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The Roost Podcast | Ep 129 Rice Football vs FAU Recap

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It’s time to pick up the pieces and debrief a frustrating Rice football loss to FAU that put a bit of a damper on rising expectations for the Owls’ season.

Despite jumping out to a 14-point lead on the road, Rice football was unable to notch their first win away from home this season, falling to FAU 17-14. Can the offense find any semblance of consistency? How good can this defense be? Carter and Matthew talk through the aftermath of the loss and the team moving forward on this week’s show.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 129.

Episode Notes

Housekeeping

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Rice Football vs FAU game recap

  • Coming down from the post-UAB win high
  • How much of a problem does the Rice football offense have?
  • Offensive line and running game concerns
  • Defense continues to play lights out
  • What happened in the third and fourth quarters?
  • How much of these results can be fixed moving forward?
  • What’s the rest-of-season outlook in light of this result?

Where can you find us?

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Rice Football falters late, falling to FAU on the road

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Rice Football started fast, but couldn’t hold on, squandering a fourth-quarter lead as they fell to the FAU Owls on the road on Saturday.

Rice football scored the first 14 points and looked to be on their way to their first road win of the season but it would not come to pass. FAU answered with 17 unanswered points, clamping down late to thwart the Owls’ late.

“I wish I could tell you that they made some great adjustments,” Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren said in the aftermath. “They really kept doing what they were doing and our execution faltered and that’s the disappointing part.”

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Explosive, but imperfect offense can’t do enough

Rice football is still searching for a seamless offensive game, but their current less-than-perfect somewhat boom-or-bust operation is getting the job done. The road Owls started the game going backward, losing 16 yards on their first drive of the game. On the very next sequence, McMahon hit Bradley Rozner for this career-long 78-yard touchdown reception.

McMahon and Rozner guided the team down the field for another score immediately afterward. Up 14-0, Rice had the ball again with the chance to deliver a third potentially soul-crushing score in the final minutes of the first quarter. Instead, McMahon threw two passes which probably each should have been intercepted by the FAU defense.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice football vs FAU

McMahon would miss open receivers on the subsequent drive too, which ended with a failed fourth-down conversion. FAU scored on their next possession, then the offense went three-and-out for the third time in six drives.

Tack on another deflected interception (how????) and McMahon’s third interception on the subsequent drive and it would end up dooming what seemed to be such a promising day in the first quarter. McMahon had rough day. So did the offensive line. The entire unit is going to have some rough conversations in the film room this week.

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren was brutally honest in his postgame remarks. “We have to do better,” he said. “14 points in a football game doesn’t win. It doesn’t win in college football. Not scoring in the second half doesn’t win, we know those things. We’ve got to get better.

In prior years, explosive plays were few and far between, resulting in stagnant offensive performances. Rice is hitting big plays this year, but it hasn’t figured out the consistency just yet. If they can iron out the warts, this offense has the potential to really take off.

Big play defense

It’s been the Rice defense that’s allowed this offense to learn on the job. They’ve been absolutely superb this season and that strong showing continued on Saturday. For the most part, they made the routine plays, allowing a few explosive plays to FAU but largely playing fundamentally sound football. It was third and fourth down where they flexed their muscles.

FAU was 6-of-17 on third down and 0-of-4 when facing third and nine or longer. When this defense gets the green light and is allowed to pin their ears back and go, bad things tend to happen for the other team.

Then there were the big plays. Not to be outdone by the fireworks of Rozner and McMahon, several Rice defenders delivered equally impactful moments of their own. Josh Pearcy shut down an FAU drive with a third down sack. George Nyakwol forced a fumble that resulted in a third-and-33 attempt for the home team. Myron Morrison slipped in front of a receiver on fourth down and knocked the ball to the turf.

No play was bigger, though, than Kirk Lockhart’s goal line hit at the end of the third quarter. FAU was inches away from the go-ahead touchdown when Lockhart knocked the ball out, forcing a fumble that went out of the endzone for a touchback. Pressed to the brink yet again, the defense stood tall.

