The source for Rice sports news

  • Football
    • Recruiting
    • Offer Tracker
    • Roster
    • Schedule
    • NFL Owls
  • Premium
    • Patreon
    • Season Preview
    • Join / FAQ
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Store
    • News
    • Basketball
    • Baseball
    • About
    • Contact
  • Login

For the Rice Football defense, this is only the beginning

November 24, 2019 By Matthew Bartlett

The Rice football defense delivered when at the moment the Owls needed them the most, an occurrence becoming more common with every passing game.

“Thwack.”

For a split-second, there was nothing but the sound of shoulder pads colliding at breakneck speed in the Rice football endzone. The entire stadium held their collective breath, waiting with trepidation for the result of the collision which would decide the game.

The collision was between North Texas wide receiver Michael Lawrence and Rice defensive back Treshawn Chamberlain. Lawerence had just been fed a beautiful ball from quarterback Mason Fine. The preseason C-USA Offensive Player of the Year had been kept at bay all evening by the Rice defense, but he’d gotten the ball to his man in the endzone when it mattered most — on fourth down with the game on the line.

If the pass was caught, North Texas could take the lead for the first time on the ensuing extra point. If it wasn’t Rice would have a good chance to kill the clock and win the program’s second game in its last two tries.

“Thwack.”

“[Chamberlain’s hit] reverberated through everybody’s body,” Bloomgren said. When the mass of bodies cleared, the coach exhaled, blinked, and saw the football lying harmlessly near the “I” in the Rice insignia scrawled across the endzone. Chamberlain’s vicious thump had separated Lawrence from the ball. Incomplete. Rice football.

While what happened next was not a formality, it almost felt predetermined. The Rice defense had won their stand. The offense ran off the remainder of the clock. Rice won.

At risk of stating the obvious, Chamberlain was all smiles after the game. “That hit was one of my biggest hits I’ve ever had,” he said. “I’m going to keep that one for show.” That confidence, a swagger almost, has been building for this defense all season. Had it not been Chamberlain who made the play, it could have been someone else.

More: Takeaways from Rice Football vs North Texas

Blaze Alldredge, who broke Larry Izzo’s school record with his 18th tackle for a loss from the linebacker position this season, was all over the field on Saturday night. Antonio Montero had the first sack of his career. True freshman Tre’shon Devones, Kirk Lockhart and Josh Landrum all had tackles out of the secondary.

Someone was going to step up. That’s how this defense has been built.

“I’m ready when my number’s called,” Alldredge said after the game. “I think everybody on the defense kind of embraces that same mentality that we’re not going to shy away from the limelight. We’re not going to make excuses that we’re too tired. We want to be on the field because we want to show how dominant we are.”

Dominant. That word hasn’t been used in conjunction with the Rice defense for some time. Rice hasn’t finished in the top half of Conference USA in total defense since 2014. After Saturday’s performance, the Owls will be in the top six in total defense in conference games.

On the rise

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Rice will return 10 defensive starters next season. Myles Adams was the lone senior starter for the Rice defense against North Texas. His backup, De’Braylon Carroll, has played extremely well this season, matching Adams’ sack total while making some splash plays of his own.

The 2019 season has been an appetizer for what this collection of talent playmakers is capable of becoming. The growing pains exhibited over the course of the year are being refined before our eyes. This defense is young, really young. And they’re getting better.

Bloomgren cited their passion and energy following the win. Alldredge took it a step further. “Fatigue isn’t something that we even process in this program,” he said. He’s right. When things got tough, the defense didn’t get tired. They got mad. Then they made the hit that changed the game.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls
  • Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR Artis Cole commits to Owls
  • Rice Football Recruiting: Khary Crump’s path to the Owls

Filed Under: Archive, Football Tagged With: Antonio Montero, Blaze Alldredge, Josh Landrum, Kirk Lockhart, Rice Football, Tre'shon Devones, Treshawn Chamberlain

Rice Football: Owls fall to UAB in delayed downpour

October 6, 2019 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football traded blows with UAB before the offense dried up under heavy rains as the Owls fell to the Blazers in a sloppy night.

