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Insult and injury: Rice football blasted by Texas in Austin

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There were no clouds in the sky on Saturday night, but Texas rained down points on Rice Football all night long as the Owls struggled through another crushing defeat.

When Rice football lined up against Texas on Saturday night in Austin, nothing seemed amiss. Texas marched down the field and scored. Rice got a defensive stop and kicked off an efficient drive of their own. Then it all went sideways.

Not only would Rice not score a single point, but the Owls lost both their starting quarterback and backup quarterback to injury before halftime. After taking a 17-7 lead against Arkansas two weeks ago, Rice has been outscored 133-7. To say it’s been a rough month would be an understatement.

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

No risk it, no biscuit

The Rice offense was handed an early mulligan following their first three-and-out of the game. Thanks to a terrific interception generated by the pass rush of Ikenna Enechuwku, Gabe Taylor’s pick got the ball back for the Owls who had fallen behind early 7-0. Then Rice fell into third and long, again.

That was when Luke McCaffrey attempted his first pass of the game, a first down to Jake Bailey. He completed his second pass of the day on the next play, also for a first down, this time to Jack Bradley. Khalan Griffin ripped off a big gain.

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

Quip with the playcalling if you’d like, the crux of the issue was how the drive ended. Rice faced third-and-eight from the 10-yard line and dumped the ball off to Jordan Myers. On fourth-and-five, Rice settled for a field goal, which was missed.

Playing it safe and trusting the defense, especially one as reliable as Rice has, is usually a pretty sound strategy. When you’re playing Texas, though, sometimes the risks are worth taking. Rice opted not to take the risk. Texas responded with a 72-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive to take a 14-0 lead.

Quarterback quandaries continue

Luke McCaffrey led what probably should have been a scoring drive that ended in a missed field goal. Then he left the game, presumably with some injury, which remains undisclosed. Wiley Green came in as his relief and lasted a few drives before he also left with an injury. By the time Rice was closing out the first half, it was Jake Constantine making his Rice debut with the Owls trailing by six touchdowns.

Just three games into the 2021 Rice football season, Rice has turned to at least three different signal callers for the fourth consecutive season. McCaffrey looked fairly promising in his limited work, officially ending his night 2-for-3 for 20 yards with one 5-yard scramble on third down.

Without him or Green and the game out of reach midway through the second quarter, there wasn’t much else to take away from another incomplete offensive performance.

Not so special teams

Special teams have been one of the most promising aspects of the Rice football program under head coach Mike Bloomgren. Punter Jack Fox made the Pro Bowl last year. The tandem punting combo of Adam Nunez and Chris Barnes was one of the best units in Conference USA. Field goal kicking has taken some odd (to say the least) bounces but has largely been effective.

The 2021 iteration has been a complete misadventure. Perhaps we should have sensed something coming when Rice had not one, but four kicks blocked during their second scrimmage of fall camp. An issue with the holding was identified at that point and the problem was ostensibly fixed. That wouldn’t be the end.

Placekicker Collin Riccitelli missed a field goal on Saturday, his third miss in four tries on the season. The Owls’ punt team had a punt blocked, the second occurrence of the year following a block by Houston the week prior. Sean Fresch has been a plus in the return game, but he hasn’t had many opportunities.

Special teams have been exceptional. Former special teams coordinator Pete Lembo has moved up to South Carolina. His successor, Drew Svoboda, now coaches tight ends at Alabama. They’re going to have to figure something out without them.

0-3 is 0-3

Rice football left moral victories and “good” losses in the rearview mirror some time ago. The reality is, this program (and its fans) expects to be at a place where wins are counted on fingers and toes rather than feel-good emotion.

The schedule was daunting from the start. Reminders were built in along the way not to overreact to three games against, arguably, the toughest competition the Owls will face this year. But try as one might to look past the losses and find the good, it’s thankless work.

Four years into Bloomgren’s tenure at Rice, these were expected to be, at the very least, competitive and hard-fought battles. Instead, Rice was outscored in a landslide and struggled to put up many points of their own.

The sun will come up tomorrow. The Owls will begin their prep for Texas Southern. The schedule eases up considerably moving forward, but the margin of error has been significantly trimmed. If Rice really does have bowl aspirations, it’s time to put together a complete performance. Pronto.

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Rice Football 2021: Pre-Texas offensive tweaks and practice notes

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Rice football needs to rebound on offense in the worst way this week. Here’s what’s changing headed into the Texas game and some other practice notes.

Neither side of the ball was happy with how they performed against Houston last Saturday. Noticeably eager to put rinse the bad taste away, Rice football hit the practice field hard this week getting in work despite a minor disruption from Hurrican Nicholas.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today.

Scheme adjustments prior to the Texas game

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Rice Football: Houston onslaught dooms Owls to disappointing 0-2 start

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The Houston Cougars threw the first punch, battering Rice Football early and keeping the Owls out of sync from the start.

The pressure was on from the start when Rice football took on Houston in the battle for the Bayou Bucket on Saturday. The usually stalwart Rice defense took their licks early before settling into a groove. The offense did them no favors, staying away from the scoreboard until the final minute of the first half.

