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Rice Football tops South Florida on Senior Day

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Rice Football sent its seniors out on a high-note, sailing past South Florida in the Owls’ most uplifting win of the 2024 season.

Playing together for one last time, Rice Football ended its 2024 campaign victoriously. The typically slow starting squad scored a season-high 35 points against an FBS opponent and racked up a season-best 550 yards while snuffing out the South Florida offense until the game was out of reach. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

The offense awakens

The Rice football offense has been an adventure this season for a variety of reasons. Up and down quarterback play, a listless running game and an infuriating number of fruitless redzone possessions has left the Owls wanting on the scoreboard more games than not. Determined to rectify at least some of those frustrations with the scoreboard, the Rice offense brought the fireworks on Saturday afternoon.

Warner got the scoring started with a crisp 31-yard touchdown pass to Drayden Dickmann, his first collegiate touchdown grab. Quinton Jackson followed with a 12-yard run of his own. Then Tim Horn added three more points on a short field, courtesy of a fumble recovery on a short field. And that was all before the first quarter came to a close.

Rice had scored 34 points in the first quarter in seven AAC games this season before Saturday. They had 17 first quarter points against South Florida. After failing to surpass more than 29 points in a game against an FBS opponent this year, Rice dropped 27 points in the first half, highlighted by this gorgeous toss from Warner to Dean Connors which elevated the senior to the program leader for receiving yards by a running back.

It wasn’t just Connors with the big day. Warner delivered a season-best showing, his first 400-yard gain with the Owls. Matt Sykes topped 100 receiving yards for the first time in his career. Thai Bowman scored his first career touchdown. Across the board, this unit was finally clicking.

Had this caliber of offense shown up more frequently this season the year would have gone much differently. There’s no rewriting the past at this point, though. At least fans at Rice Stadium on Saturday were treated to a thrilling sendoff for the Owls’ Seniors.

The defense holds the line

A newfound productive offense combined with the Owls’ typically stout defense proved to be quite a potent combination. Rice allowed USF to march down the field on their first drive, ceding a 10-play 75-yard touchdown drive. USF would register 56 total yards for the rest of the first half. That’s a 7.5-yards-per-play clip followed by a quick drop to 3.1 yards per play.

USF quarterback Bryce Archie was able to complete a good chunk of his passes, connecting on 8-of-13 attempts in the first half, but outside of one long 42-yard completion down the sideline, everything was close to the line of scrimmage and quickly covered up by a swarming Rice secondary. Max Ahoia’s forced fumble was just one instance of a secondary that played with a noticeable level of intensity.

The Bulls would get another sustained scoring drive to start the second half but when it came to mounting sustained scoring drives in the middle of the action they never got into a groove. It seemed like every time they came close, a Rice defender showed up with a big play, including a masterful interception from Gabe Taylor midway through the third quarter.

The day featured two defensive takeaways and three sacks, including Andrew Awe’s first career sack in his final game. It was an emphatic finale for the veteran-led unit which has been the most reliable force on this team all season.

Special teams does just enough

Two missed field goals (from 41 and 39 yards, respectively) and a couple of penalties on kick returns kept it from being a banner day for the Rice football special teams, but the unit certainly held its own on a day when its counterparts on offense and defense delivered impressive performances of their own.

Kicker Tim Horn converted from 25 yards out on two separate occasions, but a kick that ricocheted off the post in the third quarter killed what had been a 100 percent red zone conversion rate on the day to that point, a rate the Owls have only finished with once in an AAC game this season.

Quinton Jackson had an explosive opening kickoff return called back via a block in the back. Then he did it again in the third quarter, with no flags this time. Christian Francisco fielded a low, bouncing kick and took it 45 yards back to USF territory. All told, it was a workable performance from the special teams unit and a decent way to end an up-and-down campaign from that group.

The end of an era

In the whirlwind that has consumed the last week, it’s been hard to fully appreciate how different Rice football is going to look in 2025. The coaching change plays a large role in that upcoming change, but the impact of the outgoing senior class will play a sizable role in those developments, too.

