The source for Rice sports news

Rice Football 2022 Spring Practice Notebook 5: Defense suffocates in Scrimmage 2

By

Rice football wrapped up its second scrimmage of spring practice on Friday, marking the last scrimmage before the Spring Game next Saturday.

There wasn’t too much new that stuck out in the second Rice football scrimmage of the spring, but several underlying themes of the spring were emphatically reinforced with some new flair along the way.

The quarterback battle remains close and the defense remains dominant, making the Rice offense scrap for every inch. We’ll unpack all of that and more in this week’s spring practice notebook. Stay tuned for a scrimmage report this weekend.

Get Caught Up

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special updates like this are reserved for our subscribers. Get access to all Rice football practice notes, features and more insights like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2022 Spring Practice Notebook 4: Offense bounces back

By

It was a good week of spring practice for the Rice football offense, particularly on the ground as explosive plays started to become more routine.

After the Rice football defense had their way with their counterparts on the other side of the ball in the first scrimmage of the season, the offense bounced back the following with much better showings across the board. Explosive plays began to become more frequent and several individuals started to stand out, although there was at least one defensive group that seemed to go on without missing a beat.

We’ll unpack all of that and more in this week’s spring practice notebook. Stay tuned for a scrimmage report this weekend.

Get Caught Up

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special updates like this are reserved for our subscribers. Get access to all practice notes, features and more insights like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

TJ McMahon, defense lift Rice Football to come-from-behind win

By

It wasn’t easy, but a Rice football fought to the end for a gritty win over Louisiana Tech, capping off a 4-win season for the Owls.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Rice football quarterback TJ McMahon stepped up in the pocket and unleashed a bullet… right into the waiting arms of a Louisiana Tech defensive back. A turnover committed by the former fourth-string quarterback with the season on the line seemed a fitting way to a season that did not go according to plan. Except that’s not where this story ends.

McMahon and Rice needed to be perfect from that point onward to win. They were. Not only did Rice rally to overcome the deficit, they held on, intercepting Louisiana Tech with the clocking winding down to clinch an improbable victory. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Secondary slump continues

The Rice secondary has been picked apart by their opponents this year. Seeing Bailey Zappe carve them up a few weeks ago was understandable, but allowing the likes of JD Head to lead a mediocre Louisiana Tech offense up and down the field was particularly discouraging. Injuries or not, this defense was largely unable to find a way to get off the field on third and medium and third and long, scenarios in which they should be more likely to succeed than not.

A former Pearland High school product, Head entered Saturday with minimal collegiate experience. He threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns against UAB earlier this season. Against Rice, he more or less had this way. He wasn’t perfect, but he guided the Bulldogs down the field with regularity.

The secondary stepped up and made plays when they needed to. Had it not been for two fourth quarter picks, Rice would not have won this game. It’s better to win ugly than not win, so this unit should get credit for the outcome on Saturday.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice football vs UTEP

Getting De’Braylon Carrol and Treshawn Chamberlain back next season will help, but it’s starting to look like something more drastic needs to be done. Rice has done a fairly decent job of keeping receivers in front of them and limiting the 75-yard bomb touchdowns, but its come at the expense of being picked apart at the intermediate levels of the field.

Some sort of answer needs to be found going forward. It’s not fair to blame the Owls’ struggles on a unit that largely carried them for the prior two seasons, but had the Owls been just a little bit more sturdy on the back end, Rice probably squeezes out another win, or two.

Slow and steady, with some pop

Luke McCaffrey played well during his first start in more than two months’ time, showcasing patience through the air and incredible vision on the ground. Head coach Mike Bloomgren mentioned earlier this week that McCaffrey didn’t fully comprehend the full breadth of the offense, but he did showcase a remarkable ability to execute the plays he was asked to run on Saturday.

Rice mixed a heavy rotation of running backs with some razzle-dazzle and picked their moments when it came time to take shots down the field. The result was an offense that, while not quite electric, was able to produce enough explosive plays to take pressure off the running game and open up space for McCaffrey to maneuver.

