No relief in sight for Bailiff & Co.
Mistakes add up as program inches closer to worst season since ’09
Rice keeps reading the same story in 2016, wondering what it takes to find a happy ending.
Saturday’s 42-25 loss to Florida Atlantic at Rice Stadium has Rice in line for its worst season since 2009’s 2-10 mark.
Offensive inconsistencies, defensive letdowns and constant mishaps continue to feel inescapable for Rice (1-8, 0-6 Conference USA).
“It’s not only the coaches, it takes a lot of peer pressure,” Rice coach David Bailiff said of stopping the mistakes. “That enough is enough. When people draw a line in the sand, that will be when it happens.”
Rice punted seven times in 15 drives Saturday, barely mustering any kind of offensive consistency. Rice senior quarterback Tyler Stehling was sacked five times.
Meanwhile, FAU running back Devin Singletary had a career day with 23 carries for 252 yards and three touchdowns. FAU quarterback Jason Driskel was 15-of-23 for 317 yards and two touchdowns. But it was Singletary and Greg Howell (13 carries for 74 yards and a score) who finished drives.
Stehling’s 254 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 18-of-28 passing weren’t enough. The only other bright spot for Rice was freshman receiver Kylen Granson’s seven catches for 87 yards and one touchdown in his first start.
Fast start fizzles
Rice’s opening drive — the one time Stehling and Granson connected for a score — didn’t suggest an eighth loss. But there were four consecutive threeand-outs between that score and Rice’s next — Nahshon Ellerbe’s 7-yard touchdown run.
“That’s what’s amazing,” Bailiff said. “We take the ball on the first drive, score and then we give up five sacks. … We give up five sacks in the first half. We give up none in the second half.”
It’s the story of Rice’s season. The opening sequences of the third quarter were a backbreaker.
Trailing 21-14, Rice opened the quarter with its sixth punt. It was a spectacular one from sophomore Haden Tobola, though, pinning FAU (2-7, 1-4) at its own 2-yard line.
Even on the first play of FAU’s drive, Howell was stopped for a 1-yard loss.
But the drive ended in a 1-yard touchdown run from Howell, covering 12 plays and 98 yards and a 28-14 mid-third-quarter lead. Rice went from a glimmer of hope to heartbreak like many times before in 2016. And a twoscore deficit was a mountain too tall to climb.
“There are flashes where we’ll get a threeand-out, couple tackles for a loss, getting pressure on the quarterback and then there are instances where we miss four or five tackles on consecutive plays on a drive,” Rice senior linebacker Alex Lyons said. “We just have to shore up that and get more consistent going into these last three games.”
There was another Rice drive before the half that could have tied the game at 21 but ended with a fumble instead.
Granson, who will be one of many charged with the turnaround in future seasons, said the offense is struggling with the same inconsistencies.
“As coach said, we started out hot, come out scoring and then we had a lapse in focus,” Granson said. “We’d have flashes of greatness and we could move the ball really well, but we just need to be more consistent on a total team basis.”
One thing goes awry with Rice, and it continues piling on. On Saturday, it was Singletary doing the piling.
He weaved through Rice’s defense for a 66- yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that felt like another dig deeper into the hole that is Rice’s 2016 campaign.
“One game, really got it going today,” Florida Atlantic coach Charlie Partridge said of Singletary. “It was probably a record-setting day today for Devin. That’s something that he can be proud of and we can be proud of.”
Struggling is putting it lightly for both these teams. FAU has a little bit more to smile about. It’s the team’s first win since the season opener.
3 games to sort it out
Rice didn’t go winless in conference play in 2009 and now has two opportunities to make sure that doesn’t happen this year with a trip to Charlotte next week before a home date against UTEP. A trip to Stanford is on tap for the season finale.
“No one likes the situation we’re in,” Bailiff said. The only way out of it is to stay united and to keep working and to continue being more demanding and for this team to be more demanding of itself.”