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Rice Football vs UTEP: Testing delay continues, update

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There’s a lot in the air when it comes to the status of today’s Rice football game against UTEP. Here’s what we know, and what we don’t.

Rice football released this statement earlier this morning:

The start of today’s football game between Rice and UTEP, originally scheduled for noon at Rice Stadium, has been delayed pending a second round of testing on participants.  Further information will be released when available.

What we do know

As of now, there hasn’t been anyone from Rice football on the field yet today. Typically we would have seen the team busses arrive (they haven’t yet) and players on the field for individual and team warmups. Neither of those has happened either.

There has been no confirmation as to which program is waiting on the further testing results. We do have some movement on the turf, though. A few players and coaches from UTEP have arrived and are going through individual drills on the field amidst the rain. They’ve also popped up their injury tent.

What we don’t know

I don’t know what the likelihood of playing this game is. But, with some of the UTEP contingent present and the Rice side unaccounted for, it raises concerns for the Owls’ testing results.

Would UTEP bring players to the stadium if there were possible COVID-19 questions within their program? That would seemingly put the ball back in the Owls’ court, but again, that’s the best guess we have for the moment.

What’s next?

That could raise an interesting (and potentially unfortunate) decision point for Rice. Playing today against UTEP, even shorthanded, might give Rice their best chance at another C-USA win this season. Whether or not that’s a viable decision remains to be seen. The alternative, though, could be tough.

If Rice does not play today, their remaining schedule is as tough as it could be in Conference USA. They’re still slated to travel to Marshall next weekend and host UAB the weekend after that. They’ll be underdogs in both contests.

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BREAKING: Rice Football vs LA Tech postponed

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Rice football’s upcoming game against Louisiana Tech has been postponed due to COVID-19 complications at Louisiana Tech.

For the second time in two weeks, Rice football has had a game postponed by COVID-19 issues from their opponent. The Louisiana Tech game is off after the Bulldogs were forced to pull out of the upcoming game in Ruston.

Rice had last week’s game against UTSA postponed on Friday morning. This postponement comes late in the week once again. The Owls were preparing for Thursday afternoon practice when they were told the game would not be played as scheduled.

At this time, neither Rice or Louisiana Tech share an open date. The Owls had previously had games against Marshall and UAB added to their schedule last week. Whether or not the UTSA game would take priority over the Marshall game was a focal point of conversations last week. The math gets increasingly more complicated with one more C-USA West game called off again this week.

More: Rice football practice notes and press conference quotes

Western Kentucky remains the only C-USA school to avoid a postponed game because of COVID-19. A full list of C-USA games impacted by postponements since the season kicked off in late August is available on our Conference USA COVID-19 Postponement Tracker.

The next game on the schedule for Rice football is a Nov. 21 road trip to North Texas. They have not played since beating Southern Miss on the road on Halloween. According to the schedule as it exists today, Rice won’t play at home again until Nob. 28 against UTEP. Whether any of those games are played according to that schedule is very much so up in the air.

What happens next?

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Rice Football: Takeaways from UTSA game postponement

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Rice football’s game against UTSA has been postponed by COVID-19 concerns at UTSA. How will that impact the Owls in the long and near term?

Entering their third week of action, Rice football had yet to have a game postponed by an active COVID-19 issue. Head coach Mike Bloomgren first learned there was a potential storm brewing on Thursday night when AD Joe Karlgaard informed him there was a positive test and contact tracing underway at UTSA.

Bloomgren set up a meeting with his team for Friday morning. In the hours in between, the warning of a potential cancellation became reality. Bloomgren was tasked with delivering the bad news, and he wanted to make sure the team heard it from him first.

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“To some degree, I wanted to make the weather.” Bloomgren said, “I wanted to make them understand that as disappointed as we are, we’ve got to flush it, and we’ve got to move on to LA Tech.”

The abrupt change will have ramifications on Rice that stretch beyond this week. Most notably, on these two specific fronts.

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BREAKING: Rice Football vs UTSA postponed

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Rice football will not play UTSA on Saturday. Instead, the game has been postponed due to COVID-19 issues at UTSA.

