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Mike Bloomgren talks about finishing strong, Old Dominion press conference notes

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Rice football had the chance to go up against an SEC foe in Week 12. The team learned a lot, but now they look ahead to Old Dominion and the last game of the 2018 season.

Mike Bloomgren on the team’s performance against LSU

They stood toe to toe with those guys and they hit, and they hit, and they hit. I thought it was a physical football game.

Bloomgren on the upcoming game against Old Dominion

It’s going to be a great challenge for us. We know it’s going to be a four quarter battle. We want it to be a four quarter battle. We’ve got to get it to deep water and give our guys a chance to win this game. If we can play like we’re capable of on O and D and let special teams be the difference for us we’re going to be happy with those results.

Bloomgren on how big a win would be this weekend

For my sanity, it would be huge. For the direction of the program, it would be a big boost in recruiting. I think winning this football game would mean a lot to this program…It’s a constant battle of doing the things you win football games, preparing the right way. We always use the word process around here.

Bloomgren on his confidence in the program

I am disappointed that our record wasn’t better for these kids. I am not wavering in our belief that we’re going to get it done. We’re going to play in bowl games and we’re going to win championships here.

Captain Zach Abercrumbia on the significance of a win over ODU

Faith is believing in things unseen. Right now we’re holding onto the faith that we’re making progress. And we are… but to get a win would finally get us something tangible to hold on to.

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For Mike Bloomgren rebuilding is hard, but hope remains

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Rice football hit a new low on Saturday, falling to a previously winless UTEP team at home. Mike Bloomgren is taking the loss harder than anyone else.

“We’re just past the point of moral victories. I love that they fight, but we’ve just got to win games.”

The frustration in the room was palpable following Rice’s stunning near-blowout loss at the hands of the now 1-8 UTEP Miners. Rest assured fans, head coach Mike Bloomgren hears you loud and clear and he feels the pain as deep as anyone else associated with this program, if not more so.

“I never thought I would be associated with a team that has had this little success,” Bloomgren admitted following the loss,” This has been very difficult.” It was a difficult result in more ways than one for Owls everywhere. Prior to Saturday, UTEP’s last win came in November of 2016 — nearly two years ago. The toll a defeat to a program that had been so bad for so long is ringing loud and clear through the Rice locker room and through Bloomgren’s ears. The reverberations are going to continue for some time.

“UTEP made more plays than we did down the stretch and that seems to be a common theme,” Bloomgren said in the aftermath of the defeat, adding that his team has been “given a lifetime of lessons this year.” If the team doesn’t start learning from these gut-wrenching moments, Bloomgren knows they’ll be in for more of the same feelings. And that’s not fun.

“It’s no fun right now to do this,” he said, “The fun is in the winning… life is not fun for me right now because this is such a big part of my life. It’s not fun for our coaches; it’s not fun for our players. It’s just not fun. Fun is in the winning.”

Life is not fun for me right now because this is such a big part of my life. It’s not fun for our coaches; it’s not fun for our players. It’s just not fun. Fun is in the winning.

It’s been a challenging season for Bloomgren and his staff. This team has been repetitively punched in the mouth and asked to respond. For every step forward the Owls seem to take two steps forward, but that doesn’t mean the steps forward should be ignored. This team has shown signs of progress, something evidenced by their willingness to fight back from a 31-3 deficit and turning it into a one-score game in the fourth quarter.

Bloomgren says there’s no “magic pill” and he “wouldn’t be able to sleep if I threw these seniors out with the bathwater.” This staff won’t throw in the towel and write this season off as lost, no matter how gruesome the record might be. Instead, they’re going to keep working, keep making adjustments and keep showing up on the field every Saturday with winning intentions.

This team needs to see progress, at whatever the cost. “At this point, everything is on the table,” said Bloomgren. The Owls’ new head man inherited a 1-win team with a monumental rebuild awaiting him. It’s been harder than even he could have anticipated, but it doesn’t mean all is lost. This is the valley. There’s nowhere to go but up.

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Rebuilding starts in the trenches

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Rice football yearns to be a team that pounds the rock and relies on strong offensive line play. It’s taken some time, but the players in the trenches are starting to gel.

The phrase Intellectual Brutality traveled with Mike Bloomgren from Palo Alto to South Main. The practice is still a work in progress, and that’s largely because the Owls are still working to find their identity in the trenches.

The Rice offensive line started the year as a veteran-laden group of starters which has gotten progressively younger as the season has advanced. From left to right Uzoma Osuji, Jack Greene, Shea Baker, Joseph Dill and Sam Pierce started the Owls first six games together. Then some of the Owls’ true freshman pushed themselves into the mix and stayed there. Clay Servin from Richardson, Tx and Cole Garcia from Dallas, Tx each earned their first starts on the road against FIU at left tackle and left guard, respectively, and kept the starting jobs through the Owls’ next game at North Texas.

“I think this offensive line, with the five guys we’ve got right now, is the best five guys we can have on the field,” Mike Bloomgren said excitedly, adding that Pierce is playing at the best level he’s seen him play this year and center Baker continues to develop into a leader of the unit.

Rice FootballTo get to this point has been a journey. The message from Bloomgren and his staff has been clear to the entire team from day one, something offensive line coach Joe Ashfield echoed regarding his offensive line, “It’s a true meritocracy,” he confirmed, “It doesn’t matter what age you are or how long you’ve been here.”

