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“We were not at our best”: Rice Football wrestling with AAC opening dud

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Rice football did not impress in their first-ever American Conference game, squandering a halftime lead in disappointing fashion.

Even before star quarterback JT Daniels left the game with an injury in the third quarter, it was a disappointing showing across the board for Rice football in its first-ever American Conference game. The Owls defense got torched for a staggering 597 yards. The running game posted just one (not a typo, that’s literally just one) total yard on the ground. Special teams contributed two missed field goals and a series of well below-average punts.

“Every phase of this game that we played today, offense, defense special teams, we were not at our best, to say the least,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said in the aftermath, specifically singling out his teams’ second half performance.

The Owls led 14-13 at halftime and were outgaining the Bulls while limiting their opponents to just 2-of-5 conversions on third down. When the second half arrived, everything fell apart, starting with the opening series in which USF raced down the field and took the lead before the team was (mentally) back from halftime.

USF scored touchdowns on three successive drives in the second half. Slicing and dicing a Rice defense that had no answers. Rice lost one-on-one matchups over and over again.

“I didn’t think anybody could do that to our defense,” Bloomgren said, stunned.

Even though it reached 29 points, the offense had its own woes. Bloomgren said he decided to “scrap the run game” because of how the Owls were having success down the field. That fizzled when Daniels left, giving way to backup quarterback AJ Padgett who took some time to settle into the game. Unfortunately for the Owls, time was not on their side.

The typically even-keeled Luke McCaffrey, who reeled in nine passes for a career-best 199 yards, owned up to the team’s lackluster day. “I don’t think next Saturday can come soon enough,” he said. “I think this is one of those games you want to make up for.”

Rice plays its first AAC home game next Saturday against East Carolina. JT Daniels’ status is uncertain, but no matter who plays quarterback, Rice has a lot to fix before they return to the field again.

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Rice Football 2023: South Florida Game Week Practice Report

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Rice football hits the road for their first-ever AAC game against South Florida. Here’s what we learned from practice this week.

Hoping to be 3-1 for the first time since 2001, Rice football heads to Florida to take on USF and first-year head coach Alex Golesh this weekend. The Owls had plenty of film to review following the Texas Southern win and had a few changes to make as a result.

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This week’s roundup focuses on how Rice football plans to address the tempo USF plays with as well as some potential personnel decisions at linebacker and running back that could be intriguing as the team prepares for Week 4.

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Tempo, tempo, tempo

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“An environment you’ll never forget”: Rice Football reacts to UH win

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Rice football earned a monumental program victory on Saturday, upsetting Houston to win the Bayou Bucket and sending South Main into celebration.

On Saturday night in the Brian Patterson Center, Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren and his players attempted to put into words the significance of the Owls’ double-overtime victory over the University of Houston.

There were the obvious talking points — Rice’s first victory in the series in eight tries, the first win over Houston since 2010 and the first Power 5 victory for Rice since 2013 — but the emotions emanating from South Main transcended what could be easily described.

“The quietest guys were jumping around and screaming,” corner Tre’shon Devones said, attempting to describe the postgame locker room. “I think I saw new personalities from people I’ve never seen before. You have guys that have only said like two or three words since I’ve been here and now they’re just jumping around, screaming. Some of them have some good dance moves. I didn’t know that either.”

“It was just an environment you’ll never forget.”

Bloomgren and his staff have been searching for a moment like this since he was hired prior to the 2018 season. Since his arrival, Rice had lost to Houston by final scores of 45-27, 44-7 and 34-27.

On Saturday, the Owls broke through. Rice scored 28 unanswered points, allowed 35 points in a row, and then stopped Houston on a two-point try in the fourth quarter to seal the monumental win that, for many on South Main, went beyond words.

“How beautiful is football, right?” wide receiver Luke McCaffrey asked with an almost stunned smile.

The win will go down as the most significant of the Bloomgren era to date.  “We’ve been close a lot of times,” Bloomgren admitted. On Saturday, they finished.

