive play the Owls held a 10-0 advantage.

Rice rode that hot start to their second consecutive win, the first time they’ve won back-to-back games since 2016 (at Charlotte, vs UTEP). Here are a few immediate thoughts from the win:

1. Out execute everybody

The Rice offense has morphed a bit throughout the 2019 season. The playbook has been slimmed down and the offense has incorporated more spread concepts than it had in recent weeks. Despite the shift, the Owls have remained loyal to some of their staple in the ground game.

Rice runs the ball out of dozens of different formation. In need of one yard or less on fourth down or on the goal line, they’ve gone to this play more often than not:

Rice stacks the line of scrimmage and puts multiple fullbacks in the box. All 22 players on the field are within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Everyone knows what’s going to happen next — Rice runs this play all the time — it doesn’t matter. The ball is snapped, and Rice gets the first down or the touchdown. Every time.

It’s one thing to put athletes in space and let the best man win. This play is rooted entirely in the 11 guys on offense doing their jobs. If they execute they can get a yard. From my memory, nobody has stopped this play yet this season and Rice has run it at least a dozen times.

2. More opportunities = more points

Midway through the second quarter the Owls looked up at the scoreboard and saw a 20-0 score displayed in the glowing red bulbs. The lead was the largest Rice had achieved this season, amassed in a joint effort from the offense, defense and special teams.

As good as the offense was — and they were great — it was the defensive performance that kept the disparity on the scoreboard so severe. North Texas didn’t get a first down until there were less than three minutes remaining in the first half.

The Mean Green scattered incomplete passes and shortened runs across the field, barely managing a pulse on offense until it was too late. Rice picked off Mason Fine on his second possession, setting up the offense for their first touchdown of the game.

In a potential momentum-swinging moment, Charlie Booker fumbled the ball to North Texas, giving the ball to their opponents in Rice territory for the first time that game. On the very next play, Naeem Smith knocked the ball onto the turf and Rice recovered. The offense took the ball down the field and scored.

The biggest play, though, came on fourth down with 4:20 to play in the game. Mason Fine found Michael Lawrence in the endzone for what could have been the game-winning touchdown. No sooner had the receiver’s fingers touched leather did Treshawn Chamberlain lay a blow that reverberated around Rice stadium. The ball fell to the turf and Rice would go on to win the game.

3. Second half offense is quiet, again

Rice hasn’t scored in the second half of a football game since Oct. 26, a span of 28 days.  Some of that can be explained away by a scheduling quirk, the Owls’ second off weekend came two weeks ago. The rest is a bit puzzling, especially when juxtaposed against the 51 points this team scored in their first halves against Middle Tennessee and North Texas.

The good news for the Owls’ resides in the final box scores of their most recent pair of games. Rice did enough in each of those first halves to not require anything else from their offense after the break.

While it’s not a sustainable strategy and adjustments to any adjustments will need to be made, the results are as positive as Rice fans could ask for. The wins are still wins, but what the offensive looks like in the second half against UTEP will be more heavily scrutinized.

4. Senior Day shows

The 2018 and 2019 Rice football teams have been marked by their youth. Defensive tackle Myles Adams was the lone true senior honored during Senior Day festivities. Those who stood by his side were a mixed bunch.

Their journeys were all unique, but the collective showing from the Owls’ veterans was impressive in their last game at South Main.

  • Aston Walter, playing his final home game in his sixth season of college football, completed his first pass. It went for 27 yards.
  • Charlie Booker, a transfer from Harvard, scored his first Rice touchdown and led the team on the ground with 78 yards rushing.
  • Tom Stewart, also a Harvard transfer, won his first college football game played in the state of Texas.
  • Myles Adams led a front seven that limited North Texas’ starting running back Trey Siggers to 3.2 yards per carry.
  • Nahshon Ellerbe converted the clock-killing run in the final minutes, icing the game for the Owls

5. Finish strong

Rice football won two games in Year Zero under Mike Bloomgren in 2018. Although the rebuilding effort was expected to take several seasons, the lopsided win over Old Dominion to end the year combined with strong efforts on the recruiting front propelled expectations higher entering 2019.

