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Rice Football rocked by interim-led Charlotte on Homecoming

October 29, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

The fans were there, but the Rice football team no-showed on its own Homecoming Day as the Owls were blasted by interim coach-led Charlotte.

On an overcast day in Houston, Rice football was only wishing the rain would come. Perhaps then, had the field been deluged by water from the sky, the Owls could have avoided the torrential downpour of 49er touchdowns. Instead, Rice was run out of their own stadium on Homecoming in embarrassing fashion. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Can’t get off the field

The Rice football defense was supposed to be the backbone of this team. On Saturday, the unit more closely resembled the one that was assaulted through the air by backup quarterbacks the weekend prior against Louisiana Tech. The pass rush had its moments, but on the instances in which the Rice front couldn’t get to quarterback Chris Reynolds, Rice paid dearly.

Reynolds, who entered the season as one of the most proven commodities at the quarterback position in Conference USA, was able to move the ball at will against a Rice defense that ranked No. 3 in C-USA against the pass entering the game. Not only was Charlotte able to move the ball, but they were allowed to do so continually.

A team that fired its head coach six days ago scored touchdowns on seven consecutive drives.

Charlotte ran the ball. They threw the ball. When they reached third down, they converted it. When they didn’t, they found a way on fourth down.

Enabling so many extra opportunities was fuel to the fire. Charlotte got going and gashed the Owls, who chose not to spy quarterback Chris Reynolds and continued to bring heavy pressure as Reynolds picked them apart downfield.

Reynolds threw for 254 yards and five touchdowns. The 49ers ran for 239 yards.

Not having linebacker Myron Morrison and safety George Nyakwol available hampered this unit, but it’s hardly the first time they’ve been without key players. The depth is good enough to get the job done, or at the very least, to do much better than this.

What’s it going to be?

With a loss like this comes questions. Just about every game this season has been laborious for this team. To the Owls’ credit, they’ve won as many as they’ve lost, but the path to get to that end result has usually been messy. What’s most maddening is the lack of consistency from this team from game to game. On any given Saturday, which Rice football team is going to show up?

In years past, it’s been easy to point the finger at the offense. If the team would just score more often, if they’d run better plays, if they’d be more creative… then they could start winning. Well, they are scoring more… but the games are still exhausting.

Is today going to be a day the defense comes close to pitching a shutout? Maybe. Or they could give up 40+ points.

Is today going to be the day the offense gets in gear and puts in the endzone six or seven times? Perhaps. Or they could go backward, turn the ball over a few times, and barely sniff double digits.

The trouble is, Rice really hasn’t seen both of the positive ends of those spectrums coincide. More often than not it’s been a good offensive day (or half) mirrored against a bad defensive outing. That’s led to lots of close games and high heart rates. Winning ugly counts for something. But it’s hard to trust this team from week to week. We just don’t know who is going to show up.

Two steps forward, one step back

For the first time under head coach Mike Bloomgren, Rice football was a multi-touchdown favorite in a home conference game. Cover the spread or not, on paper this was meant to be a game that put Rice one win away from a trip to a bowl game for the first time since 2014. But games aren’t played on paper.

Make no mistake, this was the most embarrassing loss of Bloomgren’s tenure.

Charlotte came out and played like they had nothing to lose. From an onside kick to a fake punt, the 49ers were the aggressor all day long against a team that preaches intellectual brutality. That can’t happen.

It’s impossible to scrap the remainder of the season just yet, especially given the highs we’ve seen both sides of the ball reach on their better days. But the task just got immeasurably harder. Rice should have won this game. Losing would have been disappointing. Losing like this was humiliating. Especially considering this is the same team that beat Louisiana, beat UAB and went toe-to-toe with Houston. Unfortunately, that feels like so long ago.

Rice football has another game to play in five days at home against UTEP. They need to win it, if for no other reason than to purge this awful result from their minds.

Less turnovers but not enough points

Punter Conor Hunt spent most of the first half Saturday standing on the sideline. The Rice offense didn’t have much need of his services until the game was well out of hand. Hunt didn’t punt until the beginning of the third quarter when the game had already started to get out of hand.

For at least the sixth time this season — they don’t exactly keep stats on this — a Rice quarterback was intercepted on a pass that deflected off his receiver’s hands. A deep shot from McMahon on the Owls’ second drive was picked off, setting up a short field for Charlotte and their first score.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice Football vs Charlotte

The interception and a failed fourth down conversion were early blemishes on what started as a rather uneventful offensive day. Trailing by 11 going into halftime, the offense hasn’t been perfect, but it hadn’t been the reason the Owls were already trailing big.

The offense deserves credit for mostly eliminating the controllable turnovers. They did not fumble the ball to the other team and the lone interception was fluky. On a day in which a lot of things went wrong, that was a tally in the positive direction.

A 100 percent scoring rate would be nice, albeit unsustainable. Rice scored on three of four offensive drives in the first half on Saturday, excluding the kneel-down at the end of the half. That should get it done when you have the defense the Owls do… unless the defense disappears. On Saturday, it did just that. And the offense didn’t have the juice to pick up the pace.

Digging deeper

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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: Conor Hunt, game recap, Ikenna Enechukwu, Rice Football, Trey Schuman

Rice Football 2022: USC Game Depth Chart Notes

September 1, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football has released its depth chart for its season opener against USC. Here are the latest and a few notes on relevant players.

Rice Football

Who’s missing?

