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Defensive improvements a bye week focus, practice notes (9/19)

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Rice football has focused their efforts on themselves as they prepare for their first Conference USA game of the season against Southern Miss.

The consistency of the defense has been under fire after the team dropped back-to-back games to a pair of high-scoring offenses. One of the biggest advantages of the early bye week was time for the Owls to iron out those issues. “I wanted the bye week to be about Rice and how much we could improve,” said head coach Mike Bloomgren.

Players on both sides of the ball have taken that to heart, and few have worked harder than defensive tackle Zach Abercrumbia. “There’s always room for improvement,” admitted Abercrumbia,”Anyone who can look at tape, whether they’re a first team all-pro or benchrider and not have five things to work on the next day at practice is fooling themselves.”

Three games in the Owls have enough of a sample size to work with. The secondary has come under fire, but the pass rush has rightly born the weight of the pressure too. If the Owls can get to the quarterback, there won’t be any passes thrown.

Abercrumbia said that’s the goal on Saturday against Southern Miss and going forward. “That’s the big thing about pass rush, you just can’t ever stop. you never know how quick the ball is going to come out, you never know how the o-line is going to block,” he said, “but if you never stop, eventually you’ll get there.”

Injury update

Getting healthier will help the Owls improve their defensive play. Linebacker Dylan James is back in practice and is on track to play this weekend after being listed as questionable early during the week. Corner D’Angelo Ellis still has a ways to go with his recovery process.

Preparing for conference play

Although beginning with the caveat that all games matter, Bloomgren didn’t shy away from the importance of starting conference play 1-0. “When you’re talking about trying to get to championships and get to bowl games, like we’re always talking about around here, [conference games] can be big things. Everyone is kinda a mini championship.”

That’s quite the stage, but the team is ready for the challenge. “We can beat these guys,” declared Abercrumbia, “All we need to do is put what we do in practice into game day.”

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Southern Miss Press Conference Notes (9/18)

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Coach Mike Bloomgren discussed Rice football‘s returns from the bye week and upcoming game against Southern Miss, the Owls’ second road game of the season.

Coach Bloomgren admitted the 1-2 start has featured a mixed bag of highs and lows. “We got to continue to play four quarters of football and finish strong.” He doesn’t blame conditioning, but rather the lack of consistency for the Owls’ last two losses. “If we just do the same things we’re doing in the second and the third quarter in the fourth quarter we might find a way to win,” he suggested, adding “You can’t do the things we did late in that game against a good football team… and expect to win the game.”

With the lumps have come moments of pride. “This team is showing great fight,” praised Bloomgren, “They’re continuing to work. They’re fighting for each other and they’re doing all the things we ask of them.” Little by little the Owls are making that incremental progress, something the bye week was particularly useful for this past week.

A few individuals earned special recognition for their strong starts. Bloomgren talked encouragingly about the progress quarterback Shawn Stankavage was making this year, citing his mental acuity on the field in addition to his accurate arm. Graysen Schantz was nominated for the Campbell Trophy, given to the nation’s top scholar-athlete, an award Bloomgren admittedly holds with great esteem.

Emmanuel Esukpa, who currently ranks in the top 15 in rushing, earned a shout out from his head coach as well. Bloomgren went beyond that, saying “What he’s doing without the ball in protection might be as impressive as what he’s doing with it.” Not faint praise for one of the better backs in Conference USA, and maybe the nation.

On the injury front, the Owls should have a full complement of weapons at their disposal on Saturday. All starters are expected to be available, with Dylan James the only member of the two-deep listed as questionable.

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Bye week comes at right time for Owls

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Rice football took advantage of an early-season bye to focus on fundamentals and discipline, both areas that will pay huge dividends for the Owls this fall.

Sitting at 1-2, the 2018 Rice football season is far from over. With 10 games still to play, the Owls are only just beginning what they hope will be a promising campaign. The bulk of their games will come after their Week 3 bye week.

Sandwiched between road trips to Hawaii and Southern Miss, Rice players and coaches have had a much-needed extra week during the middle of the season’s grind. The coaches have jetted off all over the country, recruiting from Califonia to D.C. Players have stayed home, using the time to focus on their craft.