Rice honored those seniors before the game on Saturday, a feat which required half the field to do. So many different players poured four, five and some six years into building this program from the bottom to where it is today. They didn’t fully realize that expected apex, but their contributions were each significant

That totality sank in earlier this week when I sat down with Gabe Taylor, who fought back tears when asked to describe this game and this moment. “It means everything,” he said. “I would trade them for the world, this family. It’s so genuine. They’re awesome guys… They’re my family forever.”

They didn’t win them all, but after a rocky season, this family went out on a much-deserved high note.

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Rice Women’s Basketball splits at Cancun Challenge

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Rice Women’s basketball split their two-game set at the Cancun Challenge, falling to BYU in the opener before blasting Vermont in the second game.

BYU 63, Rice 51

The Story

Rice got off to a strong start, opening up a 12-5 first quarter lead as BYU struggled to find its footing. The Cougars woke up and finished the half on a 26-10 run, opening up a gap the Owls would be unable to close. BYU would lead by as many as 17 points, comfortably holding on to the lead with the exception of a brief third quarter rally from Rice to get back within seven.

Rice 79, Vermont 57

The Story

Vermont jumped out to an early lead in this one but it was the Owls’ turn to turn up the intensity on offense. Rice rallied from a five-point first quarter deficit to take a six point lead at half. Then they opened the floodgates, exploding for a 16-0 run in the third quarter to bury the Catamounts. The Owls led by as many as 28 points, cruising to a big win to close out their trip to Cancun.

What We Learned

It was truly a tale of two games. In the opener against BYU, Rice women’s basketball endured their worst shooting performance of the season. They followed it up with their best shooting day from the floor. The contrast between these two games serves as a fitting reminder of the team’s volatility and the growth needed for the Owls to reach the level of a premier program.

At their best, Rice women’s basketball is capable of competing with many top teams. The key challenge now is finding consistency and building on those strong performances. While this may seem like nitpicking, it’s the standard that has been set by head coach Lindsay Edmonds, who continues to hold her program to high expectations.

“I’ve known all season that we were capable of hitting the three at a very high volume and just been waiting for it to happen,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said following the Vermont win. “For us to be able to come out here tonight after what happened last night and have the focus to put the ball in the hole, probably when we needed it the most.”

Last year’s AAC Tournament run was proof the version of the Owls that showed up against Vermont could show up four days in a row. The next step might be finding the version of this team that played against Houston and being that team every single day. Rice didn’t shoot the lights out in that game, but they played well. The defense was consistent and strong.

The defense has been solid. The shooting has ebbed and flowed. To some extent, that’s basketball, but the Owls would probably tell you they’ve left points on the court they should have knocked down.

If Rice can make that strong version of itself the floor. They’re going to be really hard to beat. They don’t need to be the team that smacked Vermont every day — although that’s always within the range of outcomes. They need to be the team that has less off days and consistently does the little things well. And then they get to add Malia Fisher back to the mix in the coming weeks.

That’s the recipe for success this season.

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Rice Football bottoms out in loss to UAB

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Rice Football never got into gear on the road against UAB, sputtering in all three phases in a loss to the two-win Blazers.

The much-maligned Trent Dilfer won the day on Saturday, earning a lopsided win over a listless Rice Football squad that never found its way. “I don’t think we played the game I felt we were going to play,” interim head coach Pete Alamar said. “I don’t think how we played matched how we practiced. I thought we practiced well.”

The loss adds to the pain of an underwhelming season that has gone so far awry. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Out of Sync

UAB took a 14-7 lead early in the first quarter on the back of two plays. The first was a 90-yard kick return that set the Blazers up inside the five-yard line for a one-play touchdown drive. The next, a 48-yard touchdown run, came on the ensuing drive.

