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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 9 Southern Miss Press Conference quotes

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Rice Football head coach Mike Bloomgren made closing comments on the UTSA game and set the stage for the Owls Week 9 game against Southern Miss.

More: Rice Football game preview for Week 9 vs Southern Miss

Wide receiver Austin Trammell and linebacker Blaze Alldredge joined Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren at the podium on Tuesday. The trio made closing comments on the UTSA game and looked ahead to their Week 9 game against Southern Miss.

From Mike Bloomgren

On the team’s performance against UTSA…

“I thought we had a great two weeks of prep going into it. Very simply, we didn’t come out the other side like we wanted to. We took another team to deep water in this conference. Our kids are fighting and doing some great things. From a 10,000-foot level, you can’t turn the ball over in conference play in college football and win games.”

On the resilience of the Rice football team…

“The good news is these kids are working. They’ve come back. They’re resilient. They’re bright kids. They realize how close we are. They’ve come back to it and they’ve attacked this thing the right way. I told them yesterday that we’re doing the right things. There’s no question in my mind that we’re doing the things to win with the right people in the building. I think we’ve got an unbelievable coaching staff and we’ve just got to find a way to push through. That’s kind of been our charge all week.”

On how the coaching staff has responded this week…

“I think these coaches have been rock solid. They’ve been the same people every day. They come in here, they’ve taught, they’ve demanded and they’ve really stayed in lockstep with me on the process. They’ve been trying to control the things that we can control. Everybody who’s a part of this program was down after that game on Saturday. But, there’s no panic, if that makes sense. You can change so many things, you can change your approach. You can come in here, yell and scream. There’s just none of that. It’s process-driven and we’re not going to let that game beat us this week. We’re going to move on. We’re going to do the things that we know win games.”

On the plan at quarterback…

“Wiley [Green] prepares so well. For whatever reason, obviously, we lost two snaps and the first play of the third quarter was just a very critical error. Quarterbacks, like head coaches, get too much credit and too much blame. Very simply, that’s what’s going on right now. It’s not because we’re not winning games. and we’re saying it’s Wiley’s fault or anything like that. It’s just the fact that the ball went to the other team three times when we had it the other night. Very simply, that’s why we’re making the change. Tom (Stewart) will be our starting quarterback going forward.

“I don’t have a plan for either [Evan Marshman or JoVoni Johnson] to be the quarterback of the football team. We could see a scenario where JoVoni comes into games again. Obviously, he had a great start to his college football career, breaking off that run. During the bye week, he threw it exceptionally well. He threw the deep ball exceptionally well. We have a lot of trust in JoVoni. We’ll just see how he plays. We’ll likely have a role for JoVoni as we go forward while keeping an eye on that redshirt as well.”

On the play of the offensive line against Southern Miss…

“I love the way our offensive line is progressing. I think they are doing a great job. So, I think we’re going to match up fine. But, how will we handle movement as a front unit? What will we do to solve their movement patterns with our pads, with violence? That’s going to be what opens up holes. From a protection standpoint, they’re relentless. We’ve got to do a great job protecting to let our receivers go make plays down the field any time we chose to throw the ball.”

From WR Austin Trammell

On the focus of the team going forward …

“It’s hard, losing a game like that. It takes a lot of mental toughness to come back from that and to keep pushing and keep fighting. But at the end of the day, we’re doing this for every guy on our team and doing it for all the seniors that have five games left. And I think our guys understand that.

We want to finish the season, doing everything the right way, giving everything we have to win games, because that’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re playing college football. That’s why we came to Rice University because we want to win games. And so that’s our full focus this week and that’s what’s kind of motivating guys and keeping us going. We have five opportunities to get five wins, and to let these seniors leave with some success under their belt.

From LB Blaze Alldredge

On the team’s goals for the rest of the season…

“In terms of goals, you have to recalibrate a little bit. You come out with the goal of obviously winning conference and to make a bowl game. And when things like that start to come out of reach, it’s important to recalibrate your goals instead of just kind of becoming goal-less.

And when you don’t start to set new goals for yourself, that’s when you find the people that will rest and just think about next season, and just keep those same goals, and say, ‘Oh well, we still have the same goals, just for next season.” So when you get to this point in the season, it really becomes about pride and loving your brother. I think that we have a tight team that’s very close to one another. That is more than capable of going out and winning games.”