Clearly flustered early, Rice didn’t truly get their bearings set until the start of the second quarter. At that point, the butterflies had subsided, but the Houston offense had made its mark. Trailing 17-0 in the early minutes of the game, the Owls had dug a hole too deep.

Rice football falls to 0-2 on the season with a trip to Austin to play Texas looming. There’s been a lot of good mixed in, but the sour taste that turned up late in the Arkansas game remains in the mouths of the Rice faithful.

Although it was hard to envision at halftime in Week 1, the start to the 2021 season has been rather disappointing with Houston delivering a final gut punch with a walk-off pick-six on the final play.

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

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Owls stutter out of the gate

The beginnings of this rivalry game felt very one-sided, and that was true before the Rice deficit reached three scores. Houston pressed the ball down the field, finding holes in the Rice secondary and moving the ball well.

The Rice defense, usually chomping at the bit to make their presence felt swiftly, played rather loose. The typical early aggression was missing, and Houston capitalized. Rice entered the game having held 15 consecutive opponents scoreless on their first possession. Houston snapped that streak before anyone on either side broke a sweat.

Consecutive three-and-outs, followed by a Luke McCaffrey interception did nothing to help the slow defensive start. Perhaps it was nerves, or simply misfires, but McCaffrey put two balls on the hands of his receivers, one on each of the first two drives, but neither Zane Knipe or Jack Bradley was able to hang on. The entire unit just wasn’t in sync.

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

In a big moment, neither side of the ball was ready. Rice left the first quarter trailing 17-0. After running nine plays, they’d gained just 30 yards. Against Arkansas, Rice caught a lot of bad breaks, but they never looked unprepared. That wasn’t the case against Houston. By the time the second quarter rolled around, the defense looked fully engaged, but the early deficit would prove problematic.

Not winning in the trenches

Much was made of how Rice played for the majority of the game against Arkansas last week. Head coach Mike Bloomgren himself acknowledge that for three quarters, it didn’t look like a Conference USA team squaring off with an SEC foe. That was before the heat, injuries and several self-inflicted wounds turned the fourth quarter into a rout.

One week later, Rice looked like the fourth-quarter-against-Arkansas team in the trenches. The offensive line was bullied around from the beginning, constantly putting McCaffrey under duress. The line did open up holes for the Rice running backs from time to time, but the totality of the performance was decisively underwhelming.

On Saturday against Houston, it looked like Rice was fighting an SEC (or perhaps a Big XII) versus Conference USA fight. For a team that prides itself on toughness, on intellectual brutality, it was not an inspiring performance up front.

McCaffrey was sacked four times. Rice averaged 2.2 yards per carry before garbage time, and that number bumped up to 3.5 per attempt by the final whistle. Rice was hardly able to get anything going through the air or on the ground all night long, and the offensive line was carry a large portion of that responsibility.

McCaffrey isn’t the silver bullet, but he can be a difference-maker

When the news that McCaffrey was transferring to Rice football broke this summer, the anticipation was palpable. After churning through quarterbacks, from the transfer portal and the back ends of the roster, Rice was finally going to have a bonafide quarterback and one with more raw talent than perhaps any that had set foot on campus in a decade or more.

With one game as a starter under his belt, it’s abundantly clear that while McCaffrey might grow to become the Owls’ ace in the hole, he’s not going to be able to do it all on his own. Like 99 percent of other collegiate passers, he’s going to need some help.

McCaffrey’s second interception of the day looked like a clear misread. He went short and his receiver did not break off his route. Who made the mistake is unclear, but it’s something that should be ironed out over time. That’s exactly the kind of play the coaching staff had their concerns about when they opted to start Wiley Green against Arkansas rather than someone of McCaffrey’s skillset. Granted, knowing the scheme and executing it are different things, but it’s a factor nonetheless.

McCaffrey and the offense did settle down in the second quarter. He led Rice on an 11-play, 81-yard touchdown drive to close out the half, showcasing what made him special on multiple occasions, keeping this play alive:

Before finishing with a beautiful roll out touchdown to Jordan Myers:

The flashes of what could be are evident. As he matures and better understands the scheme, the Owls’ offense should continue to rise with him. Hopefully, that comes before conference play, just three weeks from now.

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Rice Football 2021 Fall Camp Report: Defense dominates in first scrimmage

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As has been the case in recent years, the Rice football defense stole the show in the first scrimmage of fall camp. Here are a few things we learned.

The first official scrimmage of fall camp is in the books and there’s a lot to unpack. As expected Wiley Green and Luke McCaffrey split first-team reps, but they were the only players who had their performances scrutinized on Saturday. There will be more on them coming soon. For now, a few notes of impressive performers and takeaways from who was (and wasn’t) available.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on the quarterback battle, camp standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

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Rice Football 2021 Spring Ball Review: Offense

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The Rice football spring practices are complete. What did we learn about the offense and where does it stand entering the summer?

The Rice football defense was more or less a known commodity entering the spring. The offense had more question marks. Some of those were answered — running back, wide receiver — while others remain unsettled.

We’ll tackle quarterbacks in a separate post. That battle was and will continue to be crucial to the Owls’ long-term prospects on this side of the ball. First, we’ll look at their playmakers and the guys protecting them in the trenches.

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The Roost has you covered from the start to end of spring practice and takeaways still to come. Subscribers get access to all spring practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

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