As Owls look to end skid, Blazers set sights on bowl
There is an awkward compare/contrast to Saturday’s game between Rice and UAB.
One team, led by a veteran defense and with a chip on its shoulder, is seeking to overcome its recent past — highlighted by losing records and fan frustration— to validate its coach and school by qualifying for a bowl.
Early this season, before Australia, before Hurricane Harvey, Rice fans had hoped this was the position they’d be in during Week 10 of the college football season.
Defense improved
After all, the defense has improved under new defensive coordinator Brian Stewart, spear headed by linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee, who ranks second in Conference USA in total tackles (76).
Rice (1-7, 1-3 C-USA) is more than likely to miss its third consecutive bowl game as it takes six wins to automatically qualify (five if exceptions apply).
The Owls have lost six in a row since defeating UTEP on Sept. 9. Since their last appearance in a bowl game in 2014, the Owls have gone 9-23, and head coach David Bailiff ’s coaching seat is hotter than ever.
Conversely, UAB (5-3, 3-2), a team that didn’t exist the last two years, sits three spots ahead of Rice in the West standings and could qualify for its second bowl at the Owls’ expense.
“It is what we work for, and to be where we are is just a tributeto the coaches and the player sandal loft he hard work that been put in,” UAB coach Bill Clark said of the Blazers’ potential bowl eligibility.
Clark, who agreed to a new five-year contract with UAB on Friday, isn’t looking past the Owls.
“I really could not say this any stronger that I feel like Rice is a really good opponent. I told our players this morning that everybody is going to talk about records and that is the worst
thing that could happen to us,” Clark said Monday.
“There is not a big separation from anyone in our conference. Rice is wellcoached, they have good players that are still fighting and feel like they can win every game,” he said. “We are going to have our hands full just competing and we are going to have to do everything we need to do.”
Beyond their trajectories, other factors differentiate the Owls and the Blazers.
‘Fishing the Dead Sea’
UAB rebuilt its roster with junior college players, more than 40 of them.
Bailiff once considered mining the JUCO ranks when he first arrived on South Main but found the effort to be “like fishing in the Dead Sea” because of a lack of interest or academic qualifications.
And since the NCAA’s 2006 policy that granted immediate eligibility for any transfer player who’s already graduated with a degree, Rice has largely been forced to the sidelines, unable to lure standouts like a Russell Wilson.
In fact, they lost one in Cypress-product Nate German, a versatile quarterback who could have been their starter as a redshirt senior this year. They also lost quarterback Jeremy Jones, a player who also saw action on the court for the Owls. Jones would have been a redshirt junior ahead of Sam Glaesmann on the Owls’ depth chart this year.
“The young players are growing up. Austin Trammell is doing some nice things for us. Will Phillips at tight end. I thought Sam Glaesmann’s performance was much improved,” Bailiff said. “But still, there were too many turnovers.”
Those players will be tested by one the oldest defenses in the country, although that age doesn’t worry Bailiff.
“That’s just kind of amazing that a first-year program has that many veterans,” he said. “You thought you’d see some freshmen, but they have players from all over the country.”
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