Rain and lightning turned a promising start into a drawn-out, waterlogged affair on Saturday night in Birmingham. The Owls put together a strong first half but couldn’t overcome the elements, falling to UAB on a dreary night at Legion Field. UAB won by the final score 35-20 a few minutes past midnight. Here are a few takeaways from the game.

1. Throw the first punch. Check.

Playing with the lead is always a good thing, but it’s especially important if you want to run an offense predicated on grinding out games. Controlling the clock and running the football don’t complement comeback attempts well. That’s why it’s a good thing to have a smart running back and great blocking to set up plays like this:

Aston Walter hits the hole…. and he's gone for six. #GoOwls pic.twitter.com/xXA4OLiBq1

— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) October 5, 2019

Rice struck first against Louisiana Tech and never trailed in regulation. The encore performance against UAB included a shutout pitched by the Rice defense through the first quarter before UAB eventually equalized the score. Rice threw punches with UAB for a while before the Blazers pulled away in the second half.

2. Opening things up on offense

Rice snapped the ball in a five wide formation twice in the first quarter, including the very first play of the game. Wiley Green went downfield on the first play, looking for Bradley Rozner who drew a flag for defensive holding. The Owls converted the second five wide play on a post to Jake Bailey before it was called back on a hold by Rice.

Neither play will show up in the box score because of the penalties, but both were a clear indication Rice is willing to open up the offense and try some new things.

It wasn’t just new formations; Rice noticeably took more shots downfield than they had in previous weeks. Green was actively scanning further than the line of scrimmage and he connected on a few throws that traveled vertically down the field, rather than trusting his receivers to do most of the work after the catch.

Green had a season-high 161 yards passing, two touchdowns and somewhere around 100 yards of pass interference penalties along the way.

3. Secondary shows some leaks

UAB running back Spencer Brown left the ball after the first drive of the game. Not only was Brown a critical piece to the Blazers offense, he became the school’s all-time leading rusher this season. Without him in the game the Blazers took to the air, finding plenty of early success.

Quarterback Tyler Johnston connected on touchdown passes of 46-, 36- and 57-yards in the first half. UAB’s longest score driving lasted 2:41.

This wasn’t the first team to test Rice deep. Wake Forest took shots, so did Baylor. Rice had given up a few deep balls, but the secondary seemed nowhere near as suspect as it did last season when the Owls surrendered an average of 2.5 pass plays of 30 yards per game allowed. Entering the UAB game Rice had given up eight such plays, an average 1.6 per contest, a mark that sits roughly in the middle of C-USA.

Even with the imperfect pass defense, the Owls hung around. George Nyakwol registered the Owls’ first interception of the season in the closing minutes of the first half. Treshawn Chamberlain added to the total with a third quarter pick.

4. Loud and clear

An emphasis on downfield passing wasn’t the only noticeable change with the Rice offense on Saturday. The Owls played an aggressive brand of football. Even when Rice didn’t complete their passes down the field they forced UAB into uncomfortable situations. The opposing secondary was littered with flags all night for defensive holding and pass interference.

A few other decisions stood out. Trailing by seven in the second quarter, Rice went for it on fourth and 10 from the UAB 36 yard line. Not only did they get it, they finished the drive with Green’s first touchdown of the season — an endzone jump ball to Brad Rozner.

In like fashion, Rice rolled the dice before the halftime whistle. After getting possession of the ball with 90 seconds to play, Rice chose to push down the field rather than run off the final seconds. The Owls made it to midfield and did not score, but the decision not to neal the ball was a tone-setter for what this offense could become.

5. Messy, messy, messy

UAB didn’t play a perfect game by any means. Multiple turnovers and flags all over the defensive secondary made it a relatively sloppy night for the home team. Then the rain — which somehow managed to stay away for nearly the entirety of the hour and a half lightning delay — began to come down in buckets.

