Owls get minds back on football

Rice football players spent the majority of their week between games on the move, first from Australia to Los Angeles then to Fort Worth and finally back to Houston on Friday.

Rice coach David Bailiff said 12 players “lost everything” in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. About 26 players’ vehicles were flooded as they sat in the stadium parking lot during the storm. Some coaches’ wives slept in churches or shelters last week.

While Bailiff gave his players time to help their families and rest, he divided them into small groups to go help clean teammates’ homes on Friday. Several teammates will be staying with others in the coming weeks, but Bailiff said there’s an effort to help those who were displaced find housing.

On Saturday, players went out into Houston to work food drives and clean out homes in Meyerland.

The team returned to football Tuesday with a meeting and an evening practice. The last time they were on the field was last week during what Bailiff calls two “spirited” practices in Fort Worth.

“There was high anxiety. We weren’t living it,” he said of the team’s previous mindset. And now? “You’re just trying to let them have fun,” said Bailiff as the Owls return to action Saturday at UTEP.

He uses the midseason deaths of his parents as a point of reference.

“I couldn’t wait for football because that took my mind off that,” he said. “I’m sure they’re going to be the same way.”