"Swooping" in at our #8 spot in our CUSA Football preview. We take a look at the Rice Owls.
Deflated season:
Rice had a sudden step back in 2015. The Owls had been at the top or near it the last couple of seasons only to come crashing back down in 2015. In 2013 Rice went 10-4 with a CUSA championship game victory over Marshall. In 2014 Rice finished with a 8-5 record and a blowout bowl victory over Fresno St in Hawaii. However, in 2015, sitting at 4-3 after their first 7 games. The owls managed to lose 4 of their last 5 and finished with a losing record at 5-7 with a few losses by a wide margin. Baylor defeated the Owls 70-17 in week 4. While WKU came into Houston in week 5 to dominate Rice by a final score of 49-10.
So what happened to cause the sudden turn of fortune for the Owls? As with every other team in CUSA that struggled in 2015. Injuries and youth most certainly played a factor for Rice. The Owls defensive unit in particular felt the brunt of this. Statistically speaking Rice had one of the worst defenses in all of FBS football in 2015. But we will get to that in a minute. First up is the other side of the football.
The Offense:
Senior QB Driphus Jackson has graduated and the Owls look to replace the 2 year starter. Jackson has an extremely mediocre 2015 season. Throwing the ball for 2,348 yards with 18 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. But it was his 12 fumbles and being sacked 34 times that was detrimental to the Owls offensive production. To be fair when a QB is being sacked that often it is usually a product of his receivers not getting open and/or poor poor blocking along the offensive line. Though blocking for a scrambling QB can often be a difficult task for a lineman.
Tyler Stehling has been the back-up QB for the past two seasons behind Jackson and looks for his chance to take over the starting unit in 2016. Stehling is not the run threat that Jackson was for Rice. He has only had limited action in games. Going 24-48 for 320 yards and 1 touchdown to 2 interceptions. If Stehling does not perform and head coach David Bailiff thinks a change may be needed. Rice has a couple of former highly touted QB recruits waiting in the wings.
Stability on offense:
If Rice can garner some stability and solid play from the QB position. The Owls stand a chance to have a decent season. Rice is loaded with depth at the offensive skill positions. The Owls return both their leading rusher (Darik Dillard) and leading receiver (Zach Wright) from 2015.
Dillard leads a RB corp in 2016 that features 4 players who had 70 or more carries in 2015. Dillard led the way with 135 carries for 698 yards and 5 touchdowns. While back-ups Samuel Stewart, Austin Walter, and Jowan Davis combined for 241 carries for 1,122 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Zach Wright led the way with the receiving corp in 2015 hauling in 39 catches for 554 yards. Tons of experience returns in a unit that features 6 players who made at least 13 catches and 9 players who were targeted at least 11 times. Outside of Wright, who is a senior, the top returning wide outs are juniors Temi Alaka, former QB turned WR Nate German, and James Mayden. Followed by sophomore standout Parker Smith.
Along the offensive line the Owls return 3 of their 5 starters up front along with 2 other players with starting experience. While the unit struggled in blocking for scrambling QB Driphus Jackson last season. They were solid in run blocking. Allowing Rice to run the ball for 2,369 yards on 2015. Losing senior center Andrew Reue as a 3 year starter and a 4 year starter in Caleb Williams along the line can be tough to replace. But experience and depth overall in the unit should help ease the blow.
Swiss Cheese Defense:
Rice was absolutely helpless against good or even decent offenses in 2015. Rice ranked near the bottom in almost every defensive category. The Owls allowed 7.1 yards per play in 2015. Yes, you read that right. While youth and injury played a role and was most definitely a contributing factor to that. The awfulness of the defense can not be understated.
Rice got only 1 game out of defensive end Graysen Schantz. Rice had to play multiple freshman along the defensive line last season as well as in the secondary. So here is the good news. Injuries during the previous season usually leads to a wealth of experience in the following season. If that holds true then Rice returns a load of experience to its porous defense. 6 freshman who saw experience along the defensive front will be sophomores to go along with Schantz and defensive tackle Grant Peterson. The secondary will feature the return of 9 players who logged at least 8 tackles in 2015. While the line-backing corp is led by the return of seniors Alex Lyons and Tabari McGaskey who combined for 99 tackles, 10 TFL, and 2.5 sacks. Rice rely more on their defensive line to create havoc along the front. The linebackers job in the Owls scheme is to stop anyone who makes it past the defensive line. Which in 2015 happened a lot.
Rebound season?
Rice could get back on track in 2016. They return a wealth of experience and have decent size and skill position players. The bottom line though is that the defense will have to vastly improve for the Owls to finish with a winning record in 2016 if the offense just holds par. If improvement happens on the defensive side of the ball and Rice can get a little consistency week to week in its offensive production then the Owls could go bowling again in 2016. If not, then coach David Bailiff could begin to feel his seat getting hot.
Schedule & Prediction:
Sept. 1 @WKU
Sept. 10 @Army
Sept. 17 Baylor
Sept. 24 North Texas
Oct. 1 @Southern Miss
Oct. 15 UTSA
Oct. 22 Prairie View A&M
Oct. 29 @La Tech
Nov. 5 Florida Atlantic
Nov. 12 @Charlotte
Nov. 19 UTEP
Nov. 26 @Stanford
Prediction: 6-6 with wins over Army, UNT, UTSA, Prairie View, FAU, Charlotte
