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The Roost Podcast | Ep 90 – Rice Football vs Arkansas Debrief

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Matthew and Carter break down the first game of the 2021 Rice Football season this week, discussing the highs and lows of the Owls vs Arkansas.

There was a mix of good and bad takeaways from the first Rice football game of the season. The Owls opened up a halftime lead against Arkansas, but could not hold the line in the fourth quarter. How the quarterback puzzle fit into the loss, thoughts on it going forward and more will be directed in this week’s show.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 90.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping
    • Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice. Every little bit helps.
    • Check out the Blue and Gray Preview Show every Wednesday at Noon, hosted by Matthew and Rice radio broadcaster JP Heath
    • Don’t forget to grab your copy of the 2021 Rice Football Season Preview.
    • 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 updates from fall camp, practices and more.
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  • Rice Football vs Arkansas Game Debrief 
    • The secondary was superb, even with the fourth quarter lull
    • The front seven was good, but has opportunities to grow
    • Stopping the run and running the ball were both areas that need to be fixed
    • What should we make of the quarterback rotation? Will things be different next week?
    • One quick look ahead at key matchups against Houston

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.

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Rice Football squanders halftime lead as Arkansas rallies past Owls

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Rice Football put Arkansas on the ropes in Fayettville, but couldn’t muster enough on offense to finish the job as the Owls fall in their season opener.

Those inside the hedges believed 2021 could be a special season for Rice football. The Owls’ schedule wasn’t going to allow them to ease into the season, opening on the road against Arkansas. Rice hadn’t won a game against an SEC opponent since 1980, but the defense came out throwing haymakers and made it clear from the start this was going to be a competitive game.

Arkansas would score first, but Rice would chip away, taking a 10-7 lead into halftime courtesy of a touchdown run from Jordan Myers. Then Wiley Green turned up the volume on the Rice football offense on this connection from Green to August Pitre:

That touchdown pass put Arkansas on notice. From that point, the game was officially on. Rice withstood Arkansas’ initial second-half surge, but the momentum turned when Wiley Green made a crucial mistake. Green was intercepted on a pass in which his arm was hit while he threw. Perhaps excusable, even if costly, Green doubled-down with an interception on his very next pass: a third down attempt in relief of McCaffrey whose helmet had come off on the prior play.

When the dust settled, Arkansas would score 24 unanswered points. The defense which had held up for so long was unable to support a Rice offense that was shut out for the final 25 minutes of regulation after the touchdown from Green to Pitre to start the second half.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week 

Green was given the vast majority of the snaps and finished 12-for-25 with one touchdown, three interceptions and a fumble. McCaffrey attempted seven passes, completing four of them for 60 yards and carrying the ball four times for eight yards. Head coach Mike Bloomgren will have a lot to think through when it comes to how he handles the quarterback position moving forward. Green finished extremely poorly and even still, McCaffrey never really got much of a chance.

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Surviving early missed opportunities

Whether it was early game jitters or just bad luck, there were a few significant moments early in this game that did not favor the Owls.

The first was a third-down snap for Arkansas. Quarterback KJ Jefferson was greeted in the backfield almost immediately by a charging Treshawn Chamberlain but was able to bounce free. His 245-pound frame was too much to bring down with the glancing blow. Then he rumbled for a the first down. Rather than punt or attempt a long field goal, Arkansas would score late on the drive.

On the ensuing Rice possession, Arkansas linebacker Grant Morgan was ejected for targeting, setting the Owls up near midfield. They were unable to score. The Owls’ next two drives would begin at the Arkansas 35-yard line and the Arkansas 21-yard line. They walked away with three points.

Rice football kept this game at arms-length early, but it’s not unreasonable to think they should have been leading Arkansas at the start of the second quarter, quite possibly by two scores.

Quarterback carousel

Bloomgren announced before the game that Wiley Green would start and Luke McCaffrey would enter the game for the third series. He was true to his word, with one exception: McCaffrey did enter the game for one play following Grant Morgan’s ejection, presumably so Green could regroup after the hit. Green was back in on the next play.

