College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Rice Owls season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Rice Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 3-9 overall, 3-5 in C-USA
Head Coach: Mike Bloomgren, 3rd year, 5-20
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 115
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 115
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 122
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season, and we certainly want to be mindful of all that’s happening, especially in the Houston area as this is being published.
We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Rice Owls Offense 3 Things To Know
– The Rice offense has had a few issues. The attack finished 125th in the nation averaging just 294 yards per game, and scoring appears to be optional, averaging fewer than 18 points per outing. However, there were signs of life.
The O that is trying to pound the ball and get the ground game going failed to hit the 28-point mark in any of its first nine games. It came up with 31 against Middle Tennessee and 30 against UTEP – both wins – and now there’s at least a little positive momentum.
But the low-scoring – as crazy as this seems – is partly by design.
Run the ball, shorten the game, control the tempo. But a bit more pop would be nice.
CFN in 60 Video: LSU Preview
LSU vs. Rice, Sept. 19
– The leading runners are gone, but Aston Walter and Charlie Booker only combined for just over 1,000 yards. Walter is the big loss, with the top leading returning rusher – sophomore Juva Otoviano – only running for 114 yards in three games. 215-pound Ari Broussard brings a little more thump.
There aren’t a slew of experienced running backs to work behind, and just two starters are back up front. It’s not a big group, but it can move, and it will try getting physical for the ground game. That’s been a fight to generate a consistent push, but C Shea Baker is a good one to work around. Losing OT Uzome Osuji to Boise State doesn’t help.
– The Owls are never going to bomb away, but at least the passing game has to be efficient. That’s been an issue over the last few years, but the receivers are in place to do more with the top five targets expected back.
6-5, 195-pound Brad Rozner and 5-10 senior Austin Trammell combined for 115 catches – they’re as strong a 1-2 punch as the program has had in a while. Add 6-4 transfer Christian McStravick from Boston College to the mix, and the receiving corps should be one of the team’s biggest strengths.
Someone has to get them all the ball.
Top passer Tom Stewart is done, but sophomore Wiley Green is back after throwing for 787 yards and four scores. In comes Michael Collins from TCU to add more downfield pop. The 6-5, 225-pounder is a pro-style passer who should settle the position.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Rice Owls Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Rice Owls Defense 3 Things To Know
– The offense still has some work and some tweaking to do – to be kind – but with ninestarters expected to return, the defense should be ready to go right out of the box.
It was much, much better in Year Two in the Mike Bloomgren era. It was far more physical, far better against there run, and it allowed 157 fewer points than the 2018 version.
– It’s not like there was much of a pass rush, but losing Anthony Ekpe to the transfer portal might sting a wee bit. He was second on the team with 2.5 sacks with 23 tackles in hie eight games of work. Myles Adams is also gone from the line, but 6-5, 302-pound Elijah Garcia is bacon on the nose, and 6-3, 256-pound sophomore Ikenna Enechukwu will get a bigger role at one of the end jobs.
The pass rush – if there’s more of one – should come from the linebackers. 6-2, 220-pound senior Blaze Alldredge led the team with 102 tackles and four sacks from his spot on the weakside. Treshawn Chamberlain is only 204 pounds, but he can move – he was third on the team with 64 tackles – and 216-pound junior Antonio Montero is a big hitter in the middle who finished with 83 stops.
– To be fair, there wasn’t any pass rush to help the cause, but the secondary has to be stronger after allowing 242 yards per game and coming up with just six picks.
Everyone is expected to be back, and now is when the payoff needs to come after throwing a slew of young players to the wolves over the last two seasons. Trae Thornton is a nice corner, and the safety combination of Naeem Smith and Tre’shon Devones can pop.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Rice Owls Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Rice Owls Players
Best Rice Owls Offensive Player
WR Brad Rozner, Sr.
Combined with fellow senior Austin Trammell, Rice has one of the better wide receiver duos in the conference. The 6-5, 195-pounder was second on the team behind Trammell with 55 catches, but he made more big plays with a team-high 770 yards and five scores in hist first year coming in from the JUCO ranks.
He came up with four 100-yard days, highlighted by a 130-yard, three-score day in the win over Middle Tennessee. He’ll be used deep even more this year.
2. WR Austin Trammell, Sr.
3. C/OG Shea Baker, Jr.
4. QB Mike Collins, Sr.
5. OT Clay Servin, Soph.
Best Rice Owls Defensive Player
LB Blaze Alldredge, Sr.