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Rice Football: Fourth quarter lead disappears as Owls lose to UTSA

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Rice football played a back-and-forth game with UTSA that came down to the wire. For the seventh time this season, the Owls couldn’t find a way to win.

The Owls knew winning on the road wasn’t going to be easy. UTSA fought from start to finish, taking the lead with a little more than four minutes to play. With Tom Stewart at the controls, the Owls drove the length of the field and came up just short. Here are a few immediate takeaways from another heartbreaking result for Rice football.

1. Making the off week count

Bloomgren said one of the main focuses of the off week was converting third and medium, specifically third and four-to-six yards. Last year the Owls were stuck in too many third and long situations. This year the team had improved their down and distance metrics, but their conversion rate was still lacking.

Rice had their first opportunity to prove their mettle in that scenario on the first drive of the game. Quarterback Wiley Green hit trustworthy slot receiver Austin Trammell on a quick slant and moved the chains. That drive finished in three points. After failing to score on the opening drive in their first four games, Rice has now scored on their first possession in three consecutive games.

Rice converted a season-best 64% (9-of-14) third downs against UTSA, going 3-for-4 on third downs of four-to-six yards. Outside of self-inflicted wounds, Rice controlled the clock and moved the ball on offense as well as they have all season.

2. Big play Brad

You won’t find many junior college players suiting up for Rice football. The academic rigors separating South Main from those institutions represent a sizable gulf which few will successfully traverse. Making it to campus doesn’t guarantee success either. Checkered is the track record of JUCO transfers across the nation. Some pan out, some don’t.

It’s safe to say Brad Rozner has been well worth the investment.

The nation’s leading touchdown man at the JUCO level in 2018 has been a yardage machine for Rice football this season. Concerns over his slender build and questions of his ability to play physical have been put aside. All he does is make plays.

Rozner drew six pass interference flags against UAB. Rather than play the ball, the Blazers elected to tackle the playmaker before he had the chance to make a play. UTSA was less fortunate. Green targeted Rozner downfield throughout Saturday’s game. The first big gain was wiped out by a penalty flag, but the next went for 55-yards, the longest completion for the Owls this season. Green would find Pitre in the endzone later on that drive, putting Rice up 10-7 at the halftime whistle.

Who else, but Rozner again to open up the second half scoring for the Owls? He muscled the ball away from a defender in the endzone for a 19-yard grab which put him past the century mark for the game. He finished with nine catches for 138 yards, leading the team in both statistics.

3. Plenty of things to clean up

Neither UTSA or Rice had scored more than three touchdowns in any game this season. There was a high likelihood that a score in the high 20’s or low 3o’s would be enough to win this game. Rice had their opportunity to carve off a big chunk of that total on their first drive, but had to settle for a field goal after August Pitre was unable to haul in an endzone target from Green. The ball bounced off his fingertips and Rice settled for three instead of seven.

The next offensive drive didn’t go quite as smoothly. Rice burned a timeout at the start of the second quarter before the Owls had run any offensive plays. Two plays later Jovoni Johnson, who had been inserted at quarterback, failed to get the snap off in time and Rice was flagged for delay of game.

But the most painful error came following that challenging drive. After punting the ball back to UTSA, fortune smiled on the Owls for a brief moment. Naeem Smith snagged a deflected Lowell Narcisse pass and gave the Rice offense the ball at the UTSA goal line. A bad exchange between center Brian Chaffin and Green turned the ball right back over to UTSA two plays later. That was the first of two fumbled snap turnovers for Rice in the second quarter.

Green committed his third turnover on the first play of the second half, throwing right into the arms of a UTSA defender who returned it for a UTSA touchdown.

4. Boom goes the offense and the special teams

Explosive plays weren’t something the Rice offense had proven particularly adept at generated this season. In their first six games, Rice tallied 14 plays of 20 or more yards, an average of 2.3 per game. Rice had five 20-yard plays against UTSA — and that’s excluding a 40-yard bomb to Rozner called back by penalty, Rozner’s 19-yard touchdown reception and another 19 yard catch by Rozner in the third quarter.

