Scrappy Owls top Blazers
It's not likely that a Rice football team has been described as having the moxie and gumption of barroom brawlers, but it is that sense of persistence and determination that makes coach Mike Bloomgren believe he has some special on his sideline.
The Owls certainly displayed a fighting spirit Saturday night, casting off a mediocre first half with a third-quarter surge and a pair of defensive stands in the final minutes to produce a 28-24 win over UAB at Rice Stadium.
Ari Broussard had two touchdown runs, defensive back Treshawn Chamberlain returned a backward pass four yards for a score and TJ McMahon threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Dean Connors for the Owls, who rebounded from a 17-7 halftime deficit to take their Conference USA opener.
“This means a lot to a lot of people in our locker room and to the coaching staff,” Bloomgren said.
“To play as we did in the first half and be down only 17-7 was a blessing and to be able to come out and do what we talked bout in the locker room at halftime … it was even better than I asked them to do. It was awesome.”
The Owls' defense held Blazers running back DeWayne McBride, who had averaged 200 yards a game in his previous two starts, to 121 yards and a single touchdown and clamped down in the second half on quarterback Dylan Hopkins, who threw for 231 yards but was sacked three times, two of them on the Blazers' final possession.
“This is the game we live for defensively,” said defensive lineman Ikenna Enechukwu. “We want to be the most brutal, the most physical team out there. We don't instigate things, but between the whistles, we are going to feed off aggression.”
Oddly enough, it was a cheap shot by the Blazers that seemed to snap the Owls back into gear. As the third quarter kickoff sailed into the end zone for a touchback, UAB linebacker Reise Collier leveled Rice's Gabriel Taylor following the whistle, one of 12 penalties for 116 yards against the Blazers.
The Rice defense held UAB on downs, and the Owls' offense, moribund since a 75-yard scoring drive on their opening possession, marched 48 yards in eight plays and scored on a 3-yard run by Broussard to close within three points.
Less than a minute later, Hopkins was hit by Rice defender George Nyakwol as he was attempting to throw from the UAB 20. The resulting backward pass bounced free toward the goal line and was picked up by Chamberlain for Rice's second score of the quarter.
“I don't know if it was the one play,” Bloomgren said. “But we gave a sequence in the locker room of how we wanted the third quarter to start — kickoff out of the end zone, the defense goes three-and-out and our offense puts it in the box. I love it when a plan comes together.”
UAB, however, retook the lead after a series of misbegotten behavior that wouldn't belong in either team's highlight reel.
First, McBride bulled 12 yards to the Rice 8, only to be penalized for a personal foul after flashing the twofinger peace sign to Taylor. Rice, however, countered with a mental blunder of its own when Trey Schuman was penalized for shouting signals in an effort to confuse the offense.
UAB retook the lead, 2421, on Hopkins' 28-yard pass to Trea Shropshire, but Rice answered with a 14-play, 82-yard drive in which the Owls overcame three penalties while benefiting from a roughing the passer flag against UAB.
Quarterback TJ McMahon, who completed 11 of 17 for 104 yards, was 4-for-4 on the drive for 36 yards, including the six-yard score to Connors, and Cam Montgomery chipped in a 21-yard run on the drive.
Rice needed a secondhalf revival after a sluggish first half. Broussard figured in both first-quarter scoring drives, diving for a 1-yard touchdown run on the Owls' opening drive and fumbling deep in Rice territory to set up the Blazers' first score, a 3-yard run by McBride.
Broussard appeared in some replay angles to lose the ball before crossing the plane of the goal line, but the play was called a touchdown and upheld on review.
The game began with some hard feelings, at least on the UAB side, after Bloomgren's preseason reference to the Blazers as “bullies” of Conference USA in the wake of a 42-0 win over Rice in 2018 and a 30-24 Rice win last year at Birmingham.
There was plenty of chippy and chirpy behavior throughout. In the end, though, Rice battled back from its own mistakes to prevail.
“If we play that way for 60 minutes,” Bloomgren said, referring to Rice's second-half performance, “I don't know who can beat the Rice Owls . ... I'd take these guys to a brawl anywhere.”