Conveniently for the Blazers, Mother Nature opened the heavens around the time the home team had scored their second touchdown of the third quarter. Trailing by two scores, The Rice offense never got back in sync. Tom Stewart, inserted for his running ability, put the ball on the deck.

Including two rain-induced fumbles, the Owls tallied a season-high four giveaways. Rice also committed six penalties for 65 yards. That was bad, but not early as careless as UAB’s 167 yards of penalties. You can’t write a loss off based on weather, but there’s no doubt the rain played a significant factor in the second half of this game.

Rice football has played too well over the past month to not have any wins to show for themselves. A lengthy weather delay and sudden pouring rain made this most recent defeat a soggy one. There’s a lot of hurt in the Owls’ locker room right now making this the perfect time for an off week and a cooling off period.

We’re not taking a break

Rice football has the week off, but there will still be content going up on the site and on the podcast. A portion of next week’s episode is up for y’all to decide. Carter and I are going to work through some of your questions in a mailbag segment. We’ll cover everything from the UAB game to midseason thoughts and beyond.

Leave a question in the comments here or on the podcast post, shoot it to us on Twiter or email it to [email protected].

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls
  • Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR Artis Cole commits to Owls
  • Rice Football Recruiting: Khary Crump’s path to the Owls

Filed Under: Featured, Archive, Football Tagged With: Aston Walter, Bradley Rozner, game recap, George Nyakwol, Rice Football, Tom Stewart, Treshawn Chamberlain, Wiley Green

Rice Football 2019: Week 5 LA Tech Press Conference quotes

September 24, 2019 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football head coach Mike Bloomgren made his final comments on the Baylor game as the Owls move onward to Louisiana Tech in Week 5.

Running back Charlie Booker and safety Treshawn Chamberlain joined head coach Mike Bloomgren at the podium on Tuesday. All three made comments on the end of nonconference play and what the team expects as the begin their Conference USA schedule this coming week against Louisiana Tech.

From Mike Bloomgren

On the team’s goals…

“The team’s goals are very clear. We want to win the conference. That conference trophy is at the very top. The other goal is to go to a bowl game and win. That’s what we want to do.”

On where the program is right now…

“I just believe so much in the steps we’ve taken. I don’t know if anybody outside of our program thought two years ago that we could be here. Standing toe-to-toe with an Army team that’s going to play the way they do for 60 minutes and fighting with Baylor and giving ourselves a chance in the end. I’m really proud of the progress. But, like I told these guys yesterday morning, it’s about time to win.”

On the current quarterback dynamic…

“I probably hoped that someone would really separate in the last game. The reality is they both played really well. So, we’re going to continue to do what we did last game. Wiley (Green’s) going to start. He’ll get take two series and then Tom (Stewart) will come in and we’ll see where it goes from there.

“We’re going to treat it, really right now until it defines itself completely, like any other position on our team. I think that they can all do everything we asked, but each of them brings something different to the table.

“Wiley’s time in our system allows him to be more comfortable with any change that we can make on the sideline. Obviously, pre-snap Wiley is still, not light years ahead, but he’s still ahead of him. What Tom does better is Tom elongates plays to keep them alive and when Tom runs with the ball he runs with a passion to get in the end zone. We’ve seen him do it on multiple occasions now. He’s a determined runner.”

On the redshirt rule and the recent decisions at Houston…

“I love our kids and our culture and I’m so glad we’re not dealing with it. It wouldn’t be good for our football team right now if a starter decided not to continue to play. It would make me question what we were doing”

From Charlie Booker

On how he hopes to contribute to the team this year…

“From my standpoint, I’m just going to do whatever I can do. I’m going to go out there — my job is every week when I get out there, I’m supposed to make the right reads and I’m always supposed to break the first cycle. So that’s my main focus right now.”