The leadership of this young team knows the timing of this break couldn’t have been better. “It gives us a chance to see what we did early on and fix that for the rest of the season,” acknowledged safety George Nyakwol, remarking that he the team progress significantly simply by “focusing on technique and going back to the fundamentals.”

Quarterback Shawn Stankavage was equally confident, if not more so. “I think the bye week really helped us get locked in and turn this thing around… we’re close, we’re in these games, we’re just not pulling away at the end.”

In order to make that final play or two to push them over the edge, the team needs to continue to pursue excellence in everything they do. That starts with practice and extends to game day. “When we execute during the week, Saturday’s are easy,” Stankavage said. To get there, the Owls are focusing on the little things, leaving no stone unturned.

The bye week was extra time for a team still learning to continue ironing out the kinks. Neither side of the ball is going to be transformed overnight, but Rice football got a lot better this week — little by little.

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Stock up, stock down for Owls’ remaining 2018 opponents

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Conference USA football is off to a strong start. Here’s how Rice football’s future opponents are trending through Week 3 of the 2018 season.

Stock Down – Southern Miss (1-1)

Results (1-1): vs Jackson State (W), vs UL-Monroe (L)

Rice’s next opponent had their Week 3 game against Appalachian State canceled because of Hurricane Florence.  There only two previous games didn’t exactly inspire confidence in the Eagles. Formerly suspended quarterback Kwadre Griggs will be active for this game, but it’s still unclear how much playing time he’ll get. That’s a lot of question marks.

Stock Up – Wake Forest (2-1)

Results: @ Tulane (W), vs Towson (W), vs Boston College (L)

Wake Forest had a long list of departures to replace this fall including a few key pieces in the secondary and their starting quarterback. In place of John Wolford, Sam Hartman has been serviceable, completing 55.3 percent of his passes and averaging 278 yards and two touchdown passes per game. Their only loss of the season came against a potent BC offense and the Demon Deacons took them down to the wire.

Stock Even – UTSA (0-3)

Results: @ Arizona St (L), vs Baylor (L), @ Kansas St (L)

UTSA deserves some credit for daring to do something no other Conference USA squad did this year, play three Power 5 opponents in their first three games. UTSA lost all three games, but the testing they received to start their seasons will pay dividends down the road. A win would have been nice, but there’s no reason for the Roadrunners to be too concerned about their season quite yet.

Stock Up  – UAB (2-1)

Results: vs Savannah St (W), @ Coastal Carolina (L), vs Tulane (W)

UAB captured the hearts of the nation in their recent return to football. Removed from that fresh jolt, the Blazers have been up and down. This was one of the toughest teams to peg entering the year, and they’ve held their own through three games. Spencer Brown is becoming a workhorse on the ground, coming near 300 yards rushing with two scores so far this season.

Stock Up – FIU (1-1)

Results: vs Indiana (L), @ Old Dominion (W), vs UMass (W)

Butch Davis has built some sturdy program over his varied stops, and FIU is becoming one more feather in his cap. The Panthers gave Indiana a run for their money and continue to present opponents with a balanced offensive attack led by quarterback James Morgan and stable of capable running backs. This team is ahead of schedule.

Stock Up – North Texas (3-0)

Results: vs SMU (W), vs Incarnate Word (W), @ Arkansas (W)

The arm of Mason Fine is among the best in Conference USA. He took his gunslinging talents on the road to Arkansas and threw it all over an SEC defense. Arkansas isn’t the cream of the crop in their conference, but they’re still a talented team. Nobody has been able to keep up with the Mean Green so far.

Stock Even – UTEP (0-3)

Results: vs Northern Arizona (L), @ UNLV (L), @ Tennessee (L)

There’s not much more to see here. UTEP was expected to be bad this season and they’re started out the year with losses to NAU, UNLV and Tennessee. The schedule doesn’t get easier with Conference play starting soon, and that could make for another frustrating year for the Miners and their fans.

Stock Up  – Louisiana Tech (2-0)

Results: @ South Alabama (W), vs Southern (W)

It’s hard to start better than undefeated. Louisiana Tech has taken care of business, but the schedule is about to get a lot more challenging. Road trips to LSU and North Texas in the next two weeks make it hard to get too excited, but watching their host of big-play receivers go deep is plenty of fun for the time being.

