Football drops close shootouts
Owls to face winless Marshall for the first time ever tomorrow
Some say that close losses hurt a team far worse than blowouts. If that is the case, the football team’s last two games stung far worse than their non-conference defeats. With their 56-48 loss to the University of Houston two weeks ago and a 38-35 defeat at the hands of the University of Memphis last Saturday, the Owls’ hopes for a second-straight bowl berth are now in serious jeopardy. The Owls must now win all of their remaining games just to qualify for a bowl game, and even that is no guarantee.
Rice (1-6, 1-2 Conference USA) will now look to rebound against Marshall University tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. in Huntington, W.Va. This is the first time the Owls have ever faced the Thundering Herd (0-7, 0-3 C-USA), one of the worst teams in the conference. However, given Rice’s performance so far this season, senior cornerback Gary Anderson Jr. said the team cannot afford to overlook any opponent.
“Marshall is a really good team — they’re 0-7, but that’s not how they play,” Anderson said. “We definitely need to come out and prepare this week and not take them lightly at all.”
But for Rice to compete with Marshall, the offense will need to alleviate the offensive ailments has encountered the past few games. For one, Rice has had trouble stretching the field vertically. The Owls averaged just seven yards per attempt against the Tigers, a number that must go up to keep the offense scoring at a fast rate.
Rice has done a good job utilizing receivers besides junior Jarett Dillard the past two weeks, and must continue to do so to keep making strides.
However, the Owls’ struggles are not limited to offense. Rice has suffered through a rough two-week stretch on the defensive side of the ball, namely due to injuries. Junior linebacker Brian Raines was a game-time decision against Memphis, and although he played, the team was still short-handed enough that two senior safeties had to play at the linebacker spots.
“We were down to Raines, [sophomore Robert] Calhoun, and [sophomore Terrance] Garmon at linebacker, which forced us to move two safeties to linebacker … to try and teach them what to do in a crash course,” head coach David Bailiff said.
This health issue is obviously a difficult one to resolve, but it is not the only problem the defense must correct. Blown assignments and coverage breakdowns continue to plague the Owls.
Understandably, the fact that defensive players chronically find themselves playing out of position or in new spots helps to create these issues with technique, but Rice will still hope to correct mistakes as the season progresses.
Offensively, junior quarterback Chase Clement looked strong against the Tigers, throwing for 289 yards and four touchdowns — three of which went to Dillard.
The Owls garnered 418 total yards on offense, and nine different Owls made receptions in the game. Senior Joel Armstrong, who missed the first half of the season with a foot injury, paced all receivers with eight receptions.
Defensively, the Owls had very few bright spots to focus on this week. However, in one series that took place in the second half, Anderson defended three straight pass attempts from Memphis to receiver Carlos Singleton. Anderson, who at six feet tall is a full eight inches shorter than Singleton, forced Memphis to kick a field goal on the possession.
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