The offense is much improved and it has been really, really fun to watch at times. Nevertheless, the defense remains the backbone of this team and they did everything they could on Saturday.

Linebacker reload, complete

Rice football fans were spoiled by the incredible tandem of Blaze Alldredge and Antonio Montero in the middle of the defense for the last few years. When they departed, Alldredge to Missouri and Montero to Villanova, it seemed like nearly a forgone conclusion the Owls would be taking a step back at that position.

Well, midway through the 2022 season, Chris Conti and Myron Morrison are making a case for quite the opposite. Conti posted five tackles against FAU. Morrison led the team with 15 tackles of his own. Those two entered the game leading Rice in tackles and they leave the game still No. 1 and No. 2 atop the leaderboard.

“I think both Myron and Chris are both playing great football, ” Bloomgren said. “The guys up front are doing their job too, which is making it a little bit easier for them to run and hit. But when they’re able to make those plays and get people on the ground, obviously that’s what gets us into those third and longs and allows our defense to go eat a little bit.”

The entire defense is playing well, but the linebacker core has earned a nod. Every team loses good players. Replacing them without missing a beat is what great teams do. The Owls are heading in that direction right now, particularly on defense.

Slipped away

After just six games, Rice football sits at 3-3. The Owls are one win shy of matching their win total from the entirety of the 2021 season. Entering the season, that seemed to be about par for the opening half of the season, but it doesn’t feel like met expectations as the team flies home empty-handed from Boca Raton.

The Owls had the chance to be one of just three remaining unbeaten teams in conference play, with matchups looming against Louisiana Tech, Charlotte and UTEP, all of which own sub-.500 records overall. Rice is still likely to be favored in at least one of those games, if not two. Things still look bright, but the luster isn’t quite nearly the same as it could have been with a fourth-quarter lead.

Simply put, at the midpoint of October, it might have been time to start having legitimate Conference USA Championship discussions about Rice football. They’re not out of the mix just yet and they own a win over UAB, but they’ve taken a step back after some stellar showings in the early weeks of the season.

Now it’s time to start talking about finding their first road win of the season. Once that happens, more aspirational conversations can recommence. Their next chance comes next weekend against Louisiana Tech.

“I wish we could go practice right now, to be hoenst with you,” Bloomgren said. “We’ve got a lot of good things going on this team. We’ve got a few things we got to figure out. But I want that opportunity to play that road game next week. I can’t wait to play that road game next Saturday.”

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Rice Football 2022: Owls rally late, knock off UAB at home

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Rice Football took a few punches but weathered the storm, knocking off UAB at home in their conference opener by a final score of 28-24.

It wasn’t pretty for a full four quarters, but when the dust settled, Rice football was 3-2. For the second consecutive season, the Owls took down the Blazers, this time doing the deed at home. The Owls are 1-0 in conference play with plenty of momentum heading into the bye. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Start strong…. check

As good as Rice football has been in recent weeks, their opening quarters have been rather disappointing. Entering this game UAB had outscored their opponents 42-0 in the first quarter until Rice marched down the field and let Ari Broussard punch one in on fourth-and-goal from the one.

The score was the first Rice opening quarter touchdown since the McNeese game and the first opening drive score of any kind since the opening game against USC. It capped off an 11-play, 75-yard drive including a pivotal third down conversion by TJ McMahon’s legs.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice football vs UAB

Not to be outdone by the offense, the Rice defense opened with an equal level of intensity. Gabriel Taylor read the eyes of UAB quarter Dylan Hopkins and jumped a route to the flats for his second interception of the season. Early on, everything was coming up Owls.

Things got bumpy, fast

Unfortunately, Rice football could not sustain that gusto for much longer. Broussard fumbled the ball on the three-yard line, handing UAB an extremely short field that led to an equalizing score. Then Broussard was flagged for a hold on special teams which negated a 56-yard punt and handed the Blazers 28 extra yards of free field position.

