Rice football hosts UConn in their final nonconference game of the season. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Rice football rallied in the fourth quarter to beat East Carolina at home last weekend. UConn thought they’d managed a similar turnaround, only to see their potential game-tying extra point extra point blocked. The Huskies enter this game 0-5. Rice is 3-2. Here’s everything you need to know about this week’s matchup between Rice and UConn.

Kickoff time | 4:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs UConn on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. Look for a recap of the game on the site afterward as well as on The Roost Podcast, which should be released early next week.

Sizing up the contenders

Everything has seemingly gone wrong for Jim Mora and company this year. A sixth loss wouldn’t officially eliminate them from postseason — a five-game deficit feels insurmountable already — but the mood around the program would certainly further decay. As for the Owls, Rice could move two games above .500 and enter the bye week within two games of a second consecutive bowl berth.

Series History

All Time | No previous meetings
Last Five | No previous meetings
Last Meeting | No previous meetings

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to attack this week’s opponent, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. Don’t miss out! Join now!

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Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Daniels – 98/157 (62.4 percent), 1469 yards, 13 TD, 4 INT
Rushing | Connors – 34 carries, 138 yards (4.1 yards per carry), 1 TD / Alexander – 18 carries, 35 yards (1.9 yards per carry), 5 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 23 receptions, 414 yards (18.0 yds/rec), 4 TDs / Walker – 11 receptions, 190 yards (17.3 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Morrison – 32 / Wyatt – 31 / Conti – 29
Pass Breakups | Fresch – 5 / Taylor – 4 / Jean – 3 
Interceptions | Devones, Conti – 1

UConn Stat Notables

Passing | Roberson – 70/122 (57.4 percent), 755 yards, 5 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Rosa – 57 carries, 310 yards (5.4 yards per carry), 2 TD / Houston – 34 carries, 161 yards (4.7 ypc), 0 TD
Receiving | Buckman – 22 receptions, 261 yards (11.9 yards per reception), 1  TD / Joly – 16 receptions, 195 yards (12.2 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Mitchell – 47 / Jones – 30 / Plack – 28
Pass Breakups | Bin-Wahad – 3 / Cross, Bell – 2
Interceptions | Mitchell, Shearin – 2

UConn X-Factor | Take some risks, offensively

The Huskies have not been that productive as an offense through five games, averaging a meager 17.0 points per game, sixth worst in the country. East Carolina wasn’t exactly a juggernaut coming into its bout with Rice either, but the Pirates were able to move the ball against the Owls, albeit without finding the endzone enough.

The Rice defense has been chaotic all season long, mixing havoc plays and turnovers in with long pass plays and poor tackling at times. If previous games are any true indicator, UConn is going to have opportunities. They need to force the issue and make Rice bring their A-game on defense, which has allowed several quarterbacks to post great games against them thus far.

Road underdogs, UConn isn’t winning this game without some fortunate bounces. They’re certainly shouldn’t plan on outdueling a Rice offense that, while disjointed at times, has proven to be effective more often than not when JT Daniels is on the field.   

Rice X-Factor | Pound the Rock

Head coach Mike Bloomgren has mentioned his willingness to lean into the pass this season if it helps his team win football games, but even he will admit posting back to back sub-40-yard rushing games isn’t going to get it done. Rice needs to find a way to run the football rather than waiting on JT Daniels to bail them out, even if No. 18 has managed to do so time and time again.

UConn has allowed more rushing touchdowns than more than 100 FBS teams. The Huskies have been respectable in many of their other defensive metrics against the run, but when push comes to shove, they’ve been blown over with regularity. 

Rice won’t face many other defenses this season that have been proven to be this susceptible to the ground game. It’s not quite a make-or-break moment, but this facet of the Owls’ attack is one of the lone stones left unturned so far this season. Getting the ground game going would be a huge confidence boost before the team heads into the bye week.

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One Final Thing

Saturday was an ugly win for Rice football. The defense made the final plays, but got gashed along the way. The offense let a lot of points on the board and the special teams unit missed another important kick. Had the result been different, there would have been a lot of frustration with the performance, and frankly, some angst is justifiable. 

That’s what makes this coming game so crucial. UConn is not a good football team, by any measure. The Huskies are winless with their closest losses coming against FIU and Utah State. Their defense has been gashed in all five games and their offense hadn’t shown much of a spark prior to putting up 33 points in a losing effort against Utah State last weekend.

This is a game Rice football is supposed to win. The Owls would like to believed they’ve graduated from playing “winnable” games to a team that takes care of business against so-called inferior opponents. Nobody from within the walls of the Brian Patterson center will verbalize it that way, but UConn is an inferior opponent. Rice should win, and win comfortably.

If the Owls can do that, they’ll be back on schedule, assuring many that the USF loss was a bump on the road to a season that can still become very special.