As the season has progressed freshman have risen through the ranks of that meritocracy at several positions. This system isn’t easy, but the players that have picked it up the quickest have already made their marks on the program.

Players like Antonio Montero, Prudy Calderon and Treshawn Chamberlain have all risen from backups to starters on defense. Garcia, Servin and starting quarterback Wiley Green fought their way to the top of the depth chart in the same fashion. After weeks of churn, the Owls have found consistency. The next step is turning that familiarity into success.

For many of these young guys, adapting to the speed and tenacity of the college game has proven to be the most challenging learning curve. Understanding the schemes and protections are one thing, but being able to implement them in live action is another.

It’s a six-second street brawl every time we’re throwing the ballCole Garcia

Left guard Cole Garcia called it “a six-second street brawl every time we’re throwing the ball” while Servin emphasized the need to “put your hand in the dirt and just go.” That instinct and raw talent, refined with careful coaching, should produce fruit that will pay dividends for years to come. Balancing the long-term goals with the immediate needs is one of the challenges this staff is facing right now.

From a practical standpoint, the Owls need a combination on the line that can keep their quarterback upright. The current situation, as Garcia described it, is that the Owls are “really down to [their] last quarterback.” Something Garcia and the rest of the line take very seriously. “I want my quarterback to leave the game with the cleanest jersey on the field and no scuffs on his helmet,” he said with a jovial, yet serious demeanor.

The coaching staff believes they’ve found the right pieces to succeed. Now it’s time to see if those pieces can come together and play as one, protecting their young quarterback and giving this team an opportunity to win again. Bloomgren tasks every player with doing their one-eleventh, but the offensive line has to do their five-elevenths. If they can work as one, the future up front is bright, not just for this season, but for the very ethos of this Intellectual Brutality culture for years to come.

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Mike Bloomgren tasked with restoring Rice to relevancy

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Rice football made waves when they hired former Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren as their new head coach. Is he the difference maker the Owls have been waiting for?

Change spurs progress. That’s what Rice Owl fans have hung their collective hats on entering the 2018 season. For the first time in more than a decade the Owls have a new face at the helm of their team, Mike Bloomgren, the former offensive coordinator for the Stanford Cardinal. He’s been tasked with restoring a proud team to relevancy. The embers of hope have been jostled. Now it’s up to Bloomgren to fan them into flame.

Bloomgren brings an impressive track record to Houston. After beginning his coaching career in 1999 as a graduate assistant at Alabama, the well traveled coach has made stops at Catawba College, Delta State, the New York Jets and Stanford. In his most recent stop with the Cardinal he served as the offensive coordinator for one of the most consistent offenses in the country.

Under Bloomgren’s direction the Cardinal offense tallied a school record 2,904 rushing yards in 2013, his third year at Stanford and his first year as the offensive coordinator. He coached up Heisman contenders Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. The Owls witnessed how lethal a Bloomgren’s offense can be first hand, watching Love rush for 180 yards on just 13 carries in their season opener in Sydney, Australia last season. The architect of an elite, dynamic rushing scheme, Bloomgren brings an abundance of potential to the Owls’ offensive attack.

Raising the talent level immediately

The success Bloomgren has found hasn’t been limited to the football field. He’s one of the best recruiters in the nation and promises to raise the talent profile at Rice. Faced with similar academic standards at Stanford, Bloomgren’s Cardinal finished outside the top 50 recruiting classes just once, frequently climbing into the top 20 classes in the nation.

His best class came in 2014. Headlined by Solomon Thomas, Christian McCaffrey and Keller Chryst, the 2014 unit was ranked No. 13 in the nation. In 2014 Rivals.com named Bloomgren a National Recruiter of the Year. He received a similar designation again in 2016, being named a top 25 recruiter by again that season. Some guys understand how the game works, and that’s a skill that will translate from the Pac-12 to Conference USA.

To put things further into perspective, the Owls haven’t finished inside the top 100 classes since 2014 and it’s not because schools outside of the Power 5 can’t recruit at a high level. At least one school from outside the Power 5 conferences has finished with a top 50 recruiting class in five of the last nine seasons with some teams climbing as high as No. 42 overall, South Florida in 2014.

All it takes to crack the top 50 are a handful of blue chip recruits (players rated 4-stars or better). Bloomgren averaged seven such players in his six years as the offensive coordinator at Stanford. He’ll already be among the best recruiters in Conference USA if he can get one or two blue chip players to campus a season. Bloomgren has proven that he can get the big names.

The future starts now

Why not Rice? There was an era of college football not too long ago where football powerhouses controlled the sport. It’s true that the heavyweights still hold sway over much of college football today, but the gap is closing quickly. UCF completed the only undefeated season in 2017, besting SEC West Champion Auburn along the way. In their first year back from the dissolution of their football program, UAB tied for second in the Conference USA West and finished with eight wins, the best mark in program history.

Sometimes all a program needs is the right man in charge. Look at what Alabama has done with Nick Saban and UCF accomplished with Scott Frost. The Tide have churned out national championships at an alarming rate while the Knights when from 0-12 to 13-0 in a two-year span. Rice isn’t relegated to being an also ran. The program has officially made their push to return to prominence. With Mike Bloomgren leading the way, that could happen sooner than anyone on the outside is expecting.

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