Big lead squandered when offense stalls

Rice came into its football game with Florida Atlantic having not played the Owls in six years. There’s not a lot of familiarity between the Conference USA teams.

And the last time these two met on the playing field, FAU got the best of Rice. Perhaps that was a factor in the Rice Owls being FAU’s homecoming opponent on Saturday night in Boca Raton, Fla.

Playing its first game outside of Houston since Sept. 3, Rice let a 14-point first-quarter lead slip away, falling to Florida Atlantic 17-14 at FAU Stadium in a meeting of Owls.

“We didn’t do our job offensively,” Rice coach Mike Bloomgren said. “Our defense battled and battled. The defense did everything it could to help us.

We need to do more offensively, and it starts with protecting the football.”

T.J. McMahon directed the Owls on first-quarter scoring drives of 90 and 89 yards, putting the visiting team up 14-0. But Rice did not score over the final three quarters. Three interceptions from McMahon ended promising drives. Two came in the fourth quarter, both picked off in the end zone. The first a tipped pass on second down.

“They kept doing what they were doing, and our execution faltered,” Bloomgren said.

FAU scored the final 17 points, but in the early going it was all Rice.

McMahon connected on a 78-yard touchdown pass to Bradley Rozner and Ari Broussard scored on a 3yard run. But the Owls weren’t on the field long enough to sustain drives, putting pressure on its defense to hold. Which it did time after time.

Rice (3-3, 1-1), which came in ranked sixth nationally in time of possession (34:32), managed to run only 51 plays for 261 yards in 23:20 of being on offense. On 79 plays, FAU only gained 311 yards.

“It’s disappointing when you don’t convert on third downs,” said Rice linebacker Myron Morrison, who collected 15 tackles. “Ultimately, we (the defense) have to control what we can control.”

In a telling statistic, Rice was 1-of-8 on third downs. FAU converted 6-of-17.

“We’re not being efficient in the run game, we’re not moving the sticks, and doing some of the things we were able to start the year doing,” Bloomgren said. “Right now, we’re putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback.”

McMahon threw for 197 yards on 10-of-28 passing. Rice averaged a mere 2.8 yards on 23 rushing attempts. However, Broussard, who gained 41 of the Owls’ 64 yards, rushed for a touchdown for the sixth straight game.

Defensively for Rice, end Ikenna Enechukwu and free safety George Nyakwol both had two tackles for loss with Nyakwol and linebacker Josh Pearcy each collecting a sack.

FAU (3-4, 2-1) took its first and only lead in the fourth quarter. With 11:22 remaining, N’Kosi Perry threw an 18-yard scoring pass to Jahmal Edrine.

Larry McCammon had 99 of FAU’s 185 rushing yards, including a 5-yard second-quarter run for FAU’s first score.

“We got a few things we have to figure out, but I want that opportunity to play that road game,” Bloomgren said. “I can’t wait.”

Rice enjoyed early success against FAU defensive coordinator Todd Orlando’s movement-based defense.

Less than five minutes into the game, McMahon connected on the long scoring pass to Rozner on the Owls’ second possession. Running a post route, Rozner got behind the defense, pulled the ball away from the defender, and jogged into the end zone the final 15 yards.

FAU is the last remaining team that Bloomgren, in his fifth year at Rice, has coached against among CUSA schools.