McCaffrey led the offense from the Arkansas 35-yard line to the 18-yard line, but wasn’t able to hit Cedric Patterson in the corner of the endzone on third down. That would be his final full drive of the first half, but not his final snaps.

McCaffrey would return to the game for two third down plays later in the first half. On both occasions, he handed the ball off, creating a rather odd sequence. Green would operate the offense on first and second down before McCaffrey entered for a running play to someone other than himself. The lack of cohesion was evident.

The offense did not move the ball well under Green, but the flip-flopping mid-drive didn’t seem to do either quarterback any favors. McCaffrey would get a series in the third quarter. When he was allowed to operate he moved Rice down the field with a big completion to August Pitre.

Field position and time of possession

Neither field position, nor time of possession, are particularly “sexy” stats. Most people, understandably, turn their eyes to touchdowns, yards and points in the boxscore at first blush. But those two less-than-glamorous stats proved pivotal for Rice in this game, and they’ll like be staples in how the Owls hope to play this season.

Rice football controlled the time of possession battle. The defense forced five three-and-outs in the first half, stopping the Razorbacks’ up-tempo offense from gaining much momentum. Then the Owls took over and grinding out the clock.

Rice dominated the field position as well. There were a couple of touchbacks they’d like back on Charlie Mendes punts, but the special teams and the defense more than made up for those with a white-hot start. Rice’s average field position in the first half was the 50-yard line. Night and day different from Arkansas’ average start of their own 17.

In the first half alone, Rice began drives at the Arkansas 49, Arkansas 24, Arkansas 7, Rice 48 and Arkansas 49.

Digging deeper

Every week we’ll have a stat, storyline or key learning from the game reserved for our subscribers.

Defense, Defense and more defense

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Rice Baseball 2021: Owls rally to walk off Incarnate Word in extras

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Rice baseball came from behind to beat Incarnate Word on Tuesday night, courtesy of a walk-off home run from Braden Comeaux.

Weekend pitching woes followed Rice baseball into one of their rare midweek games of the 2021 season. Their opponent, Incarnate Word, came out swinging, piling on 10 runs in their first three innings. Trailing 10-3 midway through the third, Rice pitching had been shelled for 43 runs in its last 18 innings, rolling up to a collective ERA north of 20. The situation was dire.

Stunned, but not stumped, Rice slowly began the process of digging out of the chasm. The Owls scratched across two runs in the home half of the third, two more in the fourth and another pair in the fifth. By the time the sixth inning rolled around, a blowout had turned into a contested game.

The Roost Podcast: Rice Football Spring Practice “Believe it or Not”

Rice went three-up, three-down in the seventh and stranded the basis loaded in the eighth. Trailing by three as they entered the ninth, the bats delivered. A double from Cade Edwards cut the deficit to one before Guy Garibay evened the score with a single up the middle.

Once trailing by seven runs, the Owls could sense the momentum had flipped. Rice put two men on in the 10th, setting the table for senior Braden Comeaux who came through. He walloped the ball over the left field fence, putting the exclamation point on the come-from-behind win.

What it means

The pitching staff is going to face a lot of scrutiny in the coming days, but there is something to be said for the quintet of Alex DeLeon, Dalton Wood, Guy Garibary, Micah Davis and Josh Larzabal who limited Incarnate Word to one run in their final six innings. They provided some much-needed good news on that front.

That said, if there were ever a must-win midweek game in April, this was probably it. In the thick of the toughest part of their schedule, snapping a losing streak in thrilling fashion was exactly what the doctor ordered.

ON DECK | Old Dominions

Rice baseball will hit the road this coming weekend to take on Old Dominion, ending a five-game homestand. This is the Owls’ second C-USA road series of the season. The Owls had previously played at Middle Tennessee in early April.

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Rice Women’s Basketball splits with North Texas, wins C-USA west

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Rice women’s basketball clinched Conference USA West over the weekend. For the third consecutive year, the Owls finished the regular season with C-USA’s best record.

