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Rice Football: Texas overwhelms Owls in lopsided affair

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Rice football couldn’t get things going on either side of the ball as the Owls fell in a one-sided game to the Texas Longhorns at NRG Stadium.

It was a tough night in Houston for the Rice Owls. Texas controlled the game against the hometown team from start to finish, thwarting the Owls every bright spot with a painful counterpunch of their own. After two “moral victories” this defeat stung a little bit more than the previous two. There will be plenty more to dissect in the coming days, for now, a few immediate reactions:

1. Offense comes out flat

Whether it was the absence of starting quarterback Wiley Green or the overt athleticism of the Texas front, Rice got nothing going on the offensive side of the ball. Rice went into halftime with 56 total yards of offense. The Owls ground game, their staple which kept them in a one-score contest against Army, was limited to 35 yards on 13 carries (2.7 yards per attempt).

The first down efforts bring into question something for which the Owls have yet to identify an answer: what do you do when you can’t run the ball? Against Wake Forest the Owls tested the waters threw the air and found moderate success. They didn’t try to attack the Longhorn secondary like they’d opened things up against Wake Forest, both times with backup Tom Stewart at the offensive controls.

The bright spot was a 45-yard bomb from Stewart to Trammell midway through the third quarter. The play was Trammell’s longest reception of his career. Rice wasn’t able to capitalize with points on the drive, a missed opportunity.

The offensive metrics weren’t good.

  1. 266 total yards
  2. 12 complete passess
  3. 2.8 yards per carry
  4. 5-of-13 on third down

This was a night where the Owls’ offense would gladly take a mulligan.

2. Pass rush woes

Good quarterbacks with time to throw are a bad combination for a defense. Rice found themselves in that uncomfortable situation throughout their Saturday tilt with Texas. The Owls tried a fair amount of things — different looks, stunts, extra rushers — the Texas offensive line held.

Ehlinger’s second touchdown pass of the day highlighted this struggle. You can count six different Owls around the pocket. Then Ehlinger unloads his big arm and sails a bomb over the head of Prudy Calderon, into the waiting arm of Jake Smith for a 53-yard touchdown.

Rice didn’t register any sacks against Army, understandable given the extremely few passing opportunities. The Owls were shutout in the sack department again in their second game against Wake Forest. It took 12 quarters, but Blaze Alldredge broke through with the Owls first sack of the season, taking down Texas backup Casey Thompson in the fourth quarter.

By and large, the front seven has been exceptional against the run. They just need to find a way to get to the quarterback more than once every three games.

3. Making them work for it on the ground

For as much as the struggled to generate a pass rush, the Rice front seven played the run well against an extremely talented Texas offensive line. Keaontay Ingram’s 26-yard fourth down touchdown run in the second quarter was well blocked and could have been mitigated had their not been a missed tackle in the secondary by Andrew Bird.

The talent discrepancy between the Owls and the Longhorns was clear when Texas through the ball. It wasn’t as apparent when they tried to run. Ingram’s touchdown was the longest Longhorn run of the night.

Film Room | Breaking down the Owls’ fourth down stop against Army

The grind of the game resulted in a smattering of 10-12 yard carries in the second half, inflating what started off a sub-three yards per carry allowed metric to 4.8 yards per carry by the end of the game.

When Texas tried to run up the middle, they didn’t get very far. The edge held well, too. Texas isn’t known for their power running, but the level to which the Owls were able to win on the line of scrimmage and clog rush lanes was impressive. That bodes extremely well for conference play.

4. Not there yet

In a season full of optimistic losses, this game didn’t feel nearly as rosy. Rice was competitive against Army and Wake Forest. They weren’t against Texas. The Longhorns were better on all phases and the results on the field showed that. Rice has a long way to go before they’re ready to go toe to toe with Texas, but that’s okay.

Rice knew how challenging the nonconference schedule was before the season started. An 0-3 start matches where most projections had the Owls at this point. If anything, one could argue the team is punching over their belt given how close they’ve come to winning any of these first three games.

There’s no rest for the weary. Rice will return to action next week against a Baylor squad that outscored SFA and UTSA by a combined score of 119-31. The Owls’ coaching staff will be back to the drawing board, tasked with correcting the offensive struggles and defensive breakdowns over the next week.

Beating Texas isn’t the measuring stick for this team, not yet. Let’s not throw out the positives from the first few weeks of the season because Rice lost to a team ranked inside the Top 15. Last year’s Conference USA Champs, UAB, trailed Texas A&M 34-7 after three quarters, and their season ended up being a tremendous success. The year is young. And hey, the Owls are winning in the classroom.

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The Roost Podcast | Episode 7 – 2019 Rice Football Wake Recap, Texas Preview

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Following a breakdown of Rice Football game against Wake Forest, Carter and Matthew look ahead at the Texas game and talk upsets with a special guest.

Rice Football is two weeks into the 2019 season. What have we learned about this team and what questions still remain? You can find all the previous musings on the podcast page.