From Treshawn Chamberlain

On how the defense can improve…

“The next step would be to eliminate explosive plays. Most of the explosive plays are due to your own mistakes so being able to take this in and going to this week with the mindset of perfecting every personnel every formation that they’re giving us so we can basically be a step ahead of the offense without them knowing.”

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls
  • Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR Artis Cole commits to Owls
  • Rice Football Recruiting: Khary Crump’s path to the Owls

Filed Under: Football Tagged With: Charlie Booker, Mike Bloomgren, Rice Football, Treshawn Chamberlain

Rice Football Film Room: Breaking down the fourth down stop vs Army

September 4, 2019 By Carter

Dig deeper beyond the box score. Carter Spires breaks down a key defensive sequence for Rice Football in their Week 1 game against Army.

Hey y’all! For those that haven’t listened to The Roost Podcast yet (and you should!), I’m Carter Spires. I’m a Rice grad (B.S. Physics, 2013, Jones) and a huge college football fan. In addition to the podcast, I’ll be popping up here at The Roost to do a weekly review piece where I highlight a couple of important plays from the previous game.

My particular interest in covering football is in strategy and tactics: schemes, formations, play calls, decision-making, and the like. I want to know why a particular play turned out the way it did, in a more complete way than “X threw the ball to Y.”

Sometimes those answers are simple, but sometimes they’re not. So my goal in this column is to dive into a few plays a week and really try to break them down in detail, so that we can really understand what happened. A smarter football fan is a better football fan, I think, so hopefully I’ll get smarter in writing these and you’ll get smarter in reading them.

Sound good? Then let’s get started.

First Quarter (11:43) | 3rd-and-1

This week we’re looking into Rice’s close, heartbreaking Week 1 loss to Army in which the Owls’ defense held Army’s flexbone option offense to a mere 231 yards rushing (4.1 YPC) and 14 points. Most of those yards and all of those points came on just two drives.

While the result of the game wasn’t what Rice fans wanted, the stellar defensive effort (against an Army team that dropped 70 on our crosstown rival Houston Cougars their last time out) was enough to give hope that these Owls will be a lot tougher to score on than in recent years.

Let’s give credit where it’s due. Here’s a closer look at the defensive performance, highlighted by a sequence on Army’s first offensive drive, in which Rice made consecutive short-yardage stops on 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1 plays to force a turnover on downs.

Rice Football, Army, gif

The setup

Army is lined up in their standard flexbone formation—QB under center, fullback (or B-back, in the flexbone terminology) a couple of yards deep, two slotbacks (or A-backs) lined up outside each tight end, and two wide receivers split wide. In this down and distance, Army’s running a play called “zone dive”—a quick-hitting run play that’s a staple of their offensive scheme.

It looks a lot like the “inside veer” option which is the first component of the “triple option” often associated with this offense. However, instead of a true option play where a defender left unblocked and then read by the QB, zone dive is a called handoff to the B-back. Zone dive is such a fast-developing play that it’s almost impossible for the defense to prevent the B-back from gaining a yard or two.

More: 5 Takeaways from the Owls’ Week 1 game against Army

Rice responds with a defensive formation called the 46 front, often called the Bear front due to its association with the dominant defense of the 1985 Chicago Bears. The Bear front involves putting five men on the line of scrimmage, with an additional linebacker just off the line to the strong side.

It was once a base defensive formation for teams like those Bears, but because of it’s almost exclusively focused on stopping the run, it’s rare in football these days. Still, most defensive coordinators keep the Bear front in the playbook for short-yardage situations and for use against these flexbone offenses.

Here, Rice has Viper Treshawn Chamberlain lined up off the line at OLB. DEs Anthony Ekpe (top/offense’s left) and Kenneth Orji (bottom/offense’s right) lined up at 7-technique DE (in the C-gap between the tackle and slotback), DTs Elijah Garcia (top) and Myles Adams (bottom) lined up at 3-tech* (outside shoulder of the guard), and NT JaVante Hubbard lined up at 0-tech (head on with the center).