It’s always a battle when Rice women’s basketball squares off with North Texas. That proved true again this time around when the two teams battled for the best record in Conference USA West in the final weekend of the regular season, with Rice once more coming out ahead.

Rice took an early lead in the opener, but couldn’t fully contain an 18-9 North Texas run in the second corner. Trailing at halftime and after three quarters, the Owls came alive with a near-perfect fourth quarter. Rice hit 10-of-12 shots from the floor including a pair of three-pointers to put the game away late and clinch the divisional crown.

North Texas got the better of the Owls’ in the series finale, taking an early 16-9 first quarter lead and staying just a step ahead. A banner day for Quincy Noble plus some timely three point shooting propelled the Mean Green to an upset win.

Player Spotlight | Nancy Mulkey

Mulkey has become so automatic for this team. Regardless of whether or not her shots are falling, she impacts the game every trip down the court. She had seven blocked shots on Thursday, including two big ones in the fourth quarter. She also tallied yet another double-double. On Saturday she had 12 points and two more blocks.

It’s become easy to take having someone as impactful as Mulkey on the court, but what she can do as an athlete is remarkable. Rice fans should soak up every minute they can.

Stat Corner | Tusseling with turnovers

Rice women’s basketball has done so many things well over the last three seasons in which they’ve been nearly unbeatable in conference play. As impressive as the Owls have looked in that span, though, they’ve struggled to consistently take care of their basketball. Fortunately, when you have a defense as tenacious as theirs has been, those self-inflicted wounds are easier to overcome.

Rice has finished in the bottom five in Conference USA in turnover margin three years running. This year they average five more giveaways than takeaways. That’s five extra possessions per game that go for naught.

The Owls turned the ball over 15 times on Thursday and 16 times on Saturday. Now imagine how much more challenging of an out they’ll be in the postseason if they aren’t giving away free possessions. When this team protects the basketball, they’re lethal.

Up Next

Rice women’s basketball walked off the court at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday for the last time this season. The next time they take the hardwood will be in the Conference USA Tournament, where they’ll represent the West as the No. 1 seed which includes a bye. They’ll play the winner of Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss on Thursday at 11 a.m. The Rice men play on Tuesday against Southern Miss at 7 p.m.

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Rice Baseball: Owls pound Prairie View A&M in get-right game

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Rice baseball pummeled Prairie View A&M on Wednesday. The Owls improved their record to 3-4 entering the Shriner’s Classic this weekend.

There weren’t any runs scored in the first two innings from either side on Wednesday night. But when Rice baseball struck in the third with its first trickle of offensive success, the dam broke almost immediately. The deluge of runs that followed was swift and decisive.

Rice scored six in the third, headlined by a three-run home run by Bradley Gneiting. Rice added another run in the fifth, another in the sixth and two in the seventh. By the time the Owls and Panthers were on their way to the eighth inning all nine members of the Rice lineup had at least one hit and at least one run. Rice would go on to win by a final score of 10-0.

Things went almost as well for the Owls on the mound as they did in the batter’s box. Mitchell Holcomb rebounded from a pair of middle-of-the-road Friday night outings, posting 3.1 scoreless innings. He did allow four hits, but struck out five. A combination of Brandon Deskins, Alex DeLeon and Dillon Janac kept Prairie View at bay through the remainder of the contest.

What it means

The last time these two teams met, Rice routed Praire View A&M 25-5. The Owls are the more talented team in every respect and should be able to take care of business at home in these matchups. On Wednesday night, that’s exactly what they did. Raising some averages and dropping some ERAs and rebounding from a tough weekend sweep in the process was a bonus.

ON DECK | Shriner’s College Classic at Minute Maid Park

Rice baseball returns to Minute Maid Park this weekend for the Shriner’s College Classic. They’ll play three in-state foes: Sam Houston (Fri), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Sat), Texas State (Sun).

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