Reliving loss leaves coach second-guessing
Offensively, Bloomgren lives and dies with his conservative play-calling
After reviewing the film from Saturday’s 23-20 overtime loss to Louisiana Tech, Rice coach Mike Bloomgren identified 16 plays that might have altered the outcome of the Owls Conference USA opener.
The Owls turned the ball over on an interception before halftime. They opened the third quarter with a missed field goal. In the fourth quarter, with the Owls driving, Bloomgren called a run on thirdand-9 that ultimately led to a field goal — which the Bulldogs matched eight plays later.
But one play sticks out the most to Bloomgren.
Late in the third quarter, after Louisiana Tech tied the game at 14, Rice sought to respond. The Owls had been held to five straight scoreless drives and on thiird-and-7, Bloomgren called a run which was stuffed for a loss of 4 yards.
“We just hadn’t been able to complete passes and I thought that might give us our best chance,” Bloomgren said. “They came out in a sub front that our guys weren’t prepared
to block and that’s completely on me. It was a bad call.”
After licking their wounds over the weekend, the Owls (0-5, 0-1) are preparing to face AlabamaBirmingham (3-1, 0-1), a team that trounced them 42-0 last October.
Bloomgren is confident in his defense, which ranks third in C-USA for conference games.
“Defensively, we’re playing a really high level right now, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “We’ve given ourselves a chance to be in those games in the fourth quarter because of the ferocious way that our defense is playing. I think they’re really playing in a relentless manner, swarming to the ball and you know what, we’re still going to ask them for more.”
On offense, quarterback Wiley Green has inched closer to again securing the starting job full time.
“Wiley is going to be the guy,” Bloomgren said. “Tom (Stewart) will have a role, but he’s not going to be inserted at ‘x’ series anymore. I think Wiley played better than Tom last week, and that’s how we’re going to go right now.”
After the loss to Louisiana Tech, Bloomgren took responsibility for some of his unsuccessful calls. On Tuesday, he elaborated on his broader philosophy.
“Is it a conservative offense? Yep, it is. And that’s by design,” he said. “It’s a philosophical thing about how we want to win games. Do we want to score more points? Absolutely. Should we have scored more points? Absolutely.”
Bloomgren had taken a measured approach to the team’s placekicking woes by reaffirming his confidence in kicker Will Harrison even while tinkering with who has handled kickoffs, field goals and extra points at different moments throughout the season.
But after Harrison’s misses cost the team 10 points in four games, Bloomgren has replaced him with punter Chris Barnes, who initially put Rice ahead in overtime Saturday with a 36-yard field goal.
The second-year coach hopes his team can learn to finish games without relying on a kicker, though.
“We’ve got to become that team that wants that situation, thrives on that situation and finishes that situation,” Bloomgren said. “That’s what we’re working towards is earning the right to have that belief in crunch time to win ballgames.”