When asked to pinpoint what made this team different and what made this game unique, Bloomgren pointed to the unity he saw in his players. “This isn’t just about today, it’s not just about this week of prep, it’s all the things we do,” he said. “This is the cumulative effect of a bunch of guys making the decision to fight for each other. It’s a great result and really cool for this program.”

And how much fun was the post-game celebration? Bloomgren likened it to “a club that I don’t go to anymore,” laughing and smiling as he worked to keep his traditional even-keel demeanor.

Bloomgren talked about the progression he’s seen the program go through under his tenure at the Owls’ helm. From losing big to losing small to winning small and, hopefully, to soon winning big. Whether or not Saturday’s win counts in the small or big category is in the eye of the beholder, but nobody in the room seemed to care which it was as they hoisted the Bayou Bucket trophy high.

But it was after that raucous celebration and euphoric locker room that the why finally began to crystalize. When Devones took his turn at the microphone he shared a difference he saw in this team that he gleaned through the midst of the celebrations.

“The difference between now and then,” Devones said of prior Rice teams he’s been on, “Today when we won, we had people going around already thinking about things we can get better at. That’s a real stepping stone that I’ve seen. That just goes to show the mentality of the team now.”

“Yeah, we’re okay with winning, but this needs to be the standard now.”

There are no current games scheduled between Rice and Houston, although both administrations have publically expressed their desire to keep the series going. Regardless of when the next Bucket is played, though, a new high has been reached. If the Owls can turn that mountaintop into the new standard they’ll be more than ready to defend their trophy the next time they meet the Cougars.

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Rice Football tops Houston in 2OT, wins first Bayou Bucket since 2010

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Rice Football came out hot, fell behind, took the lead and held on, earning a massive rivalry win over crosstown rival Houston for the first time since 2010.

The final moments got hairy, but the scoreboard does not lie. Rice football notched a monumental rivalry win over Houston on Saturday night, claiming their first victory in the series since 2010. After leading 28, Rice allowed 35 unanswered points before slamming the door on a pass breakup in double overtime. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

The offense comes to life

The working theory regarding the Rice football offense this week was more or less this: once the Owls’ offensive line faced a less-than-super-human pass rush and JT Daniels had time, the Owls’ would start putting up points. It didn’t take long for that theory to be tested on Saturday and the early returns were overwhelmingly positive.

On the first series of the game, Daniels stepped up into the pocket, avoided pressure and found an outlet across the middle, getting the ball to Juma Otoviano who scampered 35 yards into the redzone. Two plays later Daniels again climbed the pocket, scanning the field and found Luke McCaffrey darting across the field toward the sideline. He slung it his way and McCaffrey did the rest for the Owls’ first score.

It wasn’t a first-drive fluke, though. The Rice offense had three possessions in the first quarter and put the ball in the box on each attempt. Daelen Alexander picked up his first career score on a fourth-and-one plunge and McCaffrey added another touchdown on this spectacular grab:

Touchdown after touchdown after touchdown after touchdown. The Rice offense didn’t just kick off some dust, it went into overdrive right up until turnovers and penalties killed the positive vibes. Short of the self-inflicted wounds, the unit was productive. It’s hard to ignore a scoreless second half and an overtime that never should have happened, but the offense delivered in overtime and Rice walked away victorious.

When asked the difference between Daniels’ play from last week to this week, head coach Mike Bloomgren quipped, “he was playing the game standing up, to be quite frank. He got to play quarterback.”

Defense joins the fray

The offensive explosion came, in part, because that unit was able to get into a rhythm. There weren’t any long waits confined to the bench while they waited for their next turn. Instead, the defense quickly did their job and handed the ball right back to the offense as both sides operated with a synergy that hadn’t been seen to such a degree in quite some time.

The defense pitched a shutout in the first quarter and didn’t allow points until Houston’s final drive of the second quarter, one that required a pair of fourth-down conversions including one via penalty.

