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Rice Football: Don’t panic over Owls Preseason All-CUSA snubs

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Rice football didn’t land anyone on the Preseason Conference USA All-Conference team, but the Owls have plenty of young talent waiting in the wings.

The 2019 Conference USA Preseason Football All-Conference team was announced Monday. 12 of the conference’s 14 teams were represented. The two omissions? Old Dominion and Rice. On the surface, the lack of honorees was disconcerting, but it’s worth taking a breather and assessing where the Rice Football program is right now before getting too worried about preseason lists.

All-Conference teams, particularly those selected by the coaches, rely almost entirely on proven production. The vast majority of the time, that production has been seen first hand in conference games. End of season honorees have the benefit of a full slate of games to prove their abilities. That list could, and should, be more favorable for the Owls.

More: Athlon Sports and Phil Steele give Owls preseason honors

Rice doesn’t have many players who have been in Conference USA for long enough to warrant consideration. Of the upperclassmen projected to start for Rice this season, three have played enough snaps to earn a preseason look: wide receiver Austin Trammell, wide receiver Aaron Cephus and safety George Nyakwol.

The rest of the upperclassmen starters (find our complete three-deep depth chart projections in our 2019 Rice Football Season Preview) haven’t done enough at Rice to get themselves on the list. Players like Blaze Alldredge, Prudy Calderon, Treshawn Chamberlain and Juma Otoviano have the talent, but none have started a full season of college football yet. Few grad transfer earn recognition in lists like these.

Seniority and preseason lists go hand and hand. Of the 30 players honored, only Charlotte kicker  Jonathan Cruz is an underclassman. He made 17 of 22 field goal attempts last season.

Rice has some extremely talented players. They’re just young players. The youth movement in South Main is in its transitional stages. By the time the season is over, those freshmen and sophomores will have plenty of playing time under their belts. Let’s reassess the quality of the depth chart then.

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Conference USA Football: Debunking the returning starters stat

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Returning starters are important, but don’t let that be the only indicator of success in Conference USA football this season.

Conference USA football media days are right around the corner. Every coach will stand in front of the media and offer some clarity into some of the narratives that have been surrounding their programs for the last few months. 2018 will be put to bed as everyone turns their collective focus to 2019, the season to come.

With the new year comes a familiar stat thrown out with increasing regularity: returning starters. Fans and media alike would love to boil down their expectations of next season into a digestible number. Returning starters has become a placeholder of sorts for that aggregate view. But it might be one of the more troubling data points to process.

For example, FIU and Western Kentucky sit atop Conference USA with 19 returning starters apiece. FIU won nine games last year and came close to playing for the conference championship. Western Kentucky won three games, finishing 2-6 in conference play.

The Hilltoppers have a new coach in the mix, but is it reasonable to assume they’ll be on par with FIU because the same number of guys will be taking the majority of the snaps? Not likely.

Likewise, Rice and Marshall each have six returning starters on defense but the Thundering Herd allowed 100 yards fewer per game than the Owls did last season. And for that matter, it’s entirely within the realm of possibility some of the Owls newcomers who will be starters in 2019 will be better than those who left the program last fall.

Team Offense Defense Special Teams Total
FIU 8 8 3 19
WKU 10 6 3 19
Southern Miss 9 6 3 18
North Texas 8 6 3 17
Marshall 8 6 2 16
UAB 8 5 3 16
Charlotte 5 7 3 15
Florida Atlantic 7 6 2 15
Louisiana Tech 8 5 2 15
Rice 7 6 1 14
UTEP 7 4 3 14
Middle Tennessee 4 6 3 13
Old Dominion 4 5 3 12
UTSA 6 4 2 12

If there is any commonality between the returning starters across Conference USA and the rest of college football, it’s the lack of consistency. Returning starters doesn’t matter as much as returning high-caliber players. That’s more difficult to measure, and thus we’re stuck with a more vague, less helpful statistic. Returning starters are good; returning playmakers are better.