The linebackers and safeties are still playing their option responsibilities to prevent Army from catching Rice off-guard, but for the linemen, their assignment is clear: defeat your block(s) and tackle the back before he can get the first down.

How it happened

At the snap, the left A-back goes in motion to show Army’s triple option look. But this isn’t an option play. Army QB Kelvin Hopkins opens up the right and no Rice players on that side of the line are left unblocked (the right A-back is on Orji, the tackle is climbing to the second level, and the RG is [trying] to block Myles Adams). So Hopkins isn’t reading anyone, which is the hallmark of a true option play; therefore, this is a called dive play to the B-back.

To the left side of the offense, Ekpe is left unblocked. The idea here is that he won’t get there in time to make the tackle until the ballcarrier is past him. The offensive tackle moves inside to cut block** Garcia, who is brought to the ground but does well to keep moving and stay involved with the play. The left guard and center combine to double-team the 264-pound Hubbard, who stands his ground against the center but (understandably) loses his balance when the 310-pound LG Jaxson Deaton plows into his side.

To the right side, the right tackle appears to quickly try to double team the 3-tech (more on him in a second) before climbing to the second level (he loses his balance and falls, but Blaze Alldredge has “scraped” outside of him by then so he likely wouldn’t have made that block anyway).

The Owls’ defense executes

Our key players here for Rice are Myles Adams and Kenneth Orji. On zone dive, the fullback is reading the block of the playside guard. If he drives his man outside, the back hits the A-gap between guard and center. If the guard drives his man straight back or inside, the back hits the B-gap between guard and tackle.

At the snap, Adams gets his outside shoulder into the guard’s inside shoulder, clogging the A-gap. The slotback tries to block Orji and does a pretty good job pushing him back, but Orji manages to maintain inside position, squeezing the gap. So by the time the back gets the ball, there’s nowhere for him to go. He takes a step, hesitates, and by then Myles Adams has fully beaten the guard’s block. Adams makes first contact, stopping the back’s momentum, and then a whole host of Rice defenders arrives to finish the play off for no gain. Now it’s 4th and 1.

First Quarter (10:04) | 4th-and-1

Rice Football, Army, gif

The setup

On this play, Hopkins does a reverse pivot once he has the snap, which makes the play look like it’s going to be “rocket toss” to the motioning A-back. It’s actually just another zone dive, this time to the left side. Nothing fancy. Again, Army is hoping that the quick-hitting action of this play will allow them to grind out a yard before Rice can manage the tackle.

Rice is lined up in the Bear front. Army blocks the same: the backside end (Orji) is unblocked. The A-back blocks the playside end (Ekpe). There’s a cut block on the backside 3-tech (Adams) and a double team on the nose (Hubbard).

This time, though, it looks like the playside guard and tackle actually manage an effective double team on the playside 3-tech (Garcia). Treshawn Chamberlain is unblocked and doesn’t bite on the motion by the backside A-back, but I think Army’s hope was that even if he didn’t he wouldn’t be there in time to make the play. And he may not have been, if not for Anthony Ekpe and Myles Adams.

How it happened

Adams, who I hope this sequence has proved will be one of Rice’s most disruptive linemen all season, is so quick off the snap that the backside tackle has no chance of cutting him—in fact he lands behind Adams’ heels. Check this frame: Adams has already crossed the line of scrimmage by the time the handoff is made. He may have managed to make the tackle himself even if no one else had managed to beat their blocks.

Rice Football, Army, Myles Adams

Ekpe, meanwhile, has driven through the attempted block of the slotback. Even though he’s falling down as he does it, he drives to the fullback’s feet and totally arrests his momentum. He can’t wrap up, but his efforts slows the fullback enough. Adams and Chamberlain arrive to make the tackle, followed by another swarm of Owls (a parliament, perhaps?), and it’s Rice ball.

This was a really crucial effort from Ekpe and Adams here. The playside linemen, playing 3-on-2 against Hubbard and Garcia, have cleared out enough space that any extra bit of momentum for the fullback might have allowed him to fall forward for the first down.