Before the Cougars were able to get on the board, the Rice defense recorded its first takeaway of the season — an interception by Tre’shon Devones — and added a three-and-out on the very next possession. Houston managed just 32 yards of total offense in the first quarter. Rice had 186.

As the game progressed, the defense was strained. Houston drove the length of the field on their first drive of the second half and opted to go for it on fourth and goal, trailing by three scores.

After bringing the heat, the Owls dropped into coverage and gave Houston quarterback Donovan Smith nowhere to throw it. The Cougars turned the ball over on downs, ending a seven-minute drive without points. The defense turned Houston over on downs again on the very next drive.

It wasn’t until the offense endured a prolonged scoring drought that we saw the defense start to sag. That was the same story in the opening game against Texas, but fortunately for the Owls, it wasn’t enough to sink them on Saturday. When the defense needed a play, they got it, with Jojo Jean breaking up a pass in double overtime to win the game.

Houston, we have a quarterback

When Rice football kicked off the season, the Owls were the owners of one painful, notorious quarterback stat: Rice had started more quarterbacks than any other FBS institution since 2017. For one reason or another, the search for stable play under center had evaded Bloomgren since his arrival at Rice.

Rice had tried journeymen. They’d tried freshmen. The Owls had started pocket passers and runners, two of which made their way into the Owls’ receiving corps on Saturday night. Injuries and ineffective play had rendered the fruits negligible. For an offensive-minded head coach, the lack of production on that side of the ball was maddening.

So when JT Daniels arrived on South Main, there was ample reason to be cautious. Even though he brought his blue-chip recruiting profile, his multiple stops to reach Rice caused many to raise their eyebrows. Against Texas, the entire offense went flat. But Bloomgren kept the faith. On Saturday, he was rewarded.

Daniels lit Houston up to the tune of 401 yards (sixth most in school history) and three touchdowns. He led Rice to 28 first half points in the rivalry for the first time since 2008. He was surgical, slicing and dicing a Houston defense that secured a victory over Rice with its own finishing blow just last season. That wasn’t the case on Saturday.

With the game on the line, Daniels delivered in overtime, securing one of the Owls’ biggest victories of the Bloomgren era. For all the good and bad from Saturday night, the simple truth was this: Rice football asked a quarterback to go win them the game in overtime and he delivered.

The Owls have landed

Streaks are meant to be broken. For the first time since a 2013 victory over Kansas, Rice football has notched a win over a Power 5 opponent. The string of defeats since had spanned 18 games, including the Owls’ prior outing last weekend against Texas. Saturday’s result was quite the opposite.

For the first time since 2010, Rice football has beaten crosstown rival Houston, snapping a seven-game losing streak to the Cougars. Getting the Bayou Bucket back on this side of South Main is exciting, serving to validate years of building under head coach Mike Bloomgren while (hopefully) providing a launching point for their inaugural season of American Conference play.

Rice football sits at 1-1 with two nonconference games remaining before it’s time to take on the AAC. The Owls want to make some noise in their new conference. Wins like this suggest this is a program that should be up for the challenge, although consistency, not ability, has been this program’s nemesis in prior seasons.

Today, though, Rice football can and should feel pretty good about where they stand. They beat Houston and proved they can play with one of the most talented teams remaining on their schedule. Celebrate tonight. Then it’s time to prove they can become the program they’ve been building toward.

“We probably made it a little more interesting than we needed to, but to win the Bucket for the first time in 12 years and get it back to Main Street, which was one of our goals for this season, that’s a big deal for a program. To beat a Big 12 team is a big deal for our program.”

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Rice Football 2023: Houston Game Week Practice Report

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Rice football comes home this week to play the Bayou Bucket rivalry game against Houston. Here’s what we learned from practice this week.

This week was spent refining some things as Rice football prepares for its 2023 home opener, an important intra-city rivalry game with Houston. The Owls came close a year ago and believe they have what it takes to get over the hump this time around.

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This week’s roundup focuses on a shakeup at one offensive possession, some learnings from the Texas game and some healthy updates as the team readies for Week 2.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

What’s going on at wide receiver?

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