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Rice Football 2020 Game Preview: Southern Miss

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Rice Football hopes to bounce back from a tough opener with a road win against Southern Miss. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

The return to the gridiron was a painful one for Rice football last Saturday. They almost completed a late rally to beat Middle Tennessee, but a bad bounce and too many self-inflicted wounds pushed victory just outside of their reach. They’ll hope to rebound this week against another C-USA squad suffering a painful loss.

After having their last two games postponed, Southern Miss returned to the field without quarterback Jack Abraham, who did not make the trip with the team to face Liberty. The Flames dropped 56 points on the Golden Eagles, who fell to 1-4 entering Week 9.

Broadcast Info

Kickoff time | 2:00 PM CT
Venu | M.M. Roberts Stadium – Hattiesburg, MS
TV | ESPN3 (Streaming)
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Southern Miss on Episode 58 of The Roost Podcast which will be released on Thursday. Find us on the podcast page or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. (And consider leaving us a 5-star review while you’re at it.)

Visual Preview

Last week we launched the debut episode of Inside the Hedges, a weekly live show with myself and former Rice football quarterback Taylor McHargue. Check it out Wednesday nights at 7:00 p.m. here or watch it at your leisure on the Rice Athletics Youtube page.

Join the Conversation

What are your keys to victory this week? What pitfalls must the Owls avoid? Did you like that third down call? Share your thoughts on the matchup on the forum and make sure you tune in Saturday for our live game blog keeping track of every score and key moment.

Sizing up the contenders

Rice is still reeling from their loss to Middle Tennessee, but they’re going to have to get-right quickly. Falling to 0-2 to start a season that began with so much promise would be doubly painful, especially with only six games on the docket to date. Rice needs a bounce back in the worst way.

Southern Miss played last week without their starting quarterback or their head coach. The recipe for disaster was there, and still the Golden Eagles made a game of it in the second half before Liberty pulled away. Battling COVID-19 issues and the challenges of a coaching change make this squad hard to size up, but the talent is certainly there on offense.

Series History

All Time | Southern Miss leads 6-4
Last Five | Southern Miss leads 5-0
Last Meeting | Home 2019, Southern Miss won 20-6

Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Collins – 18/35 (51.4 percent), 242 yards passing, 4 TD, 1 INT
Rushing | Otoviano – 20 carries, 84 yards (4.2 yards per carry)
Receiving | Trammell – 3 receptions, 76 yards (25.3 yards per reception), 2 TD | Myers – 6 receptions, 65 yards (10.8 yards per reception)
Tackles | Alldredge – 13, Lockhart – 12, Chamberlain – 9
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Devones – 1 PBU

Southern Miss Stat Notables

Passing | Abraham – 85/132 (64.4), 1112 yards passing, 7 TD, 3 INT
Rushing | Gore – 46 carries, 208 yards (4.5 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Brownless – 17 receptions, 301 yards (17.7 yards per reception), 3 TD | T. Jones – 14 receptions, 299 yards (9.6 yards per reception), 2 TD
Tackles | Maples – 38, Shorts – 37, Hemby – 29
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Brooks/Scott – 4 PBU, Barnes/Latham/Scott – 1 INT

Southern Miss X-Factor | Big-time quarterback play

Whether it’s Jack Abraham or Tate Whatley, Southern Miss is going all-offense this year under interim coach Scottie Walden. No matter who takes the snaps for Southern Miss, their ability to find holes in the Rice secondary will play a massive role in determining the outcome of this game.

Middle Tennessee’s Asher O’Hara’s success through the air was the difference against a young Rice secondary, but when those balls didn’t fall, Rice was able to get pressure and give themselves an opportunity to win the game late.

Fortunately for Southern Miss, they have a host of playmakers at their disposal on the edges. Freshman running back Frank Gore Jr. has played well to this point too. Southern Miss just needs to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers in space. If they can, they’ll expose mismatches in the Rice secondary.