After leading 7-0, Rice allowed 17 straight points to the Blazers, not reversing the run until the second half. In the second quarter with UAB backed up in their own endzone, the Rice defense allowed UAB to connect on a 71-yard reception. The usually fundamentally sound Owls drew 10 penalties for 75 yards on the night, bailing on the Blazers on more than one occasion.

Over the past few seasons, Rice football has slowly risen their quality of play from one good quarter a game to two or even three solid quarters. There really hasn’t been a truly elite four-quarter showing from this team yet this season, although they’ve played well enough to win despite their inconsistencies in most of their games.

On Saturday, Rice was great in the first quarter and great in the third. The second was bad. The fourth was excellent. And in the end, that’s all that mattered.

What’s the answer for the offensive line?

Trey Phillippi posted a commendable performance in his first career start against Houston last week. For the most part, the offensive line was able to contend with the UH pressure, but the game-sealing fumble might not have happened had the Owls gotten just a little more protection from their five men up front.

It didn’t really feel like any individual was at fault. UAB was just better in the trenches and it put the entirety of the Owls’ offensive gameplan under duress from their second drive onward.

After the strong opening drive, Rice had trouble in the trenches. The Owls averaged 3.0 yards per carry but unlike in prior games, few booming pass plays were to assuage concerns of the running game was struggling. TJ McMahon was under duress all night long, and while he did make some big plays, he wasn’t able to carry the offense on his own.

With no answers as to when former starting guard Braedon Nutter will return, it’s looking like Rice is going to have figure it out with the guys that they have. Now, it’s entirely possible they’ve already faced the best defensive fronts they’ll play for the rest of their season. Less pressure and more continuity will help whoever Rice lines up on the offensive line. But regardless, there has to be some strides made up front.

Adapt, adapt adapt

One of the biggest criticisms of Rice football in the past few years has been its offensive philosophy. Run, run and throw on third down became an almost predictable cadence at times. Offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo was brought in to address those concerns and collectively, both he, Bloomgren and the offensive staff has done a 180.

It was hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel for the Rice offense going into halftime. Then Rice got creative with the football. Luke McCaffrey got some carries on sweeps. They moved the chains on a unique pattern to him out of the backfield. They sprinkled in Cam Montgomery for a big play. With the game on the line, they dialed up a play action call on third and seven with McMahon wisely electing to keep it.

Faced with a stagnant attack, Rice had to do something … and they did. In fact, the Owls have made some impressive second half adjustments throughout all of their non-USC games so far this season. They’ve figured something out on offense. And if the defense continues to be effective (with some turnovers sprinkled in) this team’s ceiling remains very high.

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Rice Football 2022: Owls come up short across town vs UH

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Rice Football took Houston to the wire in the battle for the Bayou Bucket and came up just short, falling 34-27 in their nonconference finale.

Back-and-forth, back-and-forth. That was the cadence of a thrilling Bayou Bucket battle between Rice football and Houston on Saturday night. Heavy underdogs by the oddsmakers, the Owls looked every bit the Cougars’ equals until a pair of untimely fourth quarter turnovers doomed their upset bid. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Withstand the first punch

Rice football has played Houston twice during head coach Mike Bloomgren’s tenure. In 2018 the Owls kept the game close, leading at halftime 24-17. That gave the team a fighting chance despite their limited roster. That wasn’t the case in 2021. Trailing 10-0, Rice turned the ball over. Houston quickly jumped ahead 17-0 and scored on their first two drives of the second half to put the game out of reach.

Their recent struggles were irrelevant on Saturday, Rice had to find a way to survive the first punch and turn this into a heavyweight fight. It wasn’t pretty, but they hung tough in the early goings. A bad bounce on the opening kickoff forced the Owls to start their first possession from their own two-yard line. Rice got two first downs before punting, salvaging important field position. Then got the Houston offense off the field after just four plays.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice football vs Houston

Houston would take the lead on their second offensive series, picking up a couple of first downs on their way to a 19-yard touchdown pass from Clayton Tune to Matthew Golden. Then the momentum changed.