For the first time since resuming its season on Oct. 24, Rice football has had a game taken off its schedule. The Owls were expected to play UTSA on Saturday, Nov. 7, but the teams announced the game will not be played due to COVID-19 issues at UTSA. The Rice team was informed of the news for the first time early Friday morning.

The teams do not share any opponent dates. Both schools were originally available on Dec. 5 and Dec. 12, but Conference USA filled those dates for Rice just this week. Rice is now scheduled to play Marshall on Dec. 5 and UAB on Dec. 12.

There has been no word from the league office as to whether or not divisional games would take precedent in a situation like this. If they do, the move could actually be a net positive for Rice. The Owls could presumably swap the Marshall game for UTSA and potentially get multiple defensive starters back against Louisiana Tech.

The postponement of the UTSA game marks the sixth announced scheduling change this fall and the ninth game to be added or removed fro the Owls’ schedule. Rice has also seen the postponement of games against Houston and Army, LSU, Lamar, Marshall and UAB, plus the rescheduling of the Marshall and UAB games.

Podcast: Breaking down Rice Football’s win over Southern Miss

For now, Rice joins a group of 12 Conference USA schools to have at least one game postponed so far this season. Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, both of which have played seven games, are the only C-USA schools that have yet to experience a midweek turn of events like this.

Rice football will take the field next on Nov. 14 at Louisiana Tech. The next home game is scheduled for No.v 28 against UTEP. With the cancellation, the Owls will now go more than a month without a home game at Rice Stadium. As things currently stand, Rice would still have the opportunity to play enough games to qualify for the Conference USA Championship Game on Dec. 18.

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College Football and COVID-19: Mid September Roundup

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College football is back, but this season has been far from normal. Here’s a roundup of the key stories around the nation.

We’re almost a month into the 2020 college football season and it’s been one heck of a roller coaster ride. With all the twists and turns, it was time for a quick update on the impacts COVID-19 is having on the season.

If you want to look back at the up-and-down news cycle, you can check out the late-July edition of this update here, the early August edition here or the mid-August update here or are most recent update here.

Rice Football is back!

As first reported by The Roost, Rice football has returned to practice and is on track to play their first game on Oct. 24 against Middle Tennessee. The Owls were the last team in Conference USA that intends to play this season to start fall camp.

Cancelations are mounting

Through three weeks of football, roughly 75% of the games scheduled as of Week 1 had been played. With a cancelation rate trending toward 25%, the odds of any team completing a full schedule are slim. This weekend saw multiple games (Houston at Baylor, Florida Atlantic at Georgia Southern) postponed the day before kickoff.

Schedules are fluid

UTSA was finishing a football game on Saturday when they found out who they would be playing in Week 4. The Roadrunners were originally scheduled to play Memphis, but that game was lost because of positive tests in the Memphis program. No sooner had that game been canceled than did Conference USA slide in Middle Tennessee into the off date. So much for games needing to be scheduled years in advance.

The SEC starts up this weekend

The Big 12 and ACC have already played games in a staggered fashion. The SEC opted to return all at once with marquee games including Mike Leach’s debut against No. 6 LSU, Mo. 23 Kentucky at No. 8 Auburn, and No. 16 Tennessee at South Carolina.

The Big Ten is back … with its third schedule of the year 

After the rumblings of a return proved true, the Big Ten announced their return to play protocols and conference schedule this week. Nebraska, who had led the charge to get back on the field, opens with Ohio State and hosts Penn State later in the season too.

Pac-12 and Mountain West announced return plans of their own

Once the Big Ten announced they would play this fall, the Pac-12 quickly changed its tune. There are more hurdles to jump through in California and Oregon before the westernmost conference returns to action, but things seem to be trending that way. The league will resume play the weekend of Nov. 6. The Mountain West, after initially shutting things down with the Pac-12, will start their season on Oct. 24.

Conference USA is running out of quarterbacks

Injuries to Charlotte’s Chris Robison and UAB’s Tyler Johnston put an already precarious quarterback situation into further uncertainty. Jack Abraham at Southern Miss and Asher O’Hara at Middle Tennessee are now the only healthy returning starters in the conference. We discussed the new hierarchy of C-USA signal callers in this week’s podcast.

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