Rice X-Factor | Eliminate self-inflicted mistakes

Rust was always going to be a factor for the Owls coming off a seven-week delay to start their season. The Owls had chances to beat Middle Tennessee at home last week, but three turnovers proved costly.

The usually sure-handed Austin Trammell muffed a punt. Mike Collins’ erratic start included an interception thrown way beyond his wide receiver streaking down the field. A second half strip-sack that resulted in a walk-in touchdown for the Blue Raiders defense was equally jarring. And still, with all of those mistakes, Rice found a way to take a late lead.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about this team, but we do know that losing the turnover battle by two is going to be hard for any team to overcome. The Rice defense needs to create more opportunities themselves, but even if they don’t, the Rice offense and special teams can’t spot the other team extra possessions.

Injury Report (Subscribers only)

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Need More?

The Roost’s 2020 Rice Football Season Preview has four pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth charts, important new arrivals and depth chart breakdowns for every team in Conference USA. Better yet, it’s not just speculation, each profile was created with insight from local experts who cover those teams day in and day out. Pick up your copy today and get four pages and more than 1,000 words on every foe.

Pick ‘Em Contest

If you haven’t yet, make sure you submit your entry for The Roost’s weekly pick’em challenge. Choose an answer to each of the six questions below and submit them on the forum thread to enter.

  1. How many passing yards does the Rice defense allow?
    Over 274.5 / Over 274.5
  2. Which team commits the first turnover?
    Rice / Southern Miss (or neither)
  3. Who has the more total tackles for Rice on defense?
    Alldredge / Montero (or tie) 
  4. What will be the distance of the longest scoring play?
    Over 29.5 yards / Under 29.5 yards
  5. How many first downs will the Rice offense achieve?
    Over 19.5 / Under 19.5
  6. Who wins?
    Rice / Southern Miss

Final Thing

We knew this season was going to be hard to evaluate at its onset. After one game, it looks like Rice has taken a step forward on offense and a step back on defense, primarily because of the young secondary. Both sides of the ball will have things to improve against Southern Miss.

On offense, can Collins get locked in more quickly? Starting 2-of-10 and settling for early field goals allowed Middle Tennessee to hang around.

On defense, Rice has to eliminate the wide open receptions. Asher O’Hara had two uncontested touchdown heaves. You can live with mistakes here and there, but at a bare minimum, receivers shouldn’t be allowed free passage to the endzone.

If Rice can improve in both those areas, they’ll have a chance to win. They had a chance to win on an off night last weekend. We’ve seen enough of what this team can be. It’s time they put that finished product out on the field.

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Rice Football: Bad bounces, poor results and rough goings

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Rice Football dropped its 2020 season opener to Middle Tennessee, proving once again that both bad luck and bad process can end in heartbreak.

Just once last season did Rice football allow a Conference USA opponent to score 34 points. UAB scored 35 in a soggy, rain-delayed contest at Legion Field. Rice reached that threshold themselves for the first time under Mike Bloomgren on Saturday night against Middle Tennessee. Entering the MTSU game, Rice was 3-0 under head coach Mike Bloomgren when scoring 30 points.

Given those two pieces of information, a big night from the Rice offense and a historically stingy Rice defense, one would have thought the odds would have favored the Owls. Nope.

“I think the statement the ball didn’t bounce our way is probably true,” Bloomgren said in his postgame comments. He’s right about that.

He’s also right about there being plenty of things Rice could have done differently to win the game.

As Bloomgren often says, football is a zero-sum game. You either win or you lose. On Saturday, Rice lost.

“Does it hurt more? Losing sucks. It hurts. It hurts bad.”

After they recover from oggling over the quadruple doinked field goal, the masses will debate the list of failures that went into the Owls’ 10th loss in their last 14 games. Context, something oft spared in the moment, does paint a more uncertain picture.

Rice went into the Middle Tennesse game without Naeem Smith, George Nyakwol, Tyrae Thornton, Andrew Bird or Jason White. With the exceptions of Tre’shon Devones and Treshawn Chamberlain, Rice fielded a secondary that did not see meaningful action at all last season. Three members — Sean Fresch, Miles McCord and Kirk Lockhart, were making their first career starts.

Middle Tennesse and Asher O’Hara thew all over that secondary.

Bloomgren is well aware of that problem, and vowed to work with defensive coordinator Brian Smith to make the necessary changes so that Rice can, in his words, “find a way to not have press conferences like this.”

The Rice defense has struggled through the air before. The 2018 unit fell victim to the home run ball again and again. Then last year, Nyakwol stepped up his game. Smith burst onto the scene. Devones emerged as a true cover corner. They found players to fix that problem. Passes seldom went over their heads last fall. Most of those solutions did not play on Saturday.

Tack on a poorly overthrown interception by Collins, a strip-sack returned for a touchdown and a muffed punt and you get a back-breaking loss from a program that entered the game with the second-longest active winning streak by an FBS team in Texas.

The three turnovers are roughly 2.5 times as many as the Owls averaged last year (1.3).

Team captain Blaze Alldredge took the burden on himself. ” I was raised on tough love so I just got to call it what it is,” he said, “the defense didn’t play well enough.”

Fellow captain Austin Trammell echoed it. “We gotta fix our mistakes.”

The conservative play calling in overtime is always going to draw criticism in losses. Deservedly so. But in many ways that bad bounce summed up a lot of things that went wrong on Saturday night, and ironically enough, fell on the foot of a player who had performed well on all of his attempts to that point.

Rice football did a lot right. They did a lot wrong. Sometimes things can just be weird. Just like 2020. How likely would it be for a team to lose their entire starting secondary, trail at halftime, make adjustments, throw for four touchdowns (the most by a Rice quarterback since 2016), convert a fourth-and-24 to force overtime and find yet another way to lose in heartbreaking fashion.

About as likely as a doink. doink. doink. doink.

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Rice Football 2020: Overtime doinks doom Owls’ against MTSU

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Rice football almost rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat Middle Tennessee before an infamous bad bounce soured the Owl’ opener.

Things started off well for Rice football in their season opener against Middle Tennessee. The Owls received the opening kick off, marched down the field and took the lead. The Owls defense was able to hold Asher O’Hara at bay early, but the inexperienced secondary was soon under fire as Rice went into halftime trailing 14-13 courtesy of two long O’Hara touchdown passes.

Middle Tennessee hit some deep passes in the second half, but the Rice defense was able to hold their own and keep the team in the game. The Owls were able to claw back from a two-score deficit and get one more crack at the win in the final minutes. Rice took over trailing 31-26 with 2:24 to play.

The Owls went forwards, then they went backward. Then Mike Collins found Austin Trammell up the middle for 48 yards and again for the go-ahead touchdown. Pushed to the brink, Rice rallied to take the lead. MTSU would force overtime where Rice had the chance to win… then this happened:

This stunk. Here’s what we learned.

Mike Collins is a baller

There was a lot of good things said about Rice quarterback Mike Collins as he progressed through the spring and into fall camp. He’s taken command of the offense well and understands the protection schemes and the system. The biggest question mark going into the year was his accuracy, a problem in the spring which had looked better in fall camp.

Collins completed just two of his first 10 passes against Middle Tennessee. A career 56.6 percent passer across 10 games at TCU, Collins ended his Rice debut completing 51.4 percent of his throws. After the woeful start, he completed 16-of-25, ending the day with 242 passing yards and four touchdowns.

The protection was okay, but Collins did take a few big hits. One of them resulted in a strip-sack and a fumble, shifting all the momentum to the visiting team midway through the third quarter. There will be better days ahead for Collins and this passing attack. Today, they looked a bit rusty, but he came through in key situations down the stretch.

Corner quandary

Middle Tennessee didn’t test the young Rice corners very much in the first quarter, but once they did, they didn’t stop. Starters Miles McCord and Sean Fresch were both making their first D1 starts of their career, and for all the encouraging moments, that lack of experience showed.

O’Hara is not a superb deep-ball passer. There’s a reason that most of his balls stay closer to the line of scrimmage. But even he was unafraid to take his shots.

Both of the Blue Raiders’ first half touchdowns were shots from O’Hara to the endzone daring the Owls’ secondary to make a play. Although there were Rice shirts in the vicinity on both plays, neither reception was contested. That can’t happen in the redzone.

Allowing O’Hara to drive the length of the field in 30 seconds to set up a tying field goal was a sore spot as well.

The depth chart is thin and there doesn’t appear to be an immediate answer on the horizon. The corner play simply has to get better. It will be interesting to see how defensive coordinator Brian Smith adjusts the defense to help minimize the risks on the outside when the Owls take on a much better downfield thrower next week in Southern Miss quarterback Jack Abraham.

New faces

Injuries and exciting moments in fall camp put several younger players on the top of mind entering the season.

Khalan Griffin didn’t see much involvement until the fourth quarter, but it’s hard to fault the coaching staff for relying heavily on Juma Otoviano. Healthy and running well, Otoviano carried the ball 20 times for 84 yards with a long of 16. He was elusive in the open field and made big plays for this offense.

Griffin’s role will grow and his underutilization on Saturday shouldn’t be viewed as a knock on his ability. One needs look no further than his drive to start the fourth quarter. He got on the field and promptly ripped off two big runs, the first for 10-yard and the second a 20-yard scamper up the middle. He’s going to be a key piece of this offense in 2020 and beyond.

Sean Fresch got introduced to the speed of the college game quickly. As a whole, the corners did not hold up well. He was exposed underneath a few times, but that’s going to happen when the secondary is preoccupied with giving up the long ball. From my memory, and I’ll have to look back at the tape on this one, he wasn’t burned as often down the field as some of the Owls’ other options.

Jake Bailey was perhaps the most impactful youngster. He’s not a freshman, but his role is going to be significantly different in his second season on South Main. Bailey was a favorite target of Collins on Saturday but caught only two passes for 26 yards on five targets. He was also active in the return game, leading the team with 76 kick return yards. His 97 all-purpose yards were second most on the most on the team.

Closing thoughts

Rice football made history when they kicked off against Middle Tennessee on Saturday. Never before had a team opened its season against a team that was playing their seventh game. Getting to this point, in spite of all the challenges presented by COVID-19 was huge for the program. Remember, it was only a month ago that we were wondering whether or not there would be a season at all.

No season might sound palatable after that gut-punch. But Rice football fans should take away two things from this game. First, after all the ups and down, Rice could have, and probably should have won. Be upset. For as far as the Owls have gone, there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Second, the fight to rally in the fourth quarter and get to this point was infectious. It’s hard to imagine not paying dividends down the road. Less self-inflicted wounds would have enabled Rice to finish things off. That said, the road will get tougher. The Owls won’t be playing a 1-5 Middle Tennessee team every week.

Digging deeper

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

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Rice Football 2020: Middle Tennessee Depth chart released

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The first official depth chart of the 2020 Rice Football season has been released. Given the injuries and uncertainties, there’s a lot to unpack.

We’ve reach the end of fall camp and the beginning of Week 1 prep for Rice football. On Monday the Owls released their first depth chart for the 2020 season. Some positions aligned perfectly with expectations: Mike Collins is the QB1. Others provided more intrigue.

Practice updates reserved for subscribers. Sign in to see this content or visit our Patreon page.

Typically the weekly depth chart doesn’t come out until Tuesday when Rice will hold its weekly press conferences. Those came out a bit earlier than expected this week with everything going virtual. To that end, subscribers will want to stay tuned to practice reports later this week to see who will be in and out when game day arrives.

Don’t forget to put your entry in for the 2020 pick’em challenge

Here’s how Rice football will line up against Middle Tennessee

Rice Football depth chart

Expected results

Mike Collins is the Owls starting quarterback

This was never really in doubt during fall camp. Head coach Mike Bloomgren made it official last week. Now it’s been published in ink with no OR designation. Mike Collins will be the guy against Middle Tennessee. The third string man, if it had been listed, would have been Wiley Green, who started the Owls’ opener last season. That’s a pretty solid quarterback room after a few years of flux.

Surprises

Fullback

Brendan Suckley hasn’t been spotted so far during camp, so I wasn’t expecting him to be on the depth chart against Middle Tennessee. Brian Hibbard, who had taken reps in his place, was out last week as well. That left Jerry Johnson working with the ones. The move to insert Jaeger Bull is a surprise to be sure, but his skillset as a blocker and h-back type players makes the move a reasonable one.

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Rice Football 2020 Game Preview: Season opener vs Middle Tennessee

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Rice Football is set to open its 2020 season on Saturday against Middle Tennessee. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

After delaying their season of four separate occasions, Rice football intends to play football this coming Saturday. The Owls are the last Conference USA school that intends to play this fall to get underway. Once they kick off, Old Dominion will be the lone C-USA team to forgo football this fall.

The Owls’ first opponent, Middle Tennessee, began their season on Sep. 5, almost two months (49 days to be precise) before Rice begins its campaign. Even given the extra time, Middle Tennessee is only one game up in the win column in seven tries. They beat FIU in Week 6, falling to 1-5 this past weekend with a road loss at North Texas. On the plus side, they’re one of two Conference USA schools that hasn’t had a game postponed by COVID-19 protocols.

Broadcast Info

Kickoff time | 2:30 PM CT
Venu | Rice Stadium – Houston, Tx
TV | ESPN3 (Streaming)
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Middle Tennessee on this week’s episode of The Roost Podcast which will be released on Thursday. Find us on the podcast page or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. (And consider leaving us a 5-star review while you’re at it.) If you haven’t yet, consider checking out our extended offseason interviews with notable Owls like Anthony Rendon, Taylor McHargue, Christian Covington, Erica Ogwumike and more!

Sizing up the contenders

Rice football will experience one of the more peculiar oddities of the 2020 season first hand. Their opponent has played six games before Rice has played any. Rice gets the added advantage of six games worth of film — Middle Tennessee hasn’t seen Rice quarterback Mike Collins take a single snap in the Owls’ offense.

On the other hand, Rice will have plenty of early-season rust to knock off. Injuries have left question marks on the depth chart that might not be resolved before Saturday. Quarterback Asher O’Hara and the Blue Raiders look dreadful in their season opener against Army and have gotten better in every game since. Which side has the edge? Time will tell.

Series History

All Time | Rice leads 1-0
Last Five | Rice leads 1-0
Last Meeting | Road 2019, Rice won 31-28

Rice Stat Notables (Returning 2019 Leaders)

Passing | Green – 75/142 (52.8 percent), 787 yards passing, 4 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Johnson – 27 carries, 159 yards (5.9 yards per carry), 2 TD
Receiving | Trammell – 60 receptions, 726 yards (12.1 yards per reception), 4 TD
Tackles | Alldredge – 102, Montero – 83, Chamberlain – 65
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Nyakwol – 6 PBU, Smith/Chamberlain – 2 INT

Middle Tennessee Stat Notables (2020)

Passing | O’Hara – 120/168 (63.8), 1176 yards passing, 9 TD, 8 INT
Rushing | O’Hara – 117 carries, 407 yards (3.5 yards per carry), 4 TD | Mobley – 50 carries, 277 yards (5.5 yards per carry), 3 TD
Receiving | Pierce – 40 receptions, 389 yards (9.7 yards per reception), 2 TD | Ali – 19 receptions, 243 yards (12.8 yards per reception), 1 TD
Tackles | Grate Jr – 47 | Thomas – 43 | Blankenship – 43
Interceptions/Pass Breakups | Grate Jr, Riley – 2 INT /  Riley – 3 PBU, Shepherd – 3 PBU

Middle Tennessee X-Factor | Can anyone else please step up?