Well, that was a lot to say about just two plays! Hopefully it was all enlightening and that it got you excited all over again about the level of intensity this Rice defense brought in the opener. It’ll be a totally different challenge this Friday against Wake Forest. I’ll be back next week to run through some film from that game with y’all.

Notes

*They might be lined up in a 2-technique, head-on with the guards, but it’s hard to tell based on the angle of the camera. Either is an option in the Bear front.

**A common tactic for option offenses, in which the offensive player goes low to “cut” out the legs of a defender; not to be confused with an illegal chop block, which is when a blocker goes at the legs of a defender who is already engaged with another blocker.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls
  • Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR Artis Cole commits to Owls
  • Rice Football Recruiting: Khary Crump’s path to the Owls

Filed Under: Archive, Football Tagged With: Anthony Ekpe, Elijah Garcia, film room, Kenneth Orji, Myles Adams, Treshawn Chamberlain

Rice Football 2019 Game Preview: Owls vs Wake Forest

September 2, 2019 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football returns to Houston for their 2019 home opener against Wake Forest. How to watch, stats to know, x-factor picks for both teams and more.

A 1-0 start for Wake Forest and an 0-1 start for Rice were both results of games that came down to the final minutes. Neither team faced a deficit larger than seven points in their first game the difference was what each squad was able to accomplish when the clock ticked under two minutes.

Rice quarterback Wiley Green saw his fourth down pass fall to the ground incomplete. Wake Forest’s Jamie Newman found Kendall Hinton in the endzone on fourth down for the go-ahead score.

The Owls feel like their Week 1 loss to Army was a winnable game which got away from them. Here’s how they stack up with their Week 2 opponent, Wake Forest.

Broadcast Info

Kickoff time | 7:00 PM CT
Venu | Rice Stadium – Houston, Tx
TV | CBS Sports Network
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)
Streaming | CBSSN Online

Audio Preview

Episode 6 of The Roost Podcast is live. 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.) This week Carter and I broke down the good and the bad from the Army game then moved on to Week 2, discussing how Rice matches up with Wake Forest.

Sizing up the contenders

A year ago these teams didn’t look to belong on the same field. Wake Forest rolled at home, winning 56-24 behind the dangerous combination of quarterback Sam Hartman and wide receiver Greg Dortch. That duo combined for four touchdowns in the rout, but neither will be in the starting lineup against Rice on Friday. Dortch has moved on. Hartman was beat out for the starting job this fall.

The 2019 versions of these teams look slightly different. The Rice defense looked aggressive in their opener against Army while their offense stalled. On the other sideline, Wake Forest had a hard time getting off the field against Utah State, but overcame those deficiencies with a surplus of offensive firepower.

This matchup will pair strength against strength (Rice defense vs Wake Forest offense) and weakness against weakness (Rice offense vs Wake Forest defense).

Series History

All Time | Series tied 1-1
Last Five | Series tied 1-1
Last Meeting | Wake Forest won at Wake Forest 56-24 in 2018

Rice Stat Notables

Passing | Green – 7/14 (50 percent), 62 yards passing, 0 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Ellerbe – 9 carries, 103 yards (11.4 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Trammell – 4 receptions, 40 yards (10 yards per reception)
Tackles | Montero – 11
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | N/A

Wake Forest Stat Notables

Passing | Newman – 34/47 (72.3 percent), 401 yards passing, 3 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Carney – 25 carries, 105 yards (4.2 yards per carry)
Receiving | Surrat – 7 receptions, 158 yards (22.6 yards per reception), 1 TD
Tackles | Strnad – 12
Pass Breakups/Interceptions | Henderson, Strnad, Rucker – Tied with 1

Wake Forest X-Factor | The ground game

Quarterback Jamie Newman is not a traditional pocket passer. He has a good arm, but he’ll try to attack the Owls on the ground too, along with lead running back Cade Carney. That duo combined for 46 carries, 141 rushing yards and a touchdown in their Week 1 win over Utah State.