When Rice was able to sustain drives, the big plays were a regular occurrence. So much so that two of the offenses near the bottom of the conference ended up having a shootout in San Antonio.

Chris Barnes was a weapon in the punting game, downing two punts inside the five-yard line including a 66-yard missile.

The biggest play of all is credited to reserve linebacker Garrett Grammer. Behind Blaze Alldredge and Antonio Montero on a crowded depth chart, Grammer sees most of his playing time on special teams. Late in the third quarter with UTSA backed up on their own 25-yard line, the Roadrunners attempted a fake punt. The ball carrier never gained a yard thanks to Grammer, who snuffed out the fake and brought him down for a nine-yard loss. The offense scored two plays later.

5. Regression stings

Patience can only be preached for so long without results. Saturday night’s road contest against UTSA — a game in which Rice football was favored by 5.5 points at kickoff — marks the lowest point of the 2019 season. One could argue this 0-7 start is the most disappointing moment of the Mike Bloomgren era. This team has looked better than their 0-7 record but at some point, you are what your record says you are. And the Owls’ record says this program isn’t where it expected to be.

No man will take this disappointing result harder than Bloomgren. It was he who declared a loss in this game a sign that things the Owls were not making the progress he expected. He will be the one that has to look in the mirror and decipher why this team hasn’t found a way to finish.

Bloomgren has never made excuses; he’s never pointed fingers. He won’t start now. But he will show up to work on Monday ready to play Southern Miss. The inefficiencies and problems put on display against UTSA will lead to discussions and adjustments in the weeks to come. This coaching staff and this team won’t quit.

One game isn’t reason to dismiss weeks of positive signs, but it’s undeniable this team hasn’t lived up to expectations in 2019. And they’re running out of games to prove they can. Every game from this point onward just became that much more important.

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Rice Football: Owls know it’s “now or nothing”

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Rice football has yet to win this season. Favorites for the first time, the Owls know Saturday’s game at UTSA is as close to a must-win game as it could get.

Two weeks removed from what was “supposed to be [the Owls’] breakout game” against Louisiana Tech, the level of focus around South Main has only intensified.

Rice lost that game to the Bulldogs despite never trailing in regulation. Another loss the following week to UAB dropped the team’s record to 0-6. On the brink of an early elimination from bowl eligibility, no one in the program has any illusions about the importance of their upcoming game with UTSA.

Team captain Austin Trammell, who declared the LA Tech loss the missed breakout opportunity, didn’t mince his words: “It’s now or nothing,” he said. “There’s no more waiting around. We gotta win this game.”

“It’s now or nothing. There’s no more waiting around. We gotta win this game.” — Austin Trammell

Starting quarterback Wiley Green says the mindset of the team is exactly that. “We’re tired of the moral victories. We’re past that,” he said, “We gotta win. We gotta find a way to win.”

For Rice football, an off week prior to what has become a crucial “gotta win” game was incredibly important. The team has done a lot of things well, but this week was about fixing the stumbling blocks on both sides of the ball which have prevented them from taking three games that were within one score in fourth quarter and turning them into wins.

On offense, the team has looked at formations, playcalling and third downs. They diagnosed what they need to do to limit turnovers and generate explosive plays. On defense, they’ve focused on eliminating vertical plays, staying fundamentally sound in the running game and getting off the field on third down.

They’re doing the right things. Rice football is a better team right now than they were last year, and last week, for that matter. But like coach Mike Bloomgren consistently refrains, wins are the currency that determines that success.

“We are getting better,” Bloomgren said of his team this week. “It is time, in my mind, for it to show.”

When pressed on what better looked like this week, Bloomgren was crystal clear. “To say we’re making progress in this game is probably to win it, quite frankly.” he declared. “I want our process from Monday to the game to be as good as we can make it for the kids and preparing them. And then I want them to go out and play. That’s it. I want to play really well and I want them to have a heck of a party in the locker room. Because they’ve earned it.”

For this first time this season, oddsmakers favor the winless Rice football to beat its opponent. Rice hasn’t been favored on the road since they were 4.5-point favorites over UTEP on Nov. 6, 2015. They haven’t won a true road game since they beat that same UTEP team in El Paso on Sep 9, 2017.