Rice football has had two players medically retire since fall camp began just a few weeks ago. Gavin Reinwald, who had been the Owls’ backup tight end behind Jack Bradley, saw his season end with a torn ACL midway through camp. Wide receiver Sam Crawford, who had been in the mix for a starting spot until recently, announced his medical retirement on Thursday evening.

There’s also no Cedric Patterson on this iteration. As mentioned to our subscribers earlier in the week, he is not traveling with the team to Los Angeles.

Starting Specialists

Christian VanSickle and Conor Hunt have earned starting nods at kicker and punter respectively, this week. VanSickle beat out Washington transfer Tim Horn while Hunt beat out incumbent punter Charlie Mendes.

New names

Trey Phillippi, who until recently played offensive line, is listed as the backup to Jack Bradley at tight end (with an OR designation between himself and Boden Groen. Getting him into the game on such short notice seems like a stretch, but he’s already a capable blocker, so seeing him listed this high on the depth chart could mean he may actually see some action on Saturday.

Safety Marcus Williams has been in and out of the lineup with injuries since he arrived on campus, but he’s recently cracked the two-deep.

Getting ready for the game

The Roost has plenty of content already up and running to get you ready for Rice football vs USC this weekend.

  • Check out the Game Preview
  • See what head coach Mike Bloomgren and players had to say at this week’s press conference
  • Listen to the Roost Podcast with Yogi Roth who’s calling the game
  • Get the latest from practice with this week’s practice report (subscribers)

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts
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Filed Under: Archive, Football Tagged With: Boden Groen, Cedric Patterson, Charlie Mendes, Christian VanSickle, Conor Hunt, Gavin Reinwald, Jack Bradley, Marcus Williams, Rice Football, Sam Crawford, Tim Horn, Trey Phillippi

Rice Football 2022: USC Game Week Practice Report

August 31, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football is days away from opening its season against USC. Here’s what we learned from the practices leading up to the game.

Following Wednesday’s practice as Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren surveyed his team as they began to pack up their things and leave the field, he offered this comment: “This is what I wanted it to look like.”

He was speaking of the Owls’ roster, of the program as a whole. He and I had talked about what this team would look like in Year 4 in Year 5 back when he first arrived at the program for the 2018 season. The depth he’d dreamed of has arrived. The speed, athleticism and raw talent is evident in so many players. And now this team is days away from being put through its first test.

With most of this week’s practice wrapped up, here’s a deep dive on all three phases, some standouts from this week and a few notes on how Rice football is preparing to take on USC.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features 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?

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 4: Scrimmage 1
  • Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 3: Depth Chart
  • Conference USA Basketball soars in postseason play
  • Fast start not enough as Rice Baseball falls to Texas A&M for third time

Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aidan Siano, Andrew Awe, Ari Broussard, Cam Montgomery, Cedric Patterson, Chris conti, Christian VanSickle, Conor Hunt, De'Braylon Carroll, Dean Connors, Enock Gota, George Nyakwol, Isaiah Esdale, Izeya Floyd, Jack Bradley, Juma Otoviano, Kobie Campbell, Luke McCaffrey, Marcus Williams, Micah Barnett, Myron Morrison, Plae Wyatt, practice notes, Rawson MacNeill, Rice Football, Sam Crawford, Sean Fresch, Trey Phillippi, Tyson Thompson, Uriah West

Rice Football: What to expect from the kicking game — Patreon Q&A

June 25, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

The kicking game was an adventure for Rice football last season. Will it be better this year? We tackle that question in this month’s Patreon Q&A.

Rice football made five field goals last season, the fewest in all of college football. Their 45.5 percent conversion rate on their 11 tries was dead last in the FBS. Quite literally, there is nowhere to go but up. But what does that look like? We tackle what Rice has done to address the kicking game in this month’s Patreon Q&A.

Subscriber content.
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 features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features 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 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 4: Scrimmage 1
  • Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 3: Depth Chart
  • Conference USA Basketball soars in postseason play
  • Fast start not enough as Rice Baseball falls to Texas A&M for third time

Filed Under: Archive, Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: Christian VanSickle, Conor Hunt, Q&A, Rice Football, Tim Horn

Rice Football: What I’m watching in Spring Practices — Patreon Q&A

February 28, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football kicks off spring practice soon. This month’s Patreon Q&A focuses on what I’ll be following closely during these sessions.

In season or not, Rice football frequently appears as a focal point in these Q&A posts. Our February Q&A follows suit, focusing on the upcoming weeks of spring practices and which items I’ll personally be keeping a close eye on as the weeks progress. Practices are currently slated to start sometime in early March.

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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. Q&A’s are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features 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 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 4: Scrimmage 1
  • Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 3: Depth Chart
  • Conference USA Basketball soars in postseason play
  • Fast start not enough as Rice Baseball falls to Texas A&M for third time

Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: Blake Boenisch, Bradley Rozner, Braedon Nutter, Brandt Peterson, Cedric Patterson, Cole Garcia, Conor Hunt, Derek Ferraro, Elroyal Morris, Enoch Gota, Ethan Onianwa, Faee Pepe, Isaac Klarkowski, Isaiah Esdale, Jake Bailey, John Long, Jovoni Johnson, Luke McCaffrey, Mike Bloomgren, Mike Leone, Naeem Smith, Regan Riddle, Rice Football, Sam Crawford, Tim Horn, TJ McMahon, Trey Phillippi, Wiley Green

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