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Rice Football 2020: UAB Presser quotes, practice notes and injury news

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Rice football seeks to finish strong against UAB on Senior Day. Here are the latest notes and press conference quotes from the week.

It was a great week for Rice football. Although fans are still riding high from the Owls’ historic road win against Marshall, the team has turned the page and has their attention focused squarely on UAB. For the first time this season, there will be fans allowed into Rice Stadium to see the contest in person.

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Head coach Mike Bloomgren spoke about the week that was and the task at hand. A few players chimed in as well. Then there’s the depth chart to get to, including some unfortunate injuries at key positions and some notes on what we might see on the field on Saturday.

Press Conference Quotes

“Because it’s such a big win, I probably let myself go an extra day with it. I probably went 48 hours instead of 24 hours enjoying it, because it is an absolutely huge win. But we know that that game, as good as we played, it won’t give us any points on the scoreboard. It won’t have a single stop on defense or a single interception. We have to go earn that this week.” – Mike Bloomgren on switching focus from Marshall to UAB

“UAB has a great offensive line. We’re gonna take the same things that we did last week, change up the scheme, and do the same thing this week. It’s no different. Whoever you put in front of us, that’s who we gotta go hit. So we gotta make it happen.”- Offensive lineman Jovaun Woolford on the UAB defensive front

“Awards come with wins. I think the biggest thing that I see when I see that I won that award is that we had a dominant team because I’ve had better individual performances but it doesn’t mean anything when you don’t get that W. The biggest thing that I’m excited about is that we got such a big team win.” – Linebacker Blaze Alldredge on being named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week

Depth Chart Notes

Here’s an updated depth chart from Rice football heading into the UAB game and some comments on a few notable additions and omissions as well as some injury notes:

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Rice Football 2020: Marshall Presser Quotes and practice notes

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Rice football has a big game ahead of them this weekend against a nationally ranked Marshall squad. Here are the latest notes and press conference quotes.

Rice football got close to kickoff against UTEP, but the game was nixed before kickoff, the third game Rice has forgone because of COVID-19 problems at another institution. The Owls hope to return to the field this weekend to take on a ranked Marshall team. Rice hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent in their last 30 tries, so a win against the Herd would be a monumental achievement.

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To that end, head coach Mike Bloomgren and a few players spoke about the challenge ahead of them. We’ve selected a few quotes from the Owls’ midweek press conference. Then we’ve got a few more updates on what’s in store for the Owls in the coming days and weeks plus a look at some changes on the Rice depth chart.

Press Conference Quotes

“With the number of cancelations we’ve had, last weekend felt like a loss, and I can’t have them feeling that way because this is not something we were in control of. They do everything we ask. We were ready to play.” – Mike Bloomgren on UTEP cancelation

“Here’s the deal with their defense. They’re going to line up one of two ways. They’re not trying to baffle you with people swinging in on vines. They aren’t gonna dazzle you with dance. They’re going to line up across from you and they are going to play physical football.” – Mike Bloomgren on the Marshall defense

“There’s two ways to respond. You can either let what happened to you define the rest of your season, or you can come back and you can play one of the best teams — the best team in the conference — and you can surprise everyone. And that’s what we’re looking to do.” – TE Jaeger Bull on the UTEP cancelation and Marshall game

“They really don’t do a whole lot of eye candy stuff. They’re gonna line up in pretty basic packages every play and you’re not always going to know exactly what they’re running but they’re going to try to run it down your throat. And like [Bloomgren] said, if we don’t stop the run it’s going to be a long day for us.” – DE Trey Schuman on Marshall 

Depth Chart Notes

Here’s an updated depth chart from Rice football heading into the Marshall game and some comments on a few notable additions and omissions as well as some injury notes:

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes, Presser Quotes and UTEP prep

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Rice football is eager to get back on the field this weekend and face UTEP. Here are the latest practice notes and press conference quotes.

It was tough sledding for Rice football in Denton, falling to 1-2 on the season with the disappointing road loss. The team returns home to Rice Stadium this week to face UTEP, which enters the game 3-4 with a chance to return to .500 by the end of November. The Owls would like to prevent them from getting there a climb back to .500 themselves.