The schedule was unforgiving and the team struggled to finish games. But even after an 0-9 start, Rice now has the opportunity to improve on their win total from last season.

If they can do it, the journey to three wins would have been a wild one — swinging from a certainty to a pipe dream — as the team rattled off a myriad of disparate results. A win their season finale against UTEP would give the Owls tangible improvement in the win column. There have been numerous encouraging moments, but wins and losses will forever be the way athletic success is measured.

Three wins, all coming in the final three games of the season, would be massive for this program, especially considering where things sat just a few weeks ago. Because of Saturday’s Senior Day win over North Texas, the Owls are just one win away. It looks like a lot can happen in one month after all.

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Rice Football Film Room 2019: Middle Tennessee Review

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Rice Football went 1-0 last week, topping Middle Tennessee behind a fantastic offensive performance, highlighted in this week’s film room.

Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Rice Football Film Room. Sure feels good to be coming off a win, doesn’t it? So in honor of Rice’s best offensive performance of the year (even if almost all of it was in the first half), we’ll focus on that side of the ball this week.

Rozner’s Rebounds

Setup

It’s late in the first quarter, with Rice holding a 3-0 lead. The Owls have the ball at the MTSU 30. They’re in the I-formation with 21 personnel (presumably—the camera angle is too tight to see the receiver to the top but I’m guessing it’s Trammell) with Brendan Suckley as the fullback. Aston Walter is the running back and Jaeger Bull is the inline tight end to the left.

MTSU is in a base 4-3 look with two deep safeties. The boundary corner (remember, the short side is the “boundary”, the wide side is the “field”) is showing press coverage on Bradley Rozner, who is the wide receiver to that side.

The Play

MTSU brings five rushers, with the weakside linebacker blitzing. Both backs stay in for Rice. So even with Bull running a stick route the Owls have numbers in pass protection and manage keep Tom Stewart clean.

Rozner stutter steps at the line, preventing the corner from jamming him and getting a clean outside release. From there, he runs a simple go route (or “fly route” or “streak” or whatever you prefer—football coaches have an annoyingly large number of terms for “run straight down the field toward the end zone”). With the free safety stepping up (I assume he has responsibility for one of the backs if they leak out on a delayed screen to his side), there’s no help over the top. Stewart just lofts the ball into the end zone.

More: Takeaways from Rice Football vs MTSU

From there it’s all on Bradley, who as always, does an excellent job of boxing out like a power forward and coming down with the ball. An MTSU fan watching this play might be screaming for a push-off, and Rozner does extend his arms a little bit to gain separation. But there’s enough contact both ways that I think it’s a good no-call.

We’ve talked a lot lately (here and on the podcast and in numerous other pieces on the site) about the ways Rice is modifying the offense to get more points. But they’re not going to abandon Bloomgren’s base principles entirely, and this play archetype (draw defenders into the box with heavy personnel, throw over the top to big/athletic receivers in single coverage) was working perfectly for the Owls on Saturday. The other two of Rozner’s TDs, while using different formations and personnel groups (the second, for instance, was out of a two-back shotgun spread set with three receivers), were just variations on the same principle.

Walter to the House

Setup

It’s late in the first half and Rice is now clinging to a three-point lead after MTSU clawed its way back from a 17-0 deficit. Rice has the ball 2nd-and-4 from about the MTSU 34. They’re in 22 personnel: Suckley and Walter are the backs again, and Bull and Jordan Myers are the TEs, both lined up inline to the right (Rozner is the single receiver, his feet visible way up at the top). MTSU responds with an appropriately loaded box, with nine guys within seven yards of the line of scrimmage and in or just outside the tackle box.

The Play

This looks like the power toss play that we’ve highlighted (both here and on the podcast) before, but it would more appropriately be called a toss sweep, I think. “Power” runs involve a backside guard pulling. The puller on this play is actually Brian Chaffin, who at RG is the frontside guard.