The first home run was a perfectly blocked run by Cameron Montgomery:

Rice came back quickly afterward to take the lead thanks to McCaffrey getting just enough mustard on this pass to Cedric Patterson, and perhaps a fortunate whiff by the Louisiana Tech defensive back.

The Rice football offense is still a ways away from putting up video game numbers, but they’ve showcased they can get points without needing a 16-play, 8:00 minute drive. The quick-strike ability is an important sign of growth this season.

And then there was this: a perfect strike from backup TJ McMahon to Cedric Patterson to go ahead in the fourth quarter.

Check the clock

After weathering the early onslaught, the Rice defense picked up a few stops and the offense adding some touchdowns. All was working well with Rice driving and looking to extend its lead. Rice faced 1st-and-10 from the Louisiana Tech 36-yard line with a minute and a half to play in the first half and three timeouts.

Not only did Rice not score, but the Owls did manage to burn through the 90 seconds left on the clock quicker than a West Texas brush fire. Rice found themselves attempting a hail mary on fourth and 10 with two seconds on the clock and multiple timeouts left uncalled.

Clock management is a learned skill, but this isn’t the first time this season Rice has utilized their timeouts ineffectively. Rice spiked the ball multiple times on the fourth quarterback comeback drive against North Texas despite having timeouts to burn.

Even if they had managed minimal yardage and settled for a 40ish yard field goal, Rice had a golden opportunity to go into the break leading by a touchdown or more with the opportunity to extend that lead when they received the kickoff to start the second half. Instead, McCaffrey took a sack and Rice ended up with nothing. For a team looking to learn how to win, they have to start winning on the margins. That includes managing the clock more effectively.

Out on a high note

This game was important for the seniors, for players like Jordan Myers and Elijah Garcia who saw this program bottom out and slowly begin to climb back upward. Rice football hasn’t won four games in a season until this year. It’s not the bowl trip they aspired to, but it is tangible concrete evidence that these seniors have left things better than they found them.

For those remaining, it speaks of a future still in progress. Yes, there are questions — there will be plenty of time in the offseason to address those — but for those searching for reasons to keep the faith, Saturday delivered. This mixture of four wins, two overtime losses and a slew of injuries will prove to be tough to swallow, but the framework to become what this program seeks to become is still in place.

Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard and head coach Mike Bloomgren must sift through the mess and determine what changes need to be made for Rice football to take that next step. Just about everything should be on the table, but expect the approach to be as measured and thoughtful as it is thorough. No hasty decisions will be made, but proof of course corrections will be needed. This team is capable of more, and everyone at South Main believes it.

Digging deeper

Every week we’ll have a stat, storyline or key learning from the game reserved for our subscribers.

Find a quarterback, please

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rally falls short as Rice Football falls to UTEP on the road

By

Rice football rallied from an early deficit to take a halftime lead, but could not hold on, running out of time as they fell to UTEP on the road.

Saturday’s Rice football game in El Paso was anything but boring. The game had lead changes, turnovers, big plays, scoring runs and fourth-down theatrics. A desirable result for the Owls was all it lacked when the time came for the final whistle. The loss drops the Owls’ record to 3-8 before their regular-season finale against Louisiana Tech next weekend. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Weathering the storm

Starting fast has been an important talking point for Rice football all season long. No matter how you slice it, when they took the field at the Sun Bowl on Saturday, Rice was slow.

UTEP drove down the field with ease, cutting through the Rice defense on a 75-yard touchdown drive on their first possession of the game. Safety Kirk Lockhart was ejected for targeting during the drive, cutting an already thin secondary down even further for the remainder of the game.

The Rice offense took over after that sequence and proceeded to go three-and-out, gaining zero yards. The second drive wasn’t much better, a three-and-out netting three total yards.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice football vs UTEP

Yet when the dust settled, Rice trailed UTEP by just seven points at the end of the first quarter. The defense rebound with two straight four-play drives, including a huge play by Desmyn Baker to cut through a well-blocked screen and neutralize the play for no gain. That got the ball back to the Rice offense.