The former JUCO transfer stepped in and produced right away with 65 tackles as a sophomore, and last year he blew up into a First Team All-Conference USA performer with 102 tackles with four sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss. At 6-2 and 220 pounds, he’s a decent-sized outside linebacker who lives behind the line, and now he’s the star of a linebacking corps loaded with veterans. He was also an all-star in the classroom.
2. LB Treshawn Chamberlain, Jr.
3. CB Tyrae Thornton, Jr.
4. DT Elijah Garcia, Sr.
5. S George Nyakwol, Sr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Rice Owls Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Rice Owls Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Rice Owls Offense
It’s okay to open it up a bit. It might go against the whole point of the Rice style to start taking big shots down the field with a big passing game, but that’s where the strength should be.
The Owls only came up with more than 200 yards through the air four times and have just four 300-yard passing games over the last five seasons.
Either TCU transfer Mike Collins – more on that in a moment – or Wiley Green should be able to air it out a bit, and the receivers are in place with experience and talent to make defenses worry.
If opponents have to gameplan for the air attack – as long as it can do more than average 11 yards per catch and not be the worst in Conference USA – then the running game should start to open up. At the very least, doing more through the air on third downs would change things up.
Biggest Key To The Rice Owls Defense
Third down stops, third down stops, THIRD DOWN STOPS. Considering ball control and time of possession is a huge deal for what the coaching staff likes and wants to do, getting the defense off the field is a must.
In a perfect world – even if Rice really does use the passing game more – the O goes from keeping the ball for 31:28 per game to around 33 minutes per game. That happens with the defense coming up with stops.
It’s been a program problem, failing to allow fewer than 40% on third down chances in each of the last three seasons. Even in the 2016 season the D allowed 39.5%, and that was it for the last six years.
Allowing teams to convert 50% or more of their tries in six of the first nine games was a killer. The program is 0-21 since beating North Texas early in 2015 when teams are able to convert half of their third down chances.
Key Rice Owls Player To A Successful Season
QB Mike Collins, Sr.
It would be really, really, really nice if a superstar running back could emerge to revolve the offense around, but settling the quarterback situation is even more important.
Four players attempted at least five passes last year, and four Owls attempted at least 20 throws two years ago. Wiley Green has been a part of all of the fun and could see plenty of action, but the O needs Collins to be a star.
The 6-5, 225-pounder started out his career at Penn, moved over to TCU and saw a little starting time, and now he’s trying to come up with one big final season. He’s got the size, and he has the arm, and he has the receivers. Now he has to be solid.
Key Game To The Rice Owls Season
Army, Sept. 12
Rice hit well and kept Army to just 231 rushing yards with one score in the 14-7 loss in last year’s opener. The O simply couldn’t get things moving and score with just 243 yards of total offense.
The program needs the win this year.
It starts out against Houston to start, and it has LSU to follow. Lose to Army again, and it’ll likely be an 0-3 start. Win, and with Lamar coming up at the end of September, 2-2 is likely before diving into Conference USA play.
– Rice Owls Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Rice Fun Stats
– Penalties: Opponents 73 for 754 yards – Rice 45 for 354 yards
– Sacks: Opponents 33 for 183 yards – Rice 15 for 106 yards
– Fumbles: Rice 20 (lost 12) – Opponents 8 (lost 5)
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Rice Owls Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Rice Owls Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
Can this finally be the year when Rice becomes more than just a speed bump?
It’s been thrown into the bucket of Conference USA free space programs, winning just seven games over FBS teams over the last four seasons and with the last winning campaign coming in 2014.
Yes, Rice won the 2013 Conference USA championship. Yes, it is possible for the program to win.
It’s been a rebuild and a redo for head coach Mike Bloomgren over the last two years, but he now has the defensive experience in place to come up with a strong year on that side, and once a few running backs show up, the offense should be okay, too.
Set The Rice Owls Regular Season Win Total At … 5
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 5.5
But last year’s team was supposed to be stronger, and it started out 0-9.
Yeah, winning the last three games might have built up the momentum going into 2020, but the victories over Middle Tennessee and North Texas could’ve easily have gone the other way.
But wins are wins, and Rice needs more of them.
It should be able to beat Lamar, and it gets UTSA and UTEP at home. If this is going to be anything of a season, those three wins have to be givens.
Figure a win at home against either Army, UAB, or Middle Tennessee, and an upset somewhere, else, and five wins would be a great step forward.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
