‘Playoff football’ begins this week
Playoff football for Rice begins Saturday at Charlotte. That is how the Owls are looking at it.
The Owls need to win each of their final two games of the regular season to get to six victories and become bowl eligible.
On Saturday, Rice (4-6, 2-4) plays Charlotte (3-7, 2-4) at 1 p.m. The following Saturday, Rice plays host to Florida Atlantic (4-6, 3-3) in a noon kickoff. Both are winnable games for the Owls, who have dropped three straight games to the top three teams in the American Athletic Conference.
“We are entering playoff football, and that is always exciting,” sixth-year Rice coach Mike Bloomgren said. “We know we’ve got to go 1-0 this week, and we expect to go 1-0 against a talented opponent. We know where we are.”
On Tuesday, Bloomgren said Rice set three main goals prior to the start of the 2023 season. Foremost was winning the conference championship. The Owls are not going to pull that off.
“And neither are 12 other teams in the American,” Bloomgren said.
The head Owl said the team also wanted to do things that had not been accomplished at the school in some time. Like beating Houston 43-41 in double overtime in the second game of the season.
And should Rice win out, make a bowl, and win a postseason game, it would have a winning record.
“So two out of our three big goals that we set are still in play,” Bloomgren said.
Charlotte has won the past two meetings. A year ago, Rice was hammered 56-23 inside Rice Stadium.
“We did not put our best foot forward against this team last year,” said starting nose tackle Izeya Floyd, a 6-2 315-pound redshirt junior from Frisco Reedy. “We are a much better football team than we were last year. We need to give them our best.”
Last season, Rice made a bowl with a 5-7 record. It does not want to take the same route to the postseason this year. The Owls gained their first bowl since 2014 because not enough teams reached six wins and the Owls had the highest national ranking in Academic Progress Rate scores.
Daniels’ status still uncertain
J.T. Daniels has been hanging out at Rice’s earlyweek practices, but Bloomgren is unsure of his star quarterback’s availability for Charlotte.
Daniels, who passed for 2,443 yards and 21 scores over the Owls’ first nine games, did not play in Saturday’s 34-14 defeat at UTSA. He was in concussion protocol after taking a hard hit to the helmet the prior week against SMU.
“We’d love to have him back, no doubt,” Bloomgren said. “If he gets cleared, we expect to play him.”
Redshirt freshman A.J. Padgett threw for 182 yards and two interceptions at UTSA in his longest outing of the season. True freshman Chase Jenkins, who relieved Daniels in the second half against SMU, is ready. And there is also Shawqi Itraish, who has played parts of two games.
“We’re going to be ready to go this Saturday, whichever quarterback we trot out there,” Bloomgren said. “It’s fun in a lot of ways to have this competition, to have those guys get reps and see them push each other.”
Floyd eyes future carrying the ball
Floyd has been playing organized football since the second grade.
This past Saturday at UTSA, he ran with the ball in his hands in a game for the first time. He recovered a fumble forced by Plae Wyatt at the Rice 4-yard line and returned the ball 6 yards.
“I never got the opportunity (before),” Floyd said. “So I enjoyed it.”
He enjoyed it so much that he has told Bloomgren he would like to carry the ball some in goal-line situations.
After picking up the loose ball against UTSA, Floyd put it under his arm and began running through players, refusing to go down while displaying ball security.
Floyd, who has played on both sides of the ball, had an interesting path to Rice. He played solely on offense in high school but was recruited by the Owls to play defense. In 2020, Floyd returned to the offensive line for one year when Bloomgren was more involved with that position.
“It’s a blessing to see all sides of football, and I’m grateful to work on both sides of the ball,” Floyd said. “I love the game, and I’m a student of it, and I love to learn.”
Last season, Floyd saw action in a career-high 440 snaps on defense, reaching personal bests in solo tackles (seven), total tackles (21), total pressures (15) and quarterback hurries (15). He forced a fumble in last
year’s LendingTree Bowl against Southern Miss.
This season, Floyd has taken part in 17 tackles.
Broussard in mix at running back
Ari Broussard has had some big games running the ball over the years. He is one of three Owls (along with Clay Servin and Juma Otoviano) who are in their sixth season at Rice. Just last year, Broussard scored a rushing touchdown in each of the first six games before missing the remainder of 2022 with an injury.
But this season, Broussard is buried on the bench behind Dean Connors, who has had a breakout season, and Otoviano. Broussard has only 20 carries for 67 yards. He is expected to get more opportunities Saturday. Otoviano is injured and will not play against Charlotte.
The last time the Owls visited Charlotte in 2021, Broussard had his best game, running for 186 yards and scoring the first two touchdowns of his career.
Around campus
Volleyball concludes its home schedule at Tudor Fieldhouse against Wichita State on Friday at 6 p.m., and Saturday at 2 p.m. Rice leads the nation in digs per set (18.45). … Men’s basketball is at Texas on Wednesday for an 8 p.m. tipoff. … Women’s basketball is at home at Tudor for a pair of games: Georgia Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Saint Mary’s on Sunday at 2 p.m. … Swimming is at the SMU Invite in Dallas from Thursday through Saturday.