Stopping the run was a strength of the Rice defense a year ago and the notable bright spot of their Week 1 game against Army. That will make setting the tone in the trenches a necessity for the Owls in Week 2. If Rice can hold their own up front, they’ll limit force Wake Forest to be more one-dimensional, allowing the safeties to spend more time helping in pass coverage than plugging holes at the line of scrimmage.

Rice X-Factor | Corner play

This will be the first true test for a Rice secondary of the season. Army quarterback Kelvin Hopkins attempted just eight passes, but the lone touchdown came on a critical fourth quarter drive with no defender in the vicinity of the wideout who snagged what would be the game-winning touchdown.

Rice has had strong safety play, highlighted by the swarming defense of Treshawn Chamberlain and the intensity of George Nyakwol. The corners are unproven. Corners Andrew Bird, D’Angelo Ellis, Tyrae Thornton, Josh Landrum and Tre’shon Devones saw action against Army and should all be in the mix against Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons are going to throw the ball around the yard, something they succeeded in against the Owls last year. If the corner play doesn’t show improvement, the Rice offense is going to be tasked with digging out of a sizable hole.

Injury Report

A detailed injury update is available in our Sunday practice update. Further updates will be provided here as the week progresses. Here’s a quick synopsis.

Running back Juma Otoviano underwent a procedure and will be out for the foreseeable future. Given the depth in the backfield and the uncertainty of his recovery timetable, he could be a candidate to redshirt this season, possibly playing in a few games down the stretch.

Both running back Charlie Booker and wide receiver Zane Knipe were last minute scratches against Army, but both could have gone if the situation warranted it. Barring a set back during the week, it’s possible both play against Wake Forest.

Kicker Zack Hoban is out of his boot but not yet kicking in practice. His status for Friday’s game is unknown.

Need More?

The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Season Preview has four pages dedicated to every opponent the Owls face. There are depth chart, important new arrivals and depth chart breakdowns for each foe. 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 Wake Forest.

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 players attempt a pass for Rice?
    (Over 1.5 / Under 1.5)
  2. Which team will have more rushing yards?
    (Rice / Wake Forest)
  3. Which happens first – Rice touchdown or Rice forces a turnover?
    (Touchdown / Turnover)
  4. How many sacks will the Rice defense get?
    (Over 2.5 / Under 2.5)
  5. Who is leading at the end of Q1?
    (Wake Forest / Rice or Tied)
  6. Who wins?
    (Rice / Wake Forest)

One Final Thing

There was plenty of good and bad to take away from the Owls’ Week 1 loss against Army, but it was just one game. The sample size is too small to draw too many meaningful conclusions. That’s what makes this next game all the more important. Rice can either solidify concerns leftover from their season-opening defeat or they can alleviate the worry with a strong showing in Week 2.

Wake Forest is a good football team, another quality opponent in a challenging non-conference slate. Rice showed their competitive spark against Army, now it’s time to see if they can get all phases working together at the same time. At this point in the season, it’s hard to be sure exactly what this team is going to be but the first impression was overwhelmingly positive.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls
  • Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR Artis Cole commits to Owls
  • Rice Football Recruiting: Khary Crump’s path to the Owls

Filed Under: Football, Archive, Featured Tagged With: Andrew Bird, Charlie Booker, D'Angelo Ellis, Game preview, George Nyakwol, Juma Otoviano, Rice Football, Treshawn Chamberlain, Tyrae Thornton, Zane Knipe

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • Next Page »
  1. Item 1
  2. Item 2
  3. Item 3
  4. Item 4
  5. Item 5
  • Rice Football
  • Rice Basketball
  • Rice Baseball, David Pierce
  • Rice Football
  • “He’s a Bulldog”: Parker Smith’s Journey to Rice Baseball Ace
Become a patron at Patreon!
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter