3rd try may bring 3rd game
Bloomgren stays upbeat for shot at North Texas after 2washouts
Following twoweekends of game cancellations, Rice is focused on winning Saturday as it hopes to avoid a third consecutive postponement.
What was supposed to be the Owls’ most recent game against Louisiana Tech was postponed a week after its game against UTSA met the same fate. This weekend’s opponent, North Texas, sawlast Saturday’s game against UAB canceled.
“We’ve kind of been rinse and repeat with our schedule for the last couple weeks,” Rice coach Mike Bloomgren said. “Really excited about making the most out of what last week was, and that’s what I go back to this week. We transition, and we’re playing North Texas. I couldn’t be more excited.”
Treading through the reality of a season thatwas almost two months delayed, Rice responded well when its season finally started late last month. A doubleovertime loss to Middle Tennessee was followed by a rout of Southern Mississippi.
But in a year when the
coronavirus pandemic has uprooted the sports world and every other industry, this weekend’s game comes with no guarantees. North Texas (2-3) hasn’t played since Oct. 17 — a week before Rice started its season — because of COVID-related issues on its and its opponents’ rosters.
“There’s a human element to it, and some of the hardest things I’ve had to do this year is get on a Zoom call and explain to our team that even though we’ve done everything right, we don’t get a chance to play that week,” Bloomgren said. “Those things have been hard. But you
know what? As I look around, I think that we’ve all done a good job as a coaching staff and as players. We’re going to have that initial disappointment. And then we’re going to move forward.”
Bloomgren is carrying that positivity into this weekend and believes his team is in good position to post a second consecutive win.
“One thing I keep (saying) to the kids is even though we’re not getting the payoff in terms of the game, what we’re doing and the way we’re doing it is not for nothing,” he said. “We are getting gains out of
the practice. We are making progress.”
Rice captured its second win of the season late last year against North Texas — a departure from the 41-17 blowout loss the Owls endured against the Mean Green in Bloomgren’s first season.
Last year’s winwas a crucial middle passage in Rice’s three-game winning streak to end the season. This week, the Owls will look to North Texas as a springboard to the final three games currently on their schedule. But they’re tasked with stopping an offense that has averaged 593.6 yards through five games.
In the face of an ever capricious pandemic, Bloomgren wants to take things day by day.
“Our job is simply to worry about having the best Wednesday possible as we prepare for the No. 2 offense in America,” Bloomgren said.“We talked about howwe’re going towin that game as a team. So that’s where I’m at.”