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The team had some thoughts to share on last week. We’ve selected a few quotes from the Owls’ midweek press conference. Then we’ve got a few more updates on what’s in store for the Owls in the coming days and weeks.

Press Conference Quotes

“They played a very, very physical brand of football. They imposed their will on us in all areas. We had a couple of turnovers that were really, really costly and absolutely affected the outcome of the game, and we’ve got to play better. I don’t think it’s that we got to play harder, we’ve got to play better. We’ve got to play more disciplined. And we got to be better with our techniques.” – Mike Bloomgren on the North Texas game

“Obviously we started really fast, just like we wanted to — we were firing on all cylinders. We had multiple turnovers, which obviously that’s never good, we’ll never win like that so that’s obviously the things we need to clean up the most. We got to keep the ball off the turf. And then we got to hit our shots when we take them. And we did a pretty good job at it but we have to keep working, keep finding that connection, keep getting that rhythm and we will get those will go our way.” – WR Jake Bailey on the offensive performance vs North Texas

“We’ve done a pretty good job stopping the run, especially getting off blocks and making plays, just creating negative plays because those are game-changers. I feel like we’re doing a pretty good job, and we can definitely improve on that. I feel like if we continue to practice hard and come to work every day we’ll continue to get better.” – DL De’Braylon Carroll on the defensive performance this season 

Depth Chart Notes

Here’s an updated depth chart from Rice football heading into the UTEP game.

Running back Juma Otoviano was expected to be back this weekend, but his name is absent from the depth chart this week. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him go through pre-game warmups and have his status evaluated again at that point. Ikenna Enechukwu and Trey Schuman have flip-flopped at the defensive end spot, but the OR designation remains. We’ll most likely see both of them.

Looking ahead

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Rice Football Practice Notes 2020: What to look for after the off weeks

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Rice football has suffered back-to-back postponements. The bulk of the schemes will be the same, but improvements have been made over the last two weeks.

A lot can change in three weeks. That was true of Rice football from the start to end of fall camp. Players came in and out of the lineup, adjustments were made. This time Rice has the added benefit of live reps as a baseline.

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To be clear, I don’t expect seismic change when Rice takes the field next (hopefully on Saturday against North Texas). But there have been a few things over the last few weeks of practice that should look different, most of them for the better.

A breakout from the trenches

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes, Presser Quotes and the next men up

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After another postponement, Rice football is ready to take the field again, hopefully as soon as this weekend against North Texas. Here are the latest practice notes and press conference quotes.

Rice football is two weeks removed from their most recent football. Oddly enough, the Owls’ first game against Middle Tennessee was the week following a matchup between North Texas and Middle Tennessee. The Mean Green haven’t returned to the field since.

Owls’ head coach Mike Bloomgren met with the media today to share some of his thoughts on the game ahead.

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There is a lot of encouraging news on the injury front. Bloomgren said the team didn’t have “many people left to get healthy.” That should include a few starters returning to the field soon as well as a practice sighting on the offensive side of the ball. Injuries and depth chart fluidity has afforded several players additional opportunities. We’ve also got some notes on a few guys that have stepped up in the interim.

Press Conference Quotes

“We want to make this the most exclusive offer in the country… one out of every four offers is committed to you or signing with you, we feel good about that because we get a chance to really develop real relationships, get to know the parents, the families and otherwise.” – Director of Recruiting Alex Brown on the upcoming 2021 class

With the way we prepare and with our process and what it’s all about, I don’t know if I’m real excited about those possibilities… I really would like more than 48 hours of notice that you saw UCLA and Cal last week. I certainly think that that would cause a lot of coaches in this building not to sleep for 48 hours. But hey, we’ll make it work if that’s the case. We want to play a game. And right now, we’re certainly planning on playing Seth Littrell and North Texas.” – Mike Bloomgren on the possibility of last-minute scheduling changes

“I think they probably found their guy in Jason Bean, and he’s the one that we’re going to prepare to stop. If Austin [Aune] jumps in there, their offense won’t change too much. They’re still going to try to find number one Jaelon Darden, and they should.” – Bloomgren on the North Texas offense

Who’s back and who’s not

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