Six of the Blazers’ next seven plays went for first downs. The Rice football defense has been the backbone of this program all season long, if not longer. To see them struggle so severely was jarring, especially coming off the bye. Add on a fumble from tight end Elijah Mojarro and a picture began to form of a team that just wasn’t all on the same page.

To an extent, the apparent mental haze is understandable. This is a team coming off a bye with an interim head coach with two games left to play before an increasingly uncertain future begins might not have been as locked in as they’d been in previous weeks. These are human beings, after all.

Rice floundered even when handed 30 yards via penalties and set up with a first down at the three-yard line. Warner tossed his second interception of the day soon after, a 99-yard pick six that put Rice in a two-score hole at the break.

This running scheme is broken

This is probably a moot point with a coaching change looming, but the lack of rushing production from this team has been one of the most unexpected mysteries of the season. UAB entered this game dead last in the AAC in rush defense allowing 230 yards per game on the ground. And it wasn’t just some bad days against option teams. This run defense was actively bad.

Yet, Rice tallied 35 rushing yards in the first half en route to 115 total yards rushing in the contest. Game script wasn’t the reason the Owls weren’t able to run the football. They’re just not set up to do so, a mind-melting reality when one considers the years of talk of Intellectual Brutality and “pounding the rock”.

The lack of a running game has put more pressure on EJ Warner. While Warner has been better of late, there aren’t many offenses in the country that get better when they throw everything onto the back of their quarterback and ask them to be Superman each and every play.

Regardless of how things got to this point, this reality isn’t sustainable. It’s probably fitting the program will be forced to go back to the drawing board and find a new solution on offense this offseason.

Flashes of (Defensive) Brilliance

Even though turnovers have largely eluded them, the Rice football defense has been one of the better chaos-creating units in the conference this season. Rice entered this game second in the conference in sacks per game and fourth in tackles for loss per game.

Gabe Taylor picked up the Owls first sack of the afternoon, exploding off the edge and knocking the ball out in the process.

Plays like this have enabled this unit to thrive. Even when the ball doesn’t come out, putting the opposing offense in second-and-long and third-and-long situations has largely paid off.

That aggressiveness proved to be an important tone-setter early in the second-half, too. A five yard tackle for a loss by Ty Flowers helped secure a quick three-and-out, giving the Owls’ offense another chance to wake up. It’s not the defenses fault the offense

Just one more

Over the past month, sources confirmed to The Roost that Rice football was prepared to accept a bowl berth should they qualify under the five-win APR exception. That’s how the Owls made their first bowl trip under head coach Mike Bloomgren.

It won’t be in play this year. The loss to UAB in Birmingham on Saturday was the eighth loss of the season for program, officially closing the door on any bowl hopes, however faint they might have been.

Alamar said that although there was an understanding what this loss meant for those bowl hopes, he did not directly address it with the team postgame. “There was a ton of reasons to come out here and play well and win this game,” he said. “We did not play well enough to win.”

Instead of playing for a miracle against South Florida next weekend, Rice will officially be ending an era. The program will honor its seniors who helped raise the floor of this program from a one-win team to a consistently competitive force will be thanked. At the same time, Rice will be eagerly awaiting a new leader.

Whoever this new head coach will be, he’ll be tasked with achieving what Bloomgren was never able to do here at South Main: find the ceiling.

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A Salute to Dean Connors

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Rice Basketball escapes Sharp Gym with win over HCU

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Rice Basketball struggled from the start, overcoming poor possessions and bad breaks to escape with the victory over Houston Christian on Friday.

Days removed from a dominant road win over Louisiana, it took Rice basketball some time to recover from some sort of post-win funk. Rice turned the ball over six times in the first six minutes against Houston Christian, spotting the hosting Huskies an eight point lead.

The Owls entered this game with an 14-3 all-time record in the series and certainly didn’t expect to find themselves trailing by such a sizable margin so quickly. Spotting the Huskies 10 points off turnovers in the first half alone played a significant role in that deficit. Fortunately Rice was able to regroup quickly and take better care of the basketball, committing just two turnovers in the remainder of the half while turning that deficit into a 29-29 tie at the break.