Some sweep plays involve pulling both guards, but LG Nick Leverett is instead sliding inside to take the 1-tech DT, who knifes into the space vacated by C Shea Baker (who climbs the second level right away). It’s a good job by Leverett, too; if he doesn’t get that block the 1-tech probably catches Walter in the backfield, but he manages to redirect the bull rush and shove him out of the play.

More: For the first time this season, Rice football found a way to finish

Anyway, the run is well-blocked to the playside, but with the strong safety charging hard Rice doesn’t have a numbers advantage, even with Suckley as a lead blocker and Chaffin on the kick-out block executing perfectly. Bull and Myers do a great job sealing the edge as well, which gives Walter two gaps he can work with. When the safety choose to plug the outermost gap (and gets caught in the wash of Suckley’s block), Walter showcases his excellent vision and cuts back inside, slipping between Suckley and Myers.

Now the free safety is in position to make the tackle, but Walter again shows off his vision and savvy. He’s got more green grass to the near side of the field, but he can see the FS has an angle on him to make the play that way. So he cuts back the other way through a tighter window, using the safety’s momentum against him and slipping free into the open field for the score. It’s not even a particularly violent cut—Aston doesn’t have the short-area explosiveness that, say, Juma Otoviano does—but he makes it at just the right time to catch the safety completely off-guard. It’s a really excellent piece of running.

Sealing the Win

Setup

Two minutes to go. Two MTSU timeouts. 3rd-and-11. A three-point lead and the offense has done almost nothing the whole second half. It’s big boy time, y’all.

Rice is in 12 personnel, a two-back shotgun look. Walter and Charlie Booker are to either side of Stewart. Rozner is wide to the boundary. Jaeger Bull is in the slot. Austin Trammell is split so wide to the field that you can only barely see him enter the play at the end of the gif. MTSU’s in a three-man front with two stand-up edge defenders, a single off-ball LB, and five DBs (two deep safeties).

The Play

Now here’s one we haven’t broken down before: it’s outside zone! And an uncommon variation, too: you don’t see a lot of two-back shotgun outside zone. Again, I’m not the person to break down the minutiae of blocking schemes, but essentially, in outside zone, the whole line flows one way toward the sideline and the running back follows, looking for a crease to cut through. Like I said, there’s usually not a second back, but here he acts as a lead blocker to help keep the playside edge defender from sealing the edge.

Here, the playside edge guy manages to get upfield pretty far before Clay Servin and Booker can seal him off, so right away Walter knows he’s going to have to cut the run inside. As it happens, the hole opens up (and it’s not a big one!) between Chaffin and RT Justin Gooseberry. Walter shows outstanding vision to see the crease developing—based on the angle of his head there it must have been at the very edges of his peripheral vision—and he stops on a dime and explodes upfield.

He’s into the secondary in a flash. Two MTSU DBs maybe have a chance of stopping him just short of the marker, but one is erased by a beautiful downfield block by Bull and the other simply doesn’t have the angle to counter Walter’s speed.

First down. MTSU does get the ball back, but even a backyard lateral play can’t save them, and Rice football gets its first win of the season!

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Rice Football: After weeks of trying, Owls find a way to finish

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Rice Football has embraced a mantra of going 1-0 every Saturday. In Week 12 against Middle Tennessee, those marching orders turned into reality.

When the clock hit zero in Murfreesboro, TN on Saturday night Rice football fans breathed a sigh of relief, double-checked the scoreboard, then exploded into euphoria that mirrored the celebration currently underway in the Rice locker room.

It wasn’t easy. It came down to the final play — a backyard-style, multi-lateral, heart-stopping play — but Rice football had finally cleansed themselves of their losing streak. They had won.

“I think it’s really a culmination of the way these guys have been working,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said in the moments following his first road win at Rice. He knew, in a way that only those clad in all-white on that sideline knew, how important this win was for this program.

Bloomgren and his staff have been building for almost two years. They’d promised progress and come so close to turning that goodwill into wins so many times this season. On Saturday the dam broke. In a combination of a newly-emphasized spread offense and downhill running, smashmouth football, Rice found a way.