Stock Up  – LSU (3-0)

Results: vs Miami (W), vs SE Louisiana (W), @ Auburn (W)

There isn’t a team in the entire nation with a better resume right now than the LSU Tigers. After blowing out Miami in Week 1 the Tigers came from behind to take down Auburn in Week 3. An elite defensive unit with enough quarterback play from Joe Burrow has turned this team into an unexpected force in the SEC.

Stock Down – Old Dominion (0-3)

Results: @ Liberty (W), vs FIU (L), @ Charlotte (L)

Liberty is in its first year as an FBS program. Charlotte is projected to finish near the bottom of the CUSA East. The FIU loss isn’t too egregious, but the body of work does not look impressive in the slightest. Old Dominion has some time to turn things around, but the early returns aren’t very promising.

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Early season grades for the Special Teams entering the bye week

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Rice football is three games into the 2018 season. Here’s how the Owls’ special teams grade out entering the Owls’ bye in Week 3.

Punting: A+

First off, Jack Fox is a stud. Mike Bloomgren has been saying it all season, and it certainly is worth repeating. Fox’s impact on the Owls this season is hard to quantify, but the Ray Guy watchlist candidate has blasted 14 punts so far with only one rolling into the endzone for a touchback.

The value Fox provides to this team was made crystal clear in the fourth quarter against Hawaii. With the Owls trailing 28-22, a Rice drive stalled out on the 35-yard line. Next, Fox boomed a 64-yard punt all the way to the Hawaii 1-yard line. The defense had already forced a safety on the 1-yard line earlier in the game, putting the momentum squarely in the Owls’ favor. In that instance, the defense faltered and surrendered the winning touchdown. Nevertheless, Fox did his job — and then some.

Fox’s 45.0 net punting mark is tied for the sixth-best in the nation. He’s the only CUSA punter inside the top 15 in that metric and will be a weapon for the Owls as they enter conference play.

Kicking:  B

Mike Bloomgren is traditional as far as college football goes in several ways. His approach to the kicking game is not one of them. Fox can drill the ball from deep, that’s not secret, but rather than give him exclusive work as the team’s primary punter and kicker, Rice has employed a tandem field goal crew.

According to the analytics, the team gathered this offseason, Hayden Tabola is more accurate from the right hash at closer ranges. Bloomgren has said he’ll trust Fox with anything longer than 45-yards out, but he’s going to continue to give Tabola work in those situations. Against

The Houston game was the only real blemish on this duo. Fox missed two long kicks and Tabola failed to convert one of his tries. That left nine points on the board in a game that was within one score midway through the fourth quarter. Together, Rice is 7-of-11 in their field goals, which is right around the national average. Considering the amount of talent this duo has, the results will be expected to trend upwards in the next portion of the season.

Punt and Kickoff Returns Defense: A+

The efficiency of the return defense speaks is quite literally second to none. Rice has allowed one punt to returned this season, and the return man lost two yards. The punt return unit also has a fumble recovery to their credit, courtesy of a long blast off the foot of Fox that Houston return man Bryson Smith wasn’t able to haul in.

The defense on kickoff returns has been nearly as impressive. Rice ranks 24th in the nation in that metric, allowing 15.7 yards per kickoff. When you have Fox drilling balls to the edge of the endzone, a 15-yard return isn’t all that impressive and usually sets the Owls’ opponents up for mediocre field position at best.

Punt and Kickoff Returns: B-

Where the Owls do stand to improve is their own return game. Rice has only had the chance to return two punts, and collectively netted -2 yards on those opportunities. There hasn’t been space created by the return unit to give their playmakers the chance to make plays. Austin Trammell, the team’s primary punt returner has the elusiveness to get downfield. He just needs to be given the chance.

Kickoff returns have been a different story. Through two games the Owls were doing well in this aspect of special teams, but Austin Walter helped elevate this grade with a tremendous outing against Hawaii. The Owls gave up some points against the Rainbow Warriors, but the kick return unit spotted the offense excellent field position. Walter averaged 29.4 yards per return that game with a long of 46 yards.

What do you think? How would you grade each position group, and why? Leave your answer in the comments.
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