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Rice Football 2025: FAU Game Week Practice Notes

October 2, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

Getting the offense going, and quickly, was the focus on the practice field for Rice football this week, as was a renewed focus on triple option concepts.

We’re just five games into head coach Scott Abell’s tenure at the helm of Rice football and the short runway leaves the offense with obvious room for growth. How do they prioritize what to focus on from week to week and how do they find ways to get more points on the board more quickly? We dug into both items in this week’s practice notes.

The Opening Script

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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Ahran Ogbor, Bailey Fletcher, Braylen Walker, Daveon Hook, Jack Kane, Landon Ransom, practice notes, Rice Football, Tyvonn Byars

Rice Football comes up short against Navy

September 27, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

A slow start proved too much for Rice Football to overcome as the Owls suffered their first conference of the season, falling to Navy 21-13 on the road.

First place in the American Conference standings was on the line when Rice football visited Navy on Saturday afternoon. The Midshipmen got off to a fast start and seized the momentum early, sinking the Owls’ upset hopes and handing Rice it’s first conference loss of head coach Scott Abell’s tenure. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Dominated up front

By far the most concerning development of the afternoon was the Owls’ inability to get push in either the offensive or defensive trenches. The Rice offensive line, down their starting center and a rotational tackle could not handle the strength of Navy’s Landon Robinson on the interior. He routinely won at the point of attack and created negative plays, starting with a five yard loss on the Owls’ first snap from scrimmage.

The Owls’ base offense accounted for 19 total yards on 15 plays through four drives. The running game had been effectively silenced with the penetration on the interior and the Midshipmen’s ability to get to the edge on the handful of times Rice tried to win there. Chase Jenkins was sacked two times and Navy tallied seven tackles for a loss.

Head coach Scott Abell didn’t shy away from that harsh reality. “I thought Navy won the battle in the trenches,” he said. “Offensively, we let their movement kind of dictate early what we were going to try to do… we overthought that.”

He went on to emphasize Navy’s offensive experience and execution as the biggest differentiator on the other side of the ball. Navy was routinely able to exploit the spacing of the Rice football defense, averaging a staggering 7.9 yards per play in the first half, finishing the game with a still robust 7.5 yards per play.

Ultimately, in a game pitting two option offenses against each other, getting pushed around on both sides of the line of scrimmage put this team in a place that proved too difficult to overcome.

Dealing with the First Negative Game Script

The trench woes contributed to a two-touchdown deficit for the Owls on the road. That their opponent scored first is nothing new — Rice entered the game 3-0 when falling behind after the first score — but the lack of a counter punch from the offense was quite different.

After scoring in nine consecutive quarters, Rice was shut out at halftime. At the break, Navy was outgaining Rice 308-51 and Rice had picked up just three first downs and was 1-of-6 on third down tries. Remarkably, because both sides had only exchanged a handful of possession each, Rice hadn’t really been forced to abandon their primary offensive philosophy to that point.

That’s largely been true of this team through five games. The Houston game was the only one-sided result, but even that contest was competitive in the fourth quarter.

“My [game] script changed, but it changed more because of schematics. I didn’t feel like we had to change our approach and start slinging the football around, but I knew we needed to find some ways to stay on the field offensively and give our defense some breaks,” Abell shared.

“We didn’t really change the approach until midway though the fourth quarter.”

That Rice was able to cling to their core offensive philosophy was a credit to the resiliency of the defense and just enough progression from the offense from start to finish. It’s also a positive sign of things to come for the future.

Passing Problems More Pronounced with Low Volume

A scattershot passing game was responsible, at least in part, for the Rice football offense being stuck in neutral for so long in this game. The Owls had the right approach with how the dialed up their shots, but their ineffectiveness — for multiple reasons — really hamstrung the Owls’ offense, particularly in the first half.

A wide open Braylen Walker dropped what should have been at least a 25 yard gain. That the pass came in a constant rain in Walker’s first game back after an extended absence didn’t help, but the results were the same. A little while after, Jenkins couldn’t connect on a deep throw that landed just beyond the reach of a streaking Aaron Turner.

Again, that any singular passing play failed isn’t the point. But when you only run 22 total plays in the first half and attempt seven passes — even fewer thrown down the field — you end up at the mercy of variance, perhaps more often than you’d like.