Intellectual Brutality in the flesh

The Owls led by 17 courtesy of three touchdown grabs by Bradley Rozner before halftime. Middle Tennesse fought back. With precious seconds remaining in the game, the Owls turned to sixth-year senior Austin Walter on third and 11.

“We’re going to run this ball and we’re going to find a way to move these sticks,” Bloomgren told offensive coordinator Jerry Mack as the play was relayed into the huddle. Then Walter — who had already left the game with an ankle injury that half — took the handoff, blasted through the line and picked up the most important 24 yards of his entire Rice career.

“Adversity is a part of who we are… I have three more college games left and I’ve always thought I want to be able to leave Rice University and get the program back on track,” Walter said. “If I had to give an ankle, a leg, whatever it took to get this win, I was going to do it.”

The first down was enough for the Owls to bleed the clock, turning the ball over to Middle Tennessee with nothing short of a Hail Mary standing in the way of the Owls’ first victory of the season. Those prayers went unanswered. Rice won.

More: Takeaways from Rice Football vs MTSU

Then, in a response that typifies how Rice navigated themselves to this point, hero Bradley Rozner turned the page. “We’re going to start bright and early, 7 a.m. meeting. We’re going to figure out our mistakes and carry that energy straight through the week and get ready for North Texas.”

A laser focus befitting of a process-driven organization, Rozner’s mindset was shared by his head coach. “I don’t know if there’s anything we have to do very different,” Bloomgren said with a grin. “I just know Monday morning will be a lot more fun.”

True to their spirit, Rice football went 1-0 this week. Now they’d like to do it again.

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Rice Football Film Room 2019: UTSA review and Southern Miss preview

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This week’s edition of the Rice Football film room features two very different teams starting with a review of UTSA and looking ahead at Southern Miss.

Hey everybody and welcome back to the Rice Football Film Room. Today we’ll be looking at a play from Rice’s heartbreaking loss to UTSA, as well as one from upcoming opponent Southern Miss in their Week 5 win against UTEP.

UTSA

As Matthew noted in his breakdown of the loss, Rice has turned the ball over a stunning *nine* times in three conference games. It’s not a stretch to think that if they’d maintained the low turnover rate from their brutal non-conference schedule (a mere two turnovers in four games) or even stayed close to it, they might be 2-1 or even 3-0 in C-USA play now. But the UTSA game in particular featured some backbreakers, including the play I’ve included here.

Rice Football, film room

Setup

It’s the first play of the third quarter. Rice is leading 10-7 and on offense at their own 25. They’re in a 21-personnel I-formation look, with a TE to the right. Bradley Rozner is the wide receiver to the top of the screen. Somewhat surprisingly, UTSA is in a two-deep 4-2-5 nickel look, ceding numbers to Rice in the box. As a quick note, the FB is Brendan Suckley and I think that’s Aston Walter as the RB, but I can’t tell who the TE is from the clip.

The Play

Now we see what UTSA’s up to—they rotate into a single-high look at the snap, with the boundary corner blitzing and Austin Trammell being picked up in man by the free safety. Both the LBs drop into shallow zones, so with six blockers up front (the TE runs a route but Suckley stays in). Rice stymies the 4 DL. Walter does a nice job cut-blocking the blitzing CB, so Green gets time to throw off this short drop.

We’ve talked on the pod about how Rice’s offense and their use of heavy personnel allows them to get one-on-one match-ups outside and how they’ve been particularly effectively lately throwing jump balls to Rozner and August Pitre in the end zone out of these looks. Understanding how personnel and formations dictate what the defense gives you is a key quality for a quarterback: by processing these things pre-snap and knowing what looks you’re likely to get, you can make quick decisions about what to do once the ball is snapped.

But this can also be a trap: defenses routinely show QBs one thing pre-snap and then change it up post-snap. If you’ve already made up your mind about where you’re going pre-snap—and what’s more, if the defense is guessing that’s what you’ve decided to do and has a counter in mind—then what looks like a sound read can turn into a horrible mistake. Note that this happens to even the best of quarterbacks: Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa has thrown 70 touchdowns and only 8ight interceptions in his 22 starts for the Crimson Tide. At least half of the interceptions have come on plays like this, when savvy defensive coordinators have used Tagovailoa’s aggressiveness and rapid decision-making.