In Episode 7, Carter and Matthew discuss the ramifications of the Wake Forest defeat and a few positive takeaways from the game. Then they look ahead, previewing the Owls’ Week 3 game at NRG Stadium against Texas on Sep. 14 at 7:00 pm.

Give a listen to Episode 7 below.

Episode 7 Notes

  • News and notes — The pick’em challenge is gaining steam, but we haven’t had a perfect week from anyone … yet. Don’t miss your chance to play along and compete for some end of season prizes.
  • Breaking down the Wake Forest game — Starting with the quarterback position and working all the way to the secondary, there was a lot to work through from the Owls’ second Friday night affair. What happened to the running game? After giving up 41 points, should we be concerned or encouraged by the play of the Rice secondary?
  • The formula for a Texas-sized upset — Sam, from the Scott and Holman Podcast visits and talked about the Houston Cougars’ 2016 upset of Top 10 Oklahoma. What did the Cougars do on that day (with Tom Herman at the helm) that enabled them to shock the college football world and knock off the Sooners? Can the Owls take away some key learnings?
  • Previewing the Texas game — The LSU game provided some meaningful data points about the Longhorns current team. Rice should have a few key areas of advantage, but there’s no doubt this will be the Owls’ toughest tests yet. How does potential starting quarterback Tom Stewart fit into the mix?

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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The Roost Podcast | Episode 6 – 2019 Rice Football Army Recap, Wake Preview

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Carter and Matthew break down the Army game and look ahead to Rice Football’s Week 2 tilt with Wake Forest in Episode 6 of The Roost Podcast.

Prognosticating is (somewhat) over and the time to break down real football games is here. The podcast hits its weekly rhythm now, settling into a series of shows in which we break down the previous game and look ahead at the next opponent. If you want to look back at any prior shows, you can find those on our podcast page.

In Episode 6, Carter and Matthew break down the heartbreaking one-score loss to Army, then jump ahead to the first home game of the 2019 Rice Football season. The Owls host Wake Forest on Sept. 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Rice Stadium. Get ready for the game by checking out the show.

Give a listen to Episode 6 below.

Episode 6 Notes

  • News and notes — Read more about Wake in our 2019 Rice Football Season Preview. Update on Week 1 of our season-long pick’em challenge on the forum. It’s not too late to jump in and join the fun.
  • Breaking down the Army game — Where does this game fit in the realm of “moral victories”? More importantly, we talk through which aspects of the Owls performance were encouraging and sustainable. What questions still remain for Week 2 and what solutions are there to some of the Owls early struggles?
  • Previewing the Wake Forest game — Wake is going to run a lot more plays and try to attack the Owls down the field. Can the same physicality Rice employed against Army translate to an opponent that is going to play this fast? What does the Rice offense need to adjust to keep pace?

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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Rice Football 2019: Owls miss chance to upset Army on the road

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Rice Football tussled with the Army Black Knights on Friday night at Michie Stadium, narrowly falling in a one-score game decided in the final minutes.

Rice football entered Friday’s tilt with Army as underdogs. The Knights were coming off an 11-win season and came close to being ranked in the first edition of the AP Poll. Rice had won twice in their past 13 games and was playing far away from home. From the first snap, neither of those converging storylines seemed to matter.

Not once did Rice look out of place or overwhelmed. The Owls went toe to toe with the Black Knights, sparring with their service academy foes and looking every bit their equals. Army sustained one lengthy scoring drive, never finding a rhythm on offense thanks to the swarming white-clad Owls defense.

Here are a few takeaways from the Owls’ season opener.

1. The new-look defense is ready to play

Like Carter and I discussed on The Roost Podcast, Army likes to roll the dice and go for it on fourth down more often than most teams. Coach Jeff Monken put that to the test early, opting to go for it on fourth and one inside their own 10-yard line on the Knights’ first drive. Myles Adams blew up the play in the backfield and Treshawn Chamberlain finished the stop.

The theme of bigger, stronger and faster was talked about throughout the offseason. Still, it was hard to know how much of a difference that would make on the field until Rice hit someone wearing a different colored jersey. Rice opened the Army game with a statement and continued to out-muscle their foes for the duration of the contest.

2. He’s back!

Rice knew their time with the football was going to be disjointed because of the nature of the Army offense. The Knights had limited success with the ball early. The Rice offense missed a golden opportunity to set the tone and force their opponents into an uncomfortable position and were forced to play from behind, just not for long.

Nahshon Ellerbe, who led Rice in rushing in 2017 before injuries kept him on the bench for almost the entirety of the 2018 season, provided the equalizer.

Ellerbe is one of the most physically imposing players on the team. His potential was brought up in a conversation with Bloomgren during fall camp. Bloomgren mentioned he’d seen all the highlight videos of what he could do in the open field but had never watched him run on the field with his own eyes.

Well, Bloomgren has seen Ellerbe now. And so has a packed Michie stadium. Ellerbe’s touchdown run woke the offense up out of their slow start and gave the Rice sideline a much-appreciated confidence boost. He went on to finish the game with nine carries for 103 yards and the aforementioned touchdown run.