More: Join the Conversation on The Roost Discord

Rice started to move the ball in earnest in the second half, but still saw the passing game thwart their momentum in key moments. Drayden Dickmann had the ball fall just out of reach in the front corner of the endzone. Rice settled for a field goal and kept the deficit at the time at two scores rather than pulling within a touchdown.

Jenkins did hit Dickman in the fourth quarter to set up the Owls’ touchdown on fourth-and-goal, but the effort would prove to be too little, too late.

If Rice hits a few more of those passing plays, the game might very well have gone differently. However, that they fell incomplete made it abundantly clear this offense desperately needed the boost they would have provided.

Wrestling with Elevated Expectations

The frame of reference for how we evaluate Abell’s program has shifted wildly in the span of a few short weeks. Fair or not, this team was projected to be a bottom dweller in the American Conference. That they started 3-1 and won their conference opener on the road made it clear they wouldn’t be keeping company with the worst teams in the league, but where was their ceiling?

A loss to a now 4-0 Houston team provided a glimpse of that upper bound. Saturday’s road tilt against Navy gave further clarity. Through five games, this 3-2 team has shown itself to be flawed, yet resilient.

“We’re still in the fight. As we get back to Houston, we’ve got to turn the page. We’ve got to see the film from right here and turn the page and get ready for FAU at home. One of the things I’m proud about this team is our fight and our grit. You can see it out on the field, every play, regardless of outcome, we fought. That’s something I’m proud of,” quarterback Chase Jenkins said after the game.

“We didn’t get the result we wanted, obviously, but going forward you’re going to see a team full of heart.”

Effort has never been in question with this group, they’ve mastered the want-to. Saturday’s result made it clear there is still work to be done on the how-to, on both sides of the ball.

Digging Deeper

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Third Down Woes

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Recent Posts
  • The Roost Podcast | Ep 215 – FAU Hands Rice Football Frustrating Loss
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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aaron Turner, Braylen Walker, Chase Jenkins, Drayden Dickmann, game recap, Rice Football

Rice Football 2025: Navy Game Week Practice Notes

September 24, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

The injury bug bit Rice football this week, but the Owls are pressing on and looking to take more strides on offense. Here’s the latest from the practice field.

After a relatively healthy fall camp, Rice football is wrestling with injuries this week, juggling position groups on both sides of the ball amidst a strong 3-1 start. This update digs into which players are at risk of missing this week, who might be coming back and how that impacts the team as they prepare for a quality opponent they’ll have to face on the road.

Safety shakeup

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  • The Roost Podcast | Ep 215 – FAU Hands Rice Football Frustrating Loss
  • Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 5 Roundup
  • Rice Football 2025 Game Preview: UTSA
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Rice Football 2025: Charlotte Game Week Practice Notes

September 16, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football looks to stay perfect on the road under Scott Abell with a win at Charlotte. Here’s the latest from the practice field.

It’s been a relatively healthy start to the 2025 Rice Football season, but the Owls aren’t immune to injury. There will be some adjustments to the starting lineups this week because of some of those health concerns with some up-and-coming players pushing for opportunities down the road.

More: Charlotte Presser and Depth Chart Notes

This update examines the health of some key pieces and identifies players who saw more field time against Prairie View, who could be in line for a bigger role, and when.

For Rice Football, Shuffling This Spot Isn’t New

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Rice Football 2025: Louisiana Game Week Practice Notes

August 28, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

The first Rice football game of the Scott Abell era is upon us and the Owls are ready to go. Here’s the latest from the practice field this week.

The (unofficial) Rice football depth chart has mostly worked itself out. Chase Jenkins has started to put his mark on the offense and a few individual standouts have warranted notice in the last few days before the season opener.

Jenkins insists this team is ready to go and is as locked in as they could be before such an important game.

Rice Football Preseason Preview: Check out the rest of the series here.

“It’s us versus anybody else,” he said this week. “I feel like we go to each game, home or away, wherever we play — we could play in a parking lot — we’re going to go out there with the same mindset each time and go out there and play our best and play our game and then the result will show.”

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This update provides some more insight into Jenkins’ evolution in the offense, who will fill out the depth chart behind him and a few more notes as the team prepares for the first game of the season in a few days time.

Chase Jenkins is ready to roll

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Recent Posts
  • The Roost Podcast | Ep 215 – FAU Hands Rice Football Frustrating Loss
  • Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 5 Roundup
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  • American Conference Football 2025: Week 6 Roundup

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