More: Rice Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

The grimy slugfest endured into the second half. Alem Huseinovic was bound to the bench with foul trouble, picking up his third at the start of the half and a fourth before the 13th minute. Houston Christian had three players with three fouls to that point, but was able to skirt serious foul trouble.

It didn’t seem to matter who was on the court next, though. HCU went on a 16-3 run as Rice went cold from the floor, making one of six shots with four more turnovers.

With their backs against the wall, Rice found a way. Trae Broadnax spurred the team back from the brink. Rice would go on to outscore HCU 25-11 in the final 12 minutes, knocking down their free throws and procuring a final, excellent defensive possession in the clutch to sneak out of Sharp Gym with a win.

Final Box | Rice 61, Houston Christian 58

Key takeaway | Turnover troubles

Perhaps no moment summed up this contest better than the sequence following a Rice timeout taken with 12:43 to play in the second half, a timeout that was called in response to sloppy play which put Rice in its second eigh-point deficit of the evening.

Out of that stoppage Rice turned the ball over. Houston Christian scooped it up and went the other way, laying it up for two points plus the foul. Rice finished this game with 16 turnovers. Houston Christian had 4 The Owls’ dominant 46 to 25 edge on the boards was rendered moot by their inability to do anything with the basketball in their hands.

Fortunately for Rice, they made their free throws tonight and were able to maintain their defensive intensity while they toiled on the opposite end of the court. These are the kind of games that aren’t fun to review in the film room, but they’re much easier to work through when you find a way to come out of top.

Up Next: Nassau Championship vs Hofstra (Fri, Nov. 29), vs Arkansas State (Sat, Nov. 30), vs Iona (Sun, Dec. 1)

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Rice Women’s basketball comes up short at Gonzaga

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Rice Women’s Basketball traded blows with Gonzaga for four quarters before running out of steam late, falling on the road.

Emily Klaczek and Hailey Adams were determined that Rice women’s basketball would get off on the right foot in their first foray out from the confines of Tudor Fieldhouse. Klazcek got things started with seven first quarter points including a three-pointer to get the Owls back within one-score after a hot start from Gonzaga. Adams had seven in the frame too, becoming the driving force for the team in the early goings.

Adams would lead all scorers in the first half with 13 points, already a season-high. She added six boards along the way, all before the halftime buzzer. Her final basket of the half put Rice ahead of Gonzaga for the first time with 2:28 to go in the second quarter. Gonzaga would take a one-point lead into the half, but thanks to that tandem of Klaczek and Adams, the game was on.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

The lead would exchange hands seven times in the third quarter. Neither side led by more than two possessions and the game was tied twice but it was the visiting Owls in front when the fourth quarter commenced.

Back and forth they went with the lead changing 12 times before the final buzzer sounded and it the outcome of the game hung in the balance until the final minutes. The teams were tied at 64 points apiece with 2:24 to play in the fourth quarter. That’s when Rice missed a few key shots and Gonzaga rolled to a crushing 10-0 run.

The final margin would be just three, representative of a game that truly went down to the wire. Unfortunately for the Owls, they came down on the wrong side.

Final Box | Gonzaga 72, Rice 69

Key takeaway | Missed opportunity

Gonzaga was picked to finish first in the West Coast Conference in the preseason polls. When it comes to building a non-conference resume for a potential NCAA bid, these are the kinds of games you need to win. The Owls came up short.

Malia Fisher still has yet to play this season. Gonzaga had just recently had a streak of 36 consecutive home victories ended last week by Cal. This won’t be an ugly when it comes time for resume comparisons in March, but it’s a missed opportunity all the same.

Over the course of their non-conference slate thus far this team has proven they can hang with anyone. That’s undeniable. But there are only so many opportunities left before AAC play arrives. That sets up an important week ahead in Cancun.

Up Next: vs BYU (Thr. 11/28), vs Vermont (Fri. 11/29)

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