More: Three critical mistakes Rice football must fix soon

That’s what happens to Wiley Green here. He thinks he has Rozner in single coverage and plans to go there right from the beginning, staring down Rozner the whole way. Based on the alignment, Green probably thinks the nickel DB is going to stay closer to the box to play in run support, but instead he bails and sinks to double Rozner. Green doesn’t see him, and the ball is picked and returned for a touchdown.

Even if the DB hadn’t been there, it’s not a great play by Green. He probably needs to get that ball out at the top of his drop, because:

1) it’s a long throw, and while Rozner’s break gets him space, the corner probably would have had time to close and make the play as is; and
2) by the time he makes his throw the pocket has been pushed back enough that he can’t step into the throw, and so the ball is underthrown.

If he gets it out at the top of the drop and doesn’t take that extra step forward, he’s got more space to step into the throw and drive the ball. That would mean getting the ball out well before Rozner is out of his break, but a throw off a 5-step drop like this one is usually a timing-based throw. You’ve got to get the ball out when you’re supposed to and trust that the receiver will be in the right spot to make the catch. I don’t mean to dog Green too much here; I know that all sounds harsh, but these are mistakes Rice cannot afford to make in winnable games.

Southern Miss

The Golden Eagles are led this year by their high-flying passing offense, directed by coordinator Buster Faulkner, who came in this offseason and installed his version of the Air Raid. (Faulkner played and coached at Valdosta State under Chris Hatcher, who was an assistant at Kentucky under Air Raid architects Hal Mumme and Mike Leach). The engine of this offense is QB Jack Abraham, who’s been a bit turnover-prone (8 INTs), but has also thrown for over 2200 yards and 13 TDs on a 70.5 percent completion percentage.

Their offense will primarily run out of four receiver sets, with plays designed to get those receivers in space. One of those plays, mesh, is one of the staple concepts of the Air Raid (which, in its purest forms, actually only includes four or five passing concepts). We’ll take a look at a version of mesh that Southern Miss runs below.

Rice Football, film room

Setup

It’s late in the second quarter in Southern Miss’ win over UTEP. and the Gold Eagles are up 14-3, with the ball at the UTEP 38 yard line. Southern Miss in a four receiver set, with three receivers in a bunch to the left. UTEP counters with a two-high look out of dime (6 DBs) personnel, with three down linemen and two linebackers.

The Play

As I said above, Southern Miss runs “mesh”, which is a core concept of the Air Raid but also shows up in playbooks across all levels of football these days. It involves a pair of shallow crossing routes from opposite ends of the field nearly meeting in the middle of the field. There are many variations, both in terms of formation and the other routes being run, but the crossers are the key. It’s a great play because it can put stress on both man and zone coverages, and having versatile plays which work against different defensive looks is a core Air Raid philosophy.

More: Southern Miss week press conference quotes

The version here is pretty classic, though the bunch allows for a variation. Normally an inside receiver to the strong side runs the crosser from that side, but here’s it’s the outside (or No. 1) receiver, running under the No. 2 (who’s on the line) and the No. 3 inside. The No. 2 runs a corner route, the No. 3 runs to the flat, and to the weak side the back leaks into the flat and the receiver runs the other crosser.

It looks like UTEP’s in 2-Man coverage, with two deep safeties and everybody else playing man. The press corner is on the strongside No. 2, the boundary corner is on the weakside No. 1, and the weakside LB has the back. I can’t be sure but I think the other two underneath DBs to the trips side are playing banjo coverage on the two other receivers to that side.

Basically, that means the outside DB will pick up whichever receiver (in this case, the No. 3 receiver) goes outside, and the inside DB will pick up whoever goes inside (in this case, the No. 1, who’s running the crosser). Receivers often run “rubs” or “picks” (or “illegal offensive pass interference” if you’re a defensive guy) on DBs out of these bunches to get free releases for the other receivers, and banjo is a common strategy for preventing that.

More: Previewing Rice Football vs Southern Miss

In this case, it seems to be the inside DB that makes the error, chasing the No. 3 receiver to the flat instead of picking up the no. 1 receiver (Jaylond Adams) running the crosser. That crosser is actually usually the fourth read in most versions of mesh (the corner, the other crosser, and the flat route to that side are the first three), but I don’t think Abraham gets that far. Based on how quickly he turns his head and gets to the open man, I think he quickly sees that inside DB start to flow to the flat and knows that means that Adams will be wide open, which he is. The safety to that side does a great job slowing down and then tackling Adams to prevent a TD, but Adams still turns it into about a 15-yard gain.

So the Rice secondary, likely down top CB Andrew Bird, has its work cut out for them this week against this Southern Miss offense. They’re going to have to play smart and disciplined to keep these receivers from picking up chunk after chunk against them. Let’s hope the Owls are up to the challenge.

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Rice Football 2019: Week 8 UTSA Press Conference quotes

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Rice Football head coach Mike Bloomgren wrapped up the UAB game, talked about the off week and looked forward to the Owls Week 8 game against UTSA.

More: Rice Football game preview for Week 8 vs UTSA

Running back Aston Walter and defensive end Trey Schuman joined head coach Mike Bloomgren at the podium on Tuesday. The trio made closing comments on the UAB game and looked ahead to their Week 8 game against UTSA.

From Mike Bloomgren

On the bye week…

“It was a really productive week for us. I thought it came at the perfect time. I loved having the bye week after six games. It was great for our coaches to really dive into our self-scout. To see what we’re doing numerically that other coordinators can see and try to take advantage of it. We made sure we changed those things and also really watch our cut-ups and see what we’re executing at a high level, what we need to do more of and what we need to stay away from to put our kids in the best position possible.”

On the hunger for the team’s first win…

“I think our team is very, very hungry for a win as we stand up here and just keep working. It’s one thing to stay the course and do the things that we’re asking them to do. It’s a whole other thing to get the rewards in the locker room for all of their hard work. Not just during the football season but dating back to spring ball and all of the summer workouts. I want so badly for us to put it together, play our kind of football and come out victorious this Saturday.”

On standouts from practice this week…

“If I were to pick anyone on both sides of the ball, it would be JoVoni Johnson on offense and on defense it would be Tre’shon Devones. But, there’s a lot of guys that are continuing to step up and earn more playing time. Those are two that really stood out, I think, to anybody that watched.”

On the things the coaches addressed during the bye week…

“There’s some things, personnel grouping-wise, where we feel like we were becoming too one-sided. I think when you have two backs on the field and three tight ends, you’re probably going to run it more than you throw it but maybe there’s a way we can find more play passes there. The same thing is true when we’re in ten personnel with four wide receivers on the field or 11 personnel. We need to find a little more balance in running the ball. Those are just things that are always good to see. We do, do it week to week, so we know about them, but there were a couple of them that were glaring that we’re going to try to address.”

From RB Aston Walter

On the energy around the team this week …

“We had a lot of great practices from young guys to older guys and a lot of good reputation. The energy is probably the best that has been — not saying that the other weeks haven’t had this energy — but during this bye week was amazing. And I think even yesterday during practice, you can just see that everybody’s locked in, focused, engaged, really excited to do see what we can do this week going forward, just go out there and compete and try to get that first win.”

From DE Trey Schuman

On what the front seven is hoping to improve…

“Getting to the quarterback. It’s no surprise. We don’t have the sacks and the production in the pass game that we want to and we want to be able to work well with the back end to stop the quarterback and stop them on third downs. Because we feel like as a defense, our third down efficiency is below par right now. And so for the front, it was really just getting to the quarterback just perfecting your pass rush game, knowing where he’s at, staying aware — because with this UTSA game, especially they got a guy who can run — so getting back there and making sure to keep him inside. It’s going to be on us. So we gotta handle that.”

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