Trailing 7-0 at the beginning of the second quarter, the Rice defense got pressure on Tune who threw into heavy traffic. The ball bounced around and fell into the hands of Myron Morrison. Four players later, Rice was in the endzone and the game was tied. Houston won the first quarter, but after 20 minutes, the game was tied. It wasn’t pretty, but it was gritty and proof this team was ready to grind one out.

Just add offense

Over the past several seasons, Rice football fans have seen some tremendous defensive performances. From the five-interception shutout against Marshall to allowing just 175 total yards to Louisiana last week, this defense has proven its worth time after time. More often than not, it’s been the offense that’s come up wanting.

Early returns from that side of the ball were encouraging. Saturday’s showing reaffirmed a new reality for the Owls’ offensive attack.

The underdogs averaged 6.0 yards per carry in the first half and were perfect in their pair of redzone appearances (extending their streak to 14 consecutive red zone trips with a score). Broussard’s short touchdown plunge might seem that impressive, but when you consider the regularity with which this team can get two yards on the ground when they need to, it’s an essential tool in the Owls’ arsenenal.

It starts and ends in the trenches

Trey Phillippi made the start at right guard for Rice football on Saturday night. His insertion into the lineup was notable for several different reasons. First, his addition to the starting lineup marked the fourth different starting offensive line combination in four games for Rice football in the midst of an offensive renaissance. More importantly, Phillippi had never played guard before in his life.

Philippi was a tackle in high school. He started his Rice career as a tackle and moved to tight end with injuries at that position early this season. His first snaps at guard in his football career happened during practice this week. His first game just concluded. As a whole, the offensive line held their own and gave Rice a chance.

Not to be outdone, the Rice defensive line had its moment. On third and one near the end of the third quarter, Houston was stonewalled at the line of scrimmage. Given the break between quarters to reconvene, the Cougars lined up to go for it again. They didn’t get it.

A Rice defensive front that was without De’Braylon Carroll for much of this game went toe-to-toe with Houston and looked every bit their equal. Houston will be playing in the Big 12 next season. Rice will be in a “Group of 5” Conference. The supposed talent gap didn’t feel that large in this game.

House Money

To say the result of Saturday’s showdown at TDECU Stadium did not matter would be entirely disingenuous. Beating a rival always matters, especially for a team that hasn’t hoisted the Bayou Bucket Trophy since 2010 with six consecutive losses in the matchup since.

No matter what the result would be, even with a loss, the Owls would have split their nonconference slate for the first time under head coach Mike Bloomgren. A win, however, had the potential to material shift the outlook of the Rice football program. That wasn’t in the cards this week.

Nevertheless, the product the Owls put on the field against the Cougars proved these two teams are more evenly matched than many may have suspected. Houston was projected to contend for an AAC title this season. Rice traded blows with them for four quarters. Are the Cougars scuttling well below expectations? It’s possible. But it seems much more likely the Owls are starting to rise up.

Rice exits this game four wins from a bowl berth. That’s an achievable target if they continue to play with this level of intensity and execution. It was a tough day across town, but the 2022 Rice Football season still has plenty more good to come.

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McMahon’s magic overcomes the odds

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 126 – Rice Football vs Louisiana Recap

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Rice football kept on winning this week, upsetting Louisiana in a marquee nonconference victory. We break it all down on this week’s show.

From start to finish, Rice football was more or less in control against a Louisiana team projected to beat them by double digits. Had it not been for generous turnovers by the Owls, the score might not have been even that close. How did Rice do it and what does it mean for this team moving forward? Carter and Matther dig into the details in this week’s episode of The Roost Podcast.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 126.

Episode Notes

Housekeeping

  • Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice. Every little bit helps.
  • Please support us on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes practice updates, analysis and more. Your support matters and makes The Roost better.
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Rice Football vs Louisiana game recap

  • Double-digit underdogs show up big from the start
  • Best defensive performance since….?
  • TJ McMahon starts wild, finishes with a series of incredible plays
  • Luke McCaffrey has his breakout game
  • Where does this win rank among recent Rice football victories?
  • How much of this can the team carry forward into the next game?

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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

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