Find out more about the top returning playmakers in Conference USA by grabbing a copy of our 2019 Conference USA Preview.

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Conference USA Football leads the way with 4-2 finish in bowl games

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Conference USA football represented themselves well in the 2018 postseason, finishing 4-2, the best record in the Group of 5.

Rice football wasn’t in the postseason in 2018, but the Owls saw several of Conference USA’s bowl teams firsthand last season. Middle Tennessee, North Texas, UAB, Marshall, FIU and Louisiana Tech represented CUSA in bowl games, finishing 4-2. Rice played four of those squad and will play the other two in 2019.

Conference USA finished with a 66.7 winning percentage in bowl games, the best record of any conference in the nation. Here’s how each CUSA squad’s bowl appearance turned out:

New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 15) – Utah State 52, North Texas 13

North Texas won sixth of their first seven games and three of their final six. One of those four losses was a blowout at the hands of an extremely talented Utah State team which was receiving votes in the most recent AP Poll. Even without head coach Matt Wells, who moved on to Texas Tech, the Aggies proved to be too much for the Mean Green.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 15) – App State 45, Middle Tenn. 13

App State, too, was without its head coach. Scott Satterfield is the new head man at Louisville, but that didn’t seem to matter much in the New Orleans Bowl. Mountaineers’ wide receiver Malik Williams threw two touchdown passes. If that doesn’t sum up how bad of a day at the office it was for MTSU, I’m not sure what will.

Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl  (Dec. 18) – UAB 37, NIU 13

UAB’s storybook ceiling finished with a blowout win over a strong Northern Illinois team. The Blazers finished with a program-best eight wins in 2017 and improved on that in 2018, winning 11 games. Entering the offseason head coach Bill Clark received several Coach of the Year recognitions and a raise, which makes him the highest paid coach in the conference.

Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (Dec. 20) – Marshall 38, USF 20

Marshall dropped the hammer on one of the most bizarre seasons in college football history. South Florida started the year 7-0 with wins over two Power 5 teams (Illinois and Georgia Tech). The Bulls lost their last six games and never came close to beating Marshall.

Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl (Dec. 21) – FIU 35, Toledo 32

FIU won a back-and-forth shootout in what was the most exciting CUSA bowl game. After a Christian Alexander touchdown pass to Sterling Palmer gave the Panthers a 14-10 lead the two teams traded six more scores. Both teams scored in the final 45 seconds, but FIU clung to a 3-point lead, emerging with their ninth win, the best mark in school history.

Sofi Hawai’i Bowl (Dec. 22) – Louisiana Tech 31, Hawai’i 14

Hawai’i kept things close until Louisiana Tech exploded for three touchdowns in the third quarter. Warriors’ quarterback Cole McDonald was benched for his struggles midway through the second quarter and Bulldogs’ quarterback J’Mar Smith and company put this game to bed before the fourth quarter rolled around and McDonald was put back into the game.

Here’s how the rest of the conferences and independent teams fared:

Power 5

SEC: 6-5*
ACC: 5-5*
Big Ten: 5-4
Pac-12: 3-4
Big 12: 4-3

Group of 5

Conference USA: 4-2
Mountain West: 3-2
Sun Belt: 3-2
American: 2-5
MAC: 1-5

Independents: 2-1

*pending National Championship Game between Clemson and Alabama

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Owls named to All-Conference USA Teams

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Rice football‘s 2018 season was filled with incredible individual efforts, a few of which were recognized by Conference USA.

Jack Fox led the way as the only Rice Football player to receive CUSA first team honors following the 2018 season. Rice had no players named to the second team, but landed nine different recognitions as honorable mentions.