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Rice football hosts ECU in their first-ever AAC home game this weekend. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

East Carolina dismantled FCS Gardner-Webb this past weekend, much in the same way Rice Football disposed of their FCS opponent, Texas Southern, two weeks ago. The Owls were less fortunate in their conference opener on Saturday against USF, falling 42-29. Here’s everything you need to know about this week’s matchup between Rice and ECU.

Kickoff time | 6:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs ECU on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. Look for a recap of the game on the site afterward as well as on The Roost Podcast, which should be released early next week.

Sizing up the contenders

Rice owns the lone FBS win between these two programs, upsetting Houston to clinch the Bayou Bucket in Week 2. Since then the Owls have seen their star quarterback JT Daniels get knocked out of a game with injury and are in need of some good news. ECU is still searching for an FBS win to alleviate some concerns in Greenville over the sluggish start. It’s a bit early in the season for a must-win game, but both programs really want this one.

Series History

All Time | Tied, 2-2
Last Five | Tied, 2-2
Last Meeting | Home 2010, Rice won 62-38

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to attack this week’s opponent, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. Don’t miss out! Join now!

Become a Patron!

Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Daniels – 80/125 (64.0 percent), 1237 yards, 11 TD, 3 INT
Rushing | Connors – 29 carries, 139 yards (4.8 yards per carry), 1 TD / Alexander – 17 carries, 35 yards (2.1 yards per carry), 5 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 20 receptions, 370 yards (18.5 yds/rec), 4 TDs / Walker – 8 receptions, 178 yards (22.3 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Wyatt, Morrison – 27 / Conti – 22 / Taylor – 20
Pass Breakups | Fresch – 4 / Jean – 3 / Wyatt, Taylor, Narcisse – 2 
Interceptions | Devones – 1

ECU Stat Notables

Passing | Flinn – 34/68 (50.0 percent), 365 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT / Garcia – 32/55 (58.2 percent), 234 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Harris – 42 carries, 171 yards (4.1 yards per carry), 3 TD / Garcia – 32 carries, 178 yards (5.6 ypc), 1 TD
Receiving | Johnson – 16 receptions, 178 yards (11.1 yards per reception), 0 TD / Hatfield – 9 receptions, 128 yards (14.2 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Wood – 30 / Edwards – 29 / Jackson – 19
Pass Breakups | Davis, Wilk, Rogers, Jones tied with 2
Interceptions | Jackson – 1

ECU X-Factor | Protect the Football

ECU enters the game +1 in turnover differential, but they were -3 entering their game against Gardner-Webb before posting a +4 differential in that contest. Even in that game, ECU still turned the ball over once. Through four games, they have yet to post a turnover-free result. That might not matter against an FCS opponent, but it has mattered in their FBS games so far. 

The Pirates lost the turnover battle in each of their first three games and were tied for fourth-worst in the AAC in turnovers entering Saturday. That’s a recipe for disaster, especially on the road. Rice has only forced three turnovers so far this season, but they’ve been close on a few other plays and have enough playmakers on defense to make ECU nervous. They can’t afford to tempt fate here.

Rice X-Factor | Get off the field

For all the missteps Rice football suffered in their loss to South Florida, the inability to get off the field on defense was the most concerning.  Excluding drives that ended in the end of the half, Rice kept USF from scoring three times. Five touchdowns allowed and two field goals, seven scoring drives, against three stops is not sustainable, particularly when everyone in the stadium knows who is getting the ball before the play happens.

If JT Daniels is available, winning a shootout will always be a possibility, and backup quarterback AJ Padgett has flashed in limited duty before, but winning football for Rice will always rely in some capacity on a competent defense. The Owls didn’t have that last weekend and the results were, unfortunately, predictable.

ECU is converting a modest 36 percent of their third downs on offense and scoring 22 points per game, which includes their recent thumping of Gardner-Webb. This shouldn’t be an offense that can run circles around the Rice defense. The Rice pass rush needs a bounce-back game in the worst way, as does the secondary. No matter the quarterback, this one is going to depend on a solid defensive showing. 

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One Final Thing

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren always likes to fall back on the mantra that things are never as good and never as bad as they feel in the moment. The Owls’ season seemed to be rocketing upward after the Houston win and falling to pieces after the USF loss. This team has to hope the reality is somewhere in between.

There are no more Power 5 opponents on the schedule. Instead, the road ahead should be manageable. If Rice proves they can bounce back and take care of business at home against a sub-.500 team, things will revert back toward their optimistic beginnings. If not, there probably should be some soul-searching done after a strong start.

Regardless, no referendums should be made as a result of any one game. That’s a statement, as I write it, feels doomed to be ignored no matter how the East Carolina game goes. But in all fairness, that’s how this sport is consumed, more often than not and this program showed Saturday it has work to do before it fully earns the benefit of the doubt. 

So, as Bloomgren and his players often say, Rice needs to go 1-0 this week in a very winnable and very much-needed game.

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Rice football visits USF in their first-ever AAC game this weekend. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Winners of two in a row, Rice football heads to the Sunshine State for their first ever AAC game against a South Florida squad that  played well against Alabama in Week 2, albeit in losing fashion. Head coach Alex Golesh didn’t mince words with the result. “Valiant efforts are for losers. Moral victories are for losers,” he said. “That’s what losers say. Winners win.”