The 2019 Middle Tennessee offense was built on the back of Asher O’Hara. He had 29 total touchdowns, including nine on the ground. The rest of the offense tallied seven rushing touchdowns and none of the MTSU running backs surpassed 300 total yards. All were dwarfed by O’Hara’s 1058 rushing total.

Head Coach Rick Stockstill brought in some transfers in the backfield and vowed to give his quarterback some help. So far, not much has changed. No rusher other than O’Hara is averaging more than 30 yards per game on the ground. That’s not a high bar. Jarrin Pierce has been the most sure-handed pass catcher but has just two scores so far.

O’Hara tried to will his team past the Owls last year and it didn’t work. He’s going to need some help. If another skill player or two can come to his aid, the Blue Raiders will be much more dangerous on offense and have a better chance to win this game.

Rice X-Factor | Be Like Mike

Rice football has been after consistent quarterback play for some time. The Owls think they’ve found their answer in the form of TCU grad transfer Mike Collins. The veteran signal-caller impressed in fall camp, winning the job midway through. Now he’ll get his first chance to don the Rice uniform and put his strong practice record to the test.

Collins has better arm talent than previous Rice quarterbacks, but he’ll be without last year’s leading receiver Bradley Rozner who had wrist surgery before opting out of the 2020 season. With so many moving parts around him, it’s hard to pin down who will emerge to come to his aid, but having an answer at quarterback is the first step to solving the weapons problem.

If Collins can be what Rice expects him to be, this offense can work. If the offense works, and the defense continues on the trajectory it was on last fall, Rice could be looking at the most complete team of Bloomgren’s tenure.

Pick ‘Em Contest

If you haven’t yet, make sure you submit your entry for The Roost’s weekly pick’em challenge. Choose an answer to each of the six questions below and submit them on the forum thread or the Patreon page to enter.

  1. How many points does Middle Tennessee score?
    Over 20.5 / Under 20.5
  2. Who leads Rice in rushing?
    Juma Otoviano / Khalan Griffin / Other
  3. How many sacks will the Rice defense register?
    Over 2.5 / Under 2.5
  4. Which team wins the turnover battle?
    Rice / Middle Tennessee / Tie
  5. Who scores first in the second half?
    Rice / Middle Tennessee
  6. Who wins?
    Rice / Middle Tennessee

Injury Report (Subscribers only)

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?

Need More?

The Roost’s 2020 Rice Football Season Preview has four pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth charts, important new arrivals and depth chart breakdowns for every team in Conference USA. Better yet, it’s not just speculation, each profile was created with insight from local experts who cover those teams day in and day out. Pick up your copy today and get four pages and more than 1,000 words on every foe.

One Final Thing

2020 was meant to be the year Rice football went bowling. Revised requirements have made the Owls bowl-eligible before they play their first snap of the season. With that threshold somewhat removed, the only tangible measure beyond wins and losses is a conference championship.

It would be a stretch to demand perfect with a schedule in flux and so many uncertainties, but how close Rice comes to obtaining that ultimate goal will be how this season is measured. The wacky offseason has quelled whatever momentum was left over from last fall, but the mindset within the Brain Patterson Center remains undeterred. This team believes they’re ready to take that next step.

No matter where Rice lands on that spectrum, reaching the field safely is an accomplishment given the circumstances. With that achieved, it’s time to start with Saturday against Middle Tennesse. Go 1-0 this week, and as cliche as it sounds, the rest of the schedule will take care of itself.

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