3. A mixed bag on special teams

Continuity was the buzzword for the Rice special teams throughout the offseason. The Owls were replacing Ray Guy semifinalist Jack Fox and veteran placekicker Haden Tobola. They hoped to keep things rolling by transitioning former running backs coach Drew Svoboda to special teams coordinator.

Under Svoboda’s direction, the special teams were a mixed bag. Punter Adam Nunez, who transferred to Rice after starting at TCU for three seasons, was phenomenal. His first punt went 61 yards and his second went 51. Both balls pinned Army inside their own 10-yard line, giving Rice a huge edge in field position.

Chris Barnes got a turn to start the third quarter before Nunez came back in, downing two more punts inside the 10-yard line. He was as perfect as you could ask a punter to be.

The placekicking was a different story. Will Harrison missed a 26-yard chip shot and a 44-yard attempt in the first half. Had he converted either of those, Rice could have walked into halftime with the lead. Freshman kicker Zack Hoban was expected to challenge Harrison for the starting job but had a brace on his non-kicking foot during practice this week. Once Hoban is healthy the competition should resume.

4. Offense remains a work in progress

On a night in which the defense dominated, the offense led by quarterback Wiley Green struggled to consistently move the ball. The Owls did not show a noticeable improvement from their third down struggles from a year ago, converting three times in 11 opportunities.

Green completed seven of 15 passes for 62 yards. He had some pretty balls downfield, connecting on a big play to Austin Trammell in the first half but for the most part seemed to leave a lot on the field.

His passes had plenty of zip but lacked accuracy. He was off on two screen passes which effectively halted separate drives. The run-focused game plan seemed to inhibit his ability to get into a groove.

The running game was more or less efficient, but there were definitely plays where the offensive line got a better push up front than others. When all the parts were working in concert, big holes appeared, setting up the backs for easy first downs. In addition to Ellerbe’s scamper, Aston Walter had a 24-yard run which was called back by a holding penalty.

5. This is a different team

Rice showed flashes of ability on both sides of the ball last season. In the end, that’s all it was though, flashes. The biggest question mark facing this team this year was always going to be their ability to play for four quarters and finish. One week into the 2019 season and the Owls have mustered some sort of answer.

Every phase isn’t running smoothly, but as a team, the 2019 Rice Owls are better than they were a season ago.

More: Read more about the Owls’ next opponent, Wake Forest, in our 2019 Season Preview

The heavy underdogs played mostly penalty-free football and had a quality opponent on the ropes on the road. Rice isn’t going to play the triple option every weekend, but the kind of defense they displayed on Friday night will travel.

It’s disappointing to leave West Point without a win, particularly with how close the game was from start to finish. Rice played well enough that they should feel scorned by the narrow defeat. That in itself is proof of a marked improvement.

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Rice Baseball: Texas Longhorns edge Owls in Austin

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Rice baseball took a midweek contest with the Texas Longhorns down to the wire but couldn’t find the clutch hit, falling 3-1.

Another tough midweek test went against Rice as the Owls dropped a close one to Texas in Austin on Tuesday evening. The win gave Texas a sweep of the season series with Rice in their final scheduled meeting of the season. A third bout between the two Texas teams would require both teams to make the postseason. Here are a few things to take away from the defeat.

More arms to trust

In a rematch of an 11-4 February game at Reckling Park, pitching proved to be the deciding factor even though each staff was stretched thin. Rice used six arms; Texas threw five. None allowed more than one run and only the starters (Kel Bordwine for Rice and Ty Madden for Texas) allowed more than two hits.

The same Rice bullpen which was beaten up the first time around proved much more capable in their encore performance. After falling to FIU over the weekend, Coach Matt Bragga said he had five relievers he felt he could trust to produce consistently. That number could be growing.

Drake Greenwood allowed five runs in the first game with the Longhorns, but worked a scoreless inning on five pitches on Tuesday. Dalton Wood had a scoreless frame while Blair Lewis pumped strikes, allowing a single earned run in two innings. The pen isn’t perfect, but this was a step in the right direction.

A Justin Collins conundrum

Collins was hit on a ricochet in the series finale against FIU. He stayed in the game to catch, but was removed in the ninth inning without swinging the bat following the injury. Brandt Frazier suited up behind the plate against Texas. He’s hitting .152 on the season. Collins has a .267 average with a .408 on base percentage, leading the team with 27 walks. The advantage he provides at the plate and behind hit is significant.

Bragga has yet to give an indication on when Collins will return to the lineup. The longer he’s out, the larger the problem. He’s one of the few position players Rice can ill afford to lose for any meaningful amount of time.

Start a new streak

One loss has led to two for Rice too many times this season. In games following a loss Rice is 7-13, turning a single deficit into a losing streak four times in eight opportunities. The Owls have had losing streaks of 5, 2, and 7 and are in the midst of a three-game skid. Conversely, they’ve won more than three games in a row once this year.

Rice has always had some sort of answer to a bad week, but the margin for error has shrunk as the season grows older and older. Rice is seven games under .500 and six games back in the CUSA standings. If they’re going to rally, there’s no better time than the present.

UP NEXT | at Charlotte (Fri – Sun)
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