There will be no moral victories this weekend. Someone will be tied atop the conference standings and someone else will be o-1. Here’s everything you need to know about this week’s matchup between Rice and USF.

Kickoff time | 3:00 PM CT
Venue | Raymond James Stadium – Tampa, Florida
TV | ESPNU (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs USF on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. Look for a recap of the game on the site afterward as well as on The Roost Podcast, which should be released early next week.

Sizing up the contenders

Neither USF nor Rice football were expected to be among the contenders for the AAC this season. The Owls were picked to finish 12th, the Bulls picked just behind them at 13th. The winner will be tied with Memphis at 1-0 for first place. If Rice wins, they’ll be 3-1 with a Power 5 victory already under their belt. If USF wins, they’ll be .500 through four games under a first year head coach. This is a big one.

Series History

All Time | n/a
Last Five | n/a
Last Meeting | n/a

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to attack this week’s opponent, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. Don’t miss out! Join now!

Become a Patron!

Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Daniels – 53/85 (62.4 percent), 805 yards, 8 TD, 3 INT
Rushing | Connors – 24 carries, 137 yards (5.7 yards per carry), 1 TD / Alexander – 14 carries, 40 yards (2.9 yards per carry), 5 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 11 receptions, 171 yards (15.5 yds/rec), 4 TDs / Walker – 7 receptions, 151 yards (21.6 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Wyatt – 17 / Morrison – 16 / Pearcy – 15
Pass Breakups | Fresch – 4 / Devones, Jean, Wyatt, Narcisse – 2 
Interceptions | Devones – 1

USF Stat Notables

Passing | B. Brown – 49/96 (51.0 percent), 450  yards, 4 TD, 3 INT
Rushing | B. Brown – 65 carries, 269 yards (4.1 yards per carry), 4 TD / Wright – 41 carries, 210 yards (5.1 ypc), 0 TD
Receiving | Atkins – 16 receptions, 142 yards (8.9 yards per reception), 0 TD / K. Brown – 6 receptions, 109 yards (18.2 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Shuler – 21 / Gordon – 19 / Evans – 18
Pass Breakups | Berryhill, Logan – 2 /  Five others – 1 
Interceptions | Berryhill – 2 / Stokes – 1

USF X-Factor | Contain the passing attack

USF ranks in the bottom quartile of the country in explosive passing plays allowed on defense (12), averaging four 20+ yard completions against their defense through three games. Against Alabama last weekend, though, USF gave up just one such play and (not coincidentally) posted their best defensive performance of the season against one of the most talented teams in the country. 

If one is inclined to believe the box scores, as unthinkable as this might have been to those outside of South Main until even a few weeks ago, Rice quarterback JT Daniels has been better than either of the signal callers Alabama played against USF last weekend. He will test USF downfield. If they can stand tall and take that element away from the Ric offense, things could get interesting. 

The Rice running game was more productive in the second half against Texas Southern than it had been yet this season, but it certainly hasn’t been fantastic quite yet. Someone is going to try to force the Owls to be one dimensional and it might just be USF.

Rice X-Factor | Win the turnover battle

Sometimes, it’s not rocket science. The Owls were -3 in turnovers against Texas and lost the game by four scores. They were -1 against Houston, allowing the Cougars to erase a 28-point Owl advantage because of miscues. Against Texas Southern, inarguably the least talented team Rice football has played thus far, they won the turnover battle 2-0 and won in dominant fashion.

The USF offense has shown spurts of ability in the early days of the Golesh era. If they’re able to move the ball well against the Owls, adding a turnover deficit on the road would not be a recipe that portends success. For Rice to enable themselves to play their game and stay on schedule, being turnover neutral, at a minimum, is a must.

In practice, that means a bit more poise from Daniels on some of his bolder throws and sure hands from the skill players, who have put the ball on the deck a few times so far this season. 

Injury Report (Subscribers only)

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One Final Thing

Rice football has never started 3-1 under head coach Mike Bloomgren. The Owls got to 3-2 last year but had to knock off UAB in game five to get there. 3-1 would be a first. As Bloomgren continues to make his case that 2023 will be his breakthrough season, a strong start like that would certainly be noticed. It also could set up something more.

Rice returns home the following weekend and plays ECU (0-3) and UConn (0-3) before a bye week. This program is not far enough removed from some very hard seasons to start counting a single win before it happens, but it’s not too presumptive to say the schedule couldn’t be set up much more favorably for this team in the weeks ahead. A 3-1 start could turn into much more.

First, though, Rice football has to take care of business. Win this game on the road, their first road victory of the season, and come home healthy. If you can achieve that, we could be looking at a rare opportunity and an intriguing start to a season that hasn’t been seen on South Main in quite some time. They’ll just need to beat first-year head coach Alex Golesh to get that chance. 

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