First Team Special Teams
P – Jack Fox, Sr., Rice

Honorable Mention – Offense
RB – Austin Walter, Sr., Rice
OL – Sam Pierce, Sr., Rice
WR – Aaron Cephus, So., Rice
WR – Austin Trammell, So., Rice

Honorable Mention – Defense
DL – Zach Abercrumbia, Jr., Rice
DL – Roe Wilkins, Jr., Rice
LB – Anthony Ekpe, So., Rice

Honorable mention – Special Teams
K – Hayden Tabola, Sr., Rice
KR – Austin Walter, Sr., Rice

These honors come in addition to three Owls named to the All-Freshman team:

C – Shea Baker
DB – Prudy Calderon
DB – Treshawn Chamberlain

The full release detailing all selections is available from Conference USA here.

Overall it was a positive start for the Owls in Mike Bloomgren’s first year at the helm. Several of these players are departing the program next season, but the youth taking over is promising and earning recognition of their own. The future is bright.

That’s an uptick compared to 2017 when three  Owls were named to the All-Conference USA first team: Defenders Brian Womac and Emmanuel Ellerbee were joined by Fox and return man Austin Trammell. 2017 also saw four players earned honorable mentions: offensive lineman Calvin Anderson and Trey Martin, wide receiver Austin Walter and defensive lineman Roe Wilkins.

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This week in CUSA – Looking ahead at Championship Week

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Rice football triumphed in their final game of the regular season, taking down Old Dominion at home. What’s next for Conference USA football in Week 14?

Team Last Week Result This Week
Charlotte at FAU W, 27-24 — OFF —
FAU vs Charlotte L, 27-24 — OFF —
FIU vs Marshall W, 28-25 — OFF —
LaTech vs WKU L, 15-30 — OFF —
Marshall at FIU W, 28-25 — OFF —
MTSU vs UAB W, 27-3 vs UAB
North Texas at UTSA W, 24-21 — OFF —
ODU at Rice L, 27-13 — OFF —
Rice vs ODU W, 27-13 — OFF —
Southern Miss at UTEP W, 39-7 — OFF —
UAB at MTSU L, 27-3 at MTSU
UTEP vs Southern Miss L, 39-7 — OFF —
UTSA vs North Texas L, 24-21 — OFF —
WKU at LaTech W, 30-15 — OFF —

Notable Week 13 results

Sweet victory

Rice broke an 11-game losing streak with an upset victory over Old Dominion on Saturday. After losing their starting quarterback (again) midway through the third quarter the Owls road the running game, featuring the seldom-used fullback to head coach Mike Bloomgren’s first-ever CUSA win.

Can we get a mulligan, or two?

FIU lost a close one to Marshall in Week 13, their second loss in CUSA play. An 8-4 overall record with losses to Indiana and Miami is nothing to be upset about, but the near-misses in conference play kept a surprisingly stout FIU team out of the conference title game. It was a good season for the Panthers, but it could have been better.

The gauntlet has been throw

The conference title game will be a rematch of a Week 13 game between UAB and MTSU. The Blue Raiders blasted the Blazers in Murfreesboro on Saturday and host the same squad next Saturday with the conference title on the line. UAB had looked unbeatable in recent weeks, can MTSU do it twice in a row?

Week 14 storylines

Recruiting season

For everyone other than UAB and MTSU the calendar has turned into recruiting season. The early signing period starts December 19 and runs through December 21. Most CUSA program will sign a significant amount of recruits, but space will be left open for a final push on National Signing Day in February.

Championship Week

8-4 MTSU hosts 9-3 UAB for the CUSA crown in Week 14. Neither team has ever appeared in the conference championship game, let alone win it. A win by the Blazers would secure their first double-digit win season in program history. MTSU could tie their school-best 10-win season with a win over UAB followed by a bowl victory.

Gone bowling

FAU and Southern Miss were the last teams on the bubble entering the final week of the regular season. Lane Kiffin’s team stumbled at home against Charlotte, keeping them at five wins and out of bowl eligibility. Southern Miss dispatched UTEP with ease, joining the ranks of seven bowl-eligible teams in CUSA.

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