Rice Football traded blows with a potent USF offense early, but was unable to sustain the fight for four quarters, falling in their AAC opener on the road.

As if the loss wasn’t painful enough, the added insult of an injury to Rice football quarterback JT Daniels cast a further shadow over what was meant to be a hopeful beginning for the Owls in AAC play. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Set the tone

The opening quarter didn’t quite go according to plan for Rice football on Saturday. They were forced to punt on their opening drive and allowed a 12-play, 62-yard scoring drive by the USF offense, aided by some penalties and missed tackles along the way. Holding their opponents to a field goal was a good start, but the Owls needed to ensure they gave their defense a breather by producing an extended drive the next time out.

Not only did JT Daniels and Co. deliver, they delivered their message emphatically. Dean Connors converted a short third down and moved the sticks on the ground. Then Luke McCaffrey hauled in a 47-yard reception to get Rice inside the redzone.

Rice brought the jumbo package in, but Daelen Alexander was stopped for a minimal gain on third down, setting up a critical fourth and one. For the brand and for the psyche of his team, head coach Mike Bloomgren had no choice to make. He absolutely had to go for it. But how he elected to get that final yard and change, that had some room for creativity.

The big men trotted onto the field once again after a timeout, but this time Bloomgren and offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo threw a curveball that nobody on the USF defense was ready for. Daniels faked to Alexander, then calmly tossed the ball to the freshman tailback for the go-ahead touchdown.

Hang it in the Louvre, @AllDae_8 pic.twitter.com/Gz7voMCwys

— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) September 23, 2023

Rice found themselves in a similar “momentum moment” in the final minute of the second quarter. Trailing for the first time that day, quarterback JT Daniels led a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive to put Rice back in front that included a big fourth down conversion.

There have been times in recent seasons when it has felt like everything was breaking the wrong way for this team. There were a few plays on Saturday that served as small counterpoints.

One-on-none

USF goes as Byrum Brown goes. The Bulls quarterback is a lethal threat on the ground, but Rice was able to neutralize that aspect of his game. His arm was the problem, or at least, what his arm was able to do to the Owls’ secondary.

After a sluggish start to the game, Brown and the USF offense got into gear and started their aerial assault. From the middle of the second quarter on, Brown completed passes of 53, 51, 59, 42, 49 and 52 yards. One long bomb is too much. Three is a problem. But six pass plays allowed of 40+ yards? That’s a disaster, regardless of which offense is on the other side of the field.

Getting prepared for the furious tempo USF plays with was a focal point all week. But the defensive backs in coverage had plenty of time and space to make sure the ball wasn’t able to get behind them and it didn’t seem to matter.

The pass rush has been a huge boost to a young secondary so far this season. But when the pass rush doesn’t get home (or doesn’t have time to reach its target) the downside is terrifying. Rice experienced what had to be pretty closer to the worst-case scenario on Saturday and they’ll have plenty of film to watch as they attempt to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Don’t beat yourself

The notion of not beating yourself has saturated the Rice football culture this season. Bloomgren reiterated the concept quite eloquently during his midweek availability.

“I just can’t sell these guys enough that it’s all about us. That’s a very good football team on the other side,” Bloomgren said. “They’re playing with a lot of belief right now. I think Alex [Golesh] is doing a great job instilling his culture there, but right now, this game is not going to be about what South Florida does. It’s going to be about the Rice Owls do.”

Although there were plenty of big Rice moments, what the Rice Owls did on Saturday was littered with sloppy play and self-inflicted wounds. Kicker Tim Horn missed two field goals. Punts were short. The Owls had their fair share of inconvenient penalties. USF’s lone first quarter touchdown run would not have happened had Rice not allowed a deep shot earlier in the drive and then missed several tackles on the run itself.

And that’s all before accounting for the secondary’s terrible day. Most of the time, playing sloppily on the road results in a loss. On Saturday, it did.

Gut punched

Including Rice football’s debut game in the Southwestern Conference in 1915, more than 100 years ago, Rice has yet to win its conference opening game. That includes a loss to start SWC play, WAC play, C-USA play and now AAC play.

On Saturday, Rice had the chance to begin the season 3-1 for the first time since 2001 and squash some uncertainty lingering within the program. They missed that chance. Instead of looking at the standings this weekend and seeing Rice tied with Memphis for first place in the conference, the Owls are tied for last.

The road ahead looks (somewhat surprisingly) more manageable than it might have before the season began. Both East Carolina and UConn entered Saturday winless. Rice gets both teams on their home turf. Making the most out of that pair of games is paramount now after the Owls missed their first opportunity to find their first American Conference win.

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Rice Football cruised past Texas Southern, posting its second straight win over a Houston-based squad to improve to 2-1 on the season.

From the very first snap, it was unequivocally clear Rice football was on a different level than Texas Southern. The most talented team ever fielded under head coach Mike Bloomgren, fresh off its upset win of Houston the week before, absolutely smoked an FCS squad that couldn’t keep step with the Owls on either side of the ball. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Defensive dominance

The Rice football defense set the tone of the very first play. Tre’shon Devones scooped up a fumble to give the Owls’ offense the ball on a short field, the third consecutive game in which Rice had forced a turnover on their opponent’s first possession. Then, for the third consecutive game, Rice took a lead on their ensuing drive.

The defense allowed negative four yards on the next three TSU drives, all three-and-outs, asserting its dominance in a way that brought back memories of the 2020 side that finished as a top 15 unit in the country.

The pass rush made it all but impossible for TSU to move the football. While Rice only registered one official sack, TSU’s line was no match for the pressure the Owls were bringing. They added four tackles for a loss and two quarterback hurries.

Texas Southern threated twice before the fourth quarter. The first time TSU found a hole in the coverage and completed a long pass then got into the redzone with the help of a defensive penalty on a tackle out of bounds, setting up their lone touchdown of the night.

The second time came in the final minutes of the third quarter in which they had the ball with a first down inside the 10. Rice held firm, stonewalling them with a fourth down stop.

This could have been a shutout and honestly, it probably should have been. Rice was that much better.

Offensive outburst

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, quarterback JT Daniels made it look easy. Three of his first six passes went for touchdowns and one of those competitions that did not score was a long bomb to Landon Ransom who was ruled down on the one-yard line.

The list of accolades was, understandably, epic.

• Rice has scored 21 points in the first quarter for the second straight week, heading into this season, the Owls had not scored 21 or more in the first since 2013
• Rice’s 42 points in the first half are the most for the Owls since they scored 56 in the first half vs. North Texas in 2008
• JT Daniels 4 TD passes tie his career high (Mississippi State in 2020) and he is the second Owl to throw four TDs in the first half (Chase Clement, 2008)

Daniels was not sacked. The TSU pass rush offered little threat and the Rice offensive line gave him plenty of protection. Five different receivers caught passes of 35 yards or more, another game in which Daniels was able to spread the ball around and find the open receivers. That’s an area where he’s notably impressed so far this season.

Digging deeper

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Fool me thrice?

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Recent Posts

• Rice Women’s Basketball drops opener at South Dakota State
• Rice University Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation
• Rice Football 2025: UAB Game Week Practice Notes
• The Roost Podcast | No Treats in Rice Football Halloween loss to Memphis