When the betting markets opened, Rice was a three-point favorite. The line has ballooned to as high as 5.5 points in some books in the hour prior to kickoff. UTSA is without their starting quarterback. The Roadrunners haven’t beaten an FBS team other than UTEP since they beat Rice in Houston last season. And that game wasn’t particularly close.

“This is the week. It’s gotta be” said Rice linebacker coach Scott Vestal who oversees what has arguably become the best unit on the team this season. If Rice is going to win, it’s going to need big days from star linebackers Blaze Alldredge, Antonio Montero and hybrid linebacker/safety Treshawn Chamberlain. They’ll need points, quite possibly more than 15.7 points they’ve averaged per game this season.

Rice needs a complete game. Each phase — offense, defense and special teams — need to come together and play at a level they’ve proven themselves capable of playing. And they need to do it for four quarters.

And even if none of those things happen to the degree they’d like, they need to find a way. They must. They gotta win.

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Rice Football: Owls frustrated after dropping winnable game

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Rice Football never trailed in regulation but left their own stadium without a win. That’s not something that will sit well with any Owls.

“This week was huge for us. This was supposed to be our breakout game… and it really stinks that we couldn’t finish it.” A Rice football team captain, Austin Trammell’s disappointed words were weighty as they hung in the air during a postgame press conference which lasted just over 10 minutes. Question were fired away. They were met with honest, frustrated answers.

Trammell said the goal of this week was to show everyone the Owls are “a lot better than our record shows.” Although they never trailed in regulation, they’ll have to wait at least one more week.

In a season littered with moral victories, Saturday’s overtime loss to Louisiana Tech doesn’t quite qualify. Once more, the Rice defense was superb, holding their opponent to multiple scores less than their season average through regulation. The offense didn’t hold up their end.

Rice scored touchdowns on their first two possessions. Then Mike Bloomgren stuck to the predetermined script, swapping quarterback Wiley Green for backup Tom Stewart. And all the momentum Rice had generated up to that point began to disintegrate. After a three and out, Stewart moved the ball down the field and into the redzone. That possession ended in an interception, the first thrown by a Rice quarterback this season.

In a game which ended in overtime, Rice could ill afford to leave points on the field. They did with that interception, a missed field goal and a three-play overtime possession which ended in a field goal instead of a touchdown.

More: Takeaways from Rice’s OT loss to Louisiana Tech 

“I’m sure there will be some calls that I regret as we watch this film, there’s no doubt about that,” Bloomgren admitted, “I don’t know if anybody in our program will watch this film and not have any regrets at their job or their position. I think we’ll all have things we wish we had done different.”

If Rice doesn’t throw that interception and instead kicks that field goal, they might have avoided overtime altogether. The same is true if they’d converted that missed attempt. The Owls might not have watch J’Mar Smith end the game with his overtime touchdown run had they found a way to get the ball into the endzone on their first overtime possession. Instead, Rice football is surrounded with “ifs”.

Bloomgren is tired of those “ifs”. He, more than anyone, wants answers to the Owls’ inefficiencies on the offensive side of the ball. Ultimately, he’s the one that’s going to have to. If Rice had a few mulligans, they could be sitting at 3-2. Instead, they’re a painful 0-5. But it’s the same team that sat in the locker room at the Patterson Center on Saturday night and began to process another tough defeat.

Regardless, they’re still fighting. Results aside, the Owls unquestionably continued to battle eright up until the final whistle. They’re playing for four quarters.

Trammell’s sneak peek into the mindset of the team proved to be a fitting way to end his comments. “Usually most people need that extra push, but our team right now,” he said,” everyone is in. Everyone is fully in. Everyone’s after the same goal, the same mission”

United, Rice football isn’t throwing the towel any time soon. They’ll take it in, breakdown the film, and move on, knowing they’re closer to breaking through than their now 0-5 record reflects.

The Owls tend toward of conservative approach on offense; So far it hasn’t worked. They need to find a way to finish, a way to turn three-and-outs into downfield successes, and more importantly, into points. Until that happens, Rice could continue to find themselves in this uncomfortable position.

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