Jake Constantine and company then manufactured a 15-play, 75-yard drive to tie the game, with two fourth-down conversions along the way. After the slow start, Rice found themselves in the middle of the second quarter in a tied game. Not fast, but gritty. Rice weather the storm and made sure this would be a four-quarter game,

Waking up

Early on in the season, Rice football would fold when their opponent threw the first punch. That’s how non-conference games against Houston and Texas ended in one-sided routs, and how Rice was blanked in conference play by UTSA. Even though the Owls haven’t found the win column of late, they have shown the ability to fight for four quarters.

After falling behind against UTEP, Rice fought back, scoring 21 points in the second quarter. Rice had managed 21 points in a half just twice entering this game. To put up 21 points in a 15-minute span, including two touchdowns scored less than a minute from each other, was arguably the most explosive outing from the offense this year.

It was the highest-scoring quarter since Rice scored 28 in a quarter against UTEP in 2016.

But it wasn’t just the offense that deserves credit for the quick answer. The defense held UTEP to 81 yards in the second quarter, zero third down conversions and two rushing yards on four attempts. The big play came following the Owls’ second touchdown when Gabe Taylor lept in front of a Gavin Hardison pass to prevent a quick answer by UTEP before the second quarter came to a close. Instead, Rice found paydirt:

Cedric Patterson’s big play put Rice ahead at halftime for the first time since they played UAB which was, not coincidentally, their last win. Unfortunately for Rice, they seemed to spend all their points at once.

Out of gas and overwhelmed by injury

Jake Bailey was supposed to be “the guy” for Rice football this year. One of the highest-rated recruits in Rice history, the heir apparent to Austin Trammell had understandably high expectations entering the 2021 season. He was productive early on, hauling in his first touchdown of the year against Texas Southern and racking up a career-best 83 receiving yards against Southern Miss.

But it was really when Jake Constantine became the guy at quarterback that Bailey took his game to the next level. Bailey put up 143 yards against North Texas, 143 yards against Charlotte and 80 yards against Western Kentucky. He tallied 58 yards against UTEP before leaving the game midway through the third quarter after a hard hit.

With Bailey already sidelined, Jake Constantine scrambled on third down and was tripped up two yards short and injured on the tackle. Luke McCaffrey came in cold and could not hit Patterson on a deep shot. Rice turned the ball over on downs.

Jordan Myers did not play in this game. Ari Broussard was limited solely to two short-yardage carries, scoring once. Cam Montgomery had a career-long 43-yard carry. Kobie Campbell came in for Bailey and had a pair of important receptions. The next-man-up played well, but in the end, Rice ran out of steam.

Amidst the turmoil, UTEP scored 24 unanswered points. Rice’s first score in the second half would come with 5:42 to play in the fourth quarter, a two-yard fourth-down touchdown run by McCaffrey. Unfortunately for Rice, it was too little, too late.

Searching to snap a streak

The difference between a four-win season and a five-win season might not matter all that much in the grand scheme of things, but finishing the season 2-0 felt much more important for this after coming painstakingly close in a couplet of overtime finishes in weeks prior.

Not only will the Owls not finish within striking distance of six wins, they’ll have started and ended the season on low notes, the bright spots coming in the middle of the year. Fair or not, how teams start and how they finish tend to linger in memories with more staying power than what happened in say, Week 7.

It also sets the stage for a dangerously crucial finale against Louisiana Tech. Rice football is currently riding a four-game losing streak. If they are unable to beat Louisiana Tech at home next weekend, they’ll bump that trend to five consecutive defeats. Selling an upward trajectory gets tougher when the team goes winless in the final month of the season.

The totality of the year will be evaluated once the dust settles, and that goes beyond any singular result. Nevertheless, going 1-0 this week just became even more important.

Digging deeper

Every week we’ll have a stat, storyline or key learning from the game reserved for our subscribers.

Fourth down frenzy

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2021: New faces emerge prior to UTSA game

By

Rice football took full advantage of its bye week, evaluating the depth chart and prepping for UTSA. The latest from practice, here.

The bye week is in the books and it was a beneficial time for Rice football. The Owls got a little bit healthier and saw some new faces rise in the extra sessions. We could see a freshman debut this week and others move up the depth chart soon.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today.

Scouting the “Opportunity Bowl” 

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts