Rice Scouting Report

owl40 · September 14, 2015

Both programs licking their wounds from disappointing performances on Saturday. We owned the stat sheet against the Horns but had 5 turnovers, two busts on special teams, and a QB who did not play well. If we fix those things, we should/could/would have won the game. Team is frustrated as they truly believed they were the better team. How they respond this week will be key for rest of season.

Thought you would like an overview of the Owls this year after two games.

Offense

Overall, offense has been strong. Put up almost 200 more yards than Texas, 19 more first downs, and controlled the line-of-scrimmage for the first time in my lifetime playing the Horns. Although only in week 3, we are #5 in FBS in rushing offense, top 25 in total offense, and #2 in FBS in time-of-possession. Gameplan will be to run the ball out of the spread. Expect lots of zone read and speed option with play action off both plays once safeties and LB's cheat on run. Showed some quick pitches last week which was a new wrinkle in running game.

It starts with our 23-year old 5th-year QB, Driphius Jackson (DJ) who has two bowl game MVP trophies under-his-belt. DJ is finally healthy after having bad ankle in Soph season and bad shoulder last year. Unfortunately, he has not played to his capabilities yet. Most think if he plays to what he did in Hawaii Bowl that we would have gotten a W last week. He is a leader. While the two other QB's that have taken garbage time snaps this year looked really good, there is no QB controversy although you could go over to the Rice message boards and read about how both of the other guys need more snaps. Bailiff will live and die with DJ's leadership, experience, and dual-threat capabilities.

Most pleasant surprise this year has been the performance of Stewart and Walters at RB. Both are Freshman. Stewart had a Sportscenter Top 10 play on Saturday with athletic dive into the endzone. There was concern when last years starter (Davis) went down on third play of game against Wagner. Stewart and Walters are very fast and the third back (Dillard) is big and gets the tougher yards. Depth at RB is a strength of the team.

There was concern at WR as we lost Jordan Taylor who is on the Broncos and Mario Hull who was cut by the 49ers. Dennis Parks stepped-up and had nice game against Texas but is dealing with a bad hamstring. Other guys are serviceable but not outstanding. We have not shown yet the ability to throw the ball deep and take any shots. Very possession oriented passing game. Rice now has three TE's in the NFL and many Owl fans would like to see current crop utilized more in the offense as they are all big guys who can catch.

OL played great against Texas. Dominated line-of-scrimmage against a hyped DL at Texas. Andrew Reue is leader of group and All-CUSA guy.

Defense

We lost 8 starters but it is not as bad as most expected given one of our All-CUSA DL decided to take a six-figure job vs. play his last year of eligibility, one is on Texans (Covington) and other is on Bears (Callahan). It is ranked #35 in FBS. We are very young in the secondary. It was exposed against Texas. I would expect to see your OC throw deep balls all day on us. It is our kryptonite. We are solid on stopping the run. Alex Lyons at LB should be all-C-USA team. DL is not as depleted as many thought it would be. They looked pretty solid against Texas. Last year, Rice was at the top of FBS in explosive plays (I think defined as plays more than 30-yards) given up and trend looks to continue to the frustration of Owl fans. In other words, we don't give up a lot of 10+ play drives. We are good at getting off-the-field. Unfortunately getting off-the-field has also meant getting burned on deep balls.

Special Teams

Our coverage teams have been a concern throughout the Bailiff era. We gave up two big returns against Texas. We have two frosh kickers who have looked pretty good so far and a good Sr. punter. Was happy to see good onside kick execution on Saturday and opened game with a trick play on kickoff return that worked well. I'm sure the big focus this week will be addressing punt coverage. It was not the entire reason why we lost to Texas but sure was a reason at the top-of-the-list.

Intangibles

Rice needs a signature win. Most thought last Saturday was the time it was finally going to happen as it was best time to beat Texas in decades. Team was emotional and ready to play. We have Baylor after North Texas. Mean Green always tough at home and historically we are not great on the road. If we come in like two-years ago, not ready to play after Texas emotional let down, and are peeking ahead to Baylor, we will get beat. I do expect DJ to have a good game for us at QB. He is a fighter and won't let his performance last week define his season. We tend to play well against teams with poor QB play and play really bad against teams with good QB's even if overall team not that good (e.g. ODU last year).

Will put some additional info up this week after weekly press conference. I do think SMU is vastly improved and the early season L will not look as bad to Mean Green fans in November than it looks today.

Army of Dad · September 14, 2015

Thanks for posting.

I do not think you need to worry about us having a deep passing game.

UNT90 · September 14, 2015

Both of your safeties will play about 10 yards from the LOS all game.

We don't have a QB on the roster that can make a play in the passing game

MeanGreenTexan · September 14, 2015

Thanks for stopping by.

I expect to see more of the same from UNT this weekend VS Rice:
VERY SOLID Special Teams. If this is a weakness for Rice, it could be exploited by UNT.
A pretty salty defense.
Underachieving offense due to lack of an FBS-caliber QB and our starting RB out.

Cougar King · September 14, 2015

So Rice fans do exist...

southsideguy · September 14, 2015

Rice wii use this week as a bye week and prepare for the next team.

GOMG2013 · September 14, 2015

From UNT perspective, the Rice game will most likely look similar to the SMU game.

The UNT defense will look good at the beginning. We will key on the run. Rice wrs will be blanketed this year. Not like last year. Our defense will start out containing jackson. He does not look as fast as matt davis, but he is a stronger runner. He can break tackles.

Offense will look a little better because Jim and harris starts. Once Rice realizes harris is all we will throw to, it's over. Run game will get stuffed.

It will be a slow, conservative game from both teams, but Rice will eventually out execute UNT because the defense will get tired and Rice will make some halftime adjustments that will get a few first downs. Rice will score and the defense will hope the offense can answer. They wont. Tired defense goes out there, and gives up another late TD because jackson smells blood. UNT loses a game where the final score looks worse than the defense played.

Travis · September 14, 2015

I'm not sure you will have too much to worry about from us.

FirefightnRick · September 14, 2015

Rice...30...First Downs....tU....11

........228...Rush yards...........149

.......234....Pass yards...........128

.22-38-3...Comp-Att-Int....5-10-0

......2-2.....Fumbles Lost.......1-1

...44 min...Time of Pos.........15 min

Johnathon Gray was held to 17 yards on 9 carries.

Before I saw the turnovers listed my first thought was how in hell did the Owls lose this game?

Needless to say we're in trouble.

Rick

Edited September 14, 2015 by FirefightnRick

SilverEagle · September 14, 2015

So, two teams who thought they should have won their previous games will show up at 1:30 Saturday to play one another. Both are mad (or should be mad), but which one is best able to channel their anger in the most optimal way.

Should be interesting.

greenminer · September 14, 2015

We will look strong on D at times, maybe even half the game. But the absence of J. Wilson, in addition to our lack of creativity and execution on offense will constantly put us in 3rd-and-long situations. The D will tire out and you'll pull away. These were concerns coming into the season. I have new ones after our Week 2 loss: LBs seemed outmatched (really, mostly mismatched against a mobile QB), plus...we are apparently football stupid when it comes to using talented TEs.

My heart says we lose by 14 but my head says it could be much, much worse.

Aldo · September 14, 2015

I would expect to see your OC throw deep balls all day on us.

____________________________________________

Unless, of course, you mean from the right hash mark to the left sideline.

Goodness I really hope we go downfield accurately this game.

MeanGreenTexan · September 14, 2015

... I would expect to see your OC throw deep balls all day on us....

I think he would, if only he could.

All About UNT · September 14, 2015

Rice by 21

untjim1995 · September 14, 2015

I think this game is going to get ugly. Rice will want to make a statement against a team that they sometimes recruit against, but is also needing to get better. I don't see us scoring too may TDs this week, but Rice will. This game may be close for a half, but I think Rice will duplicate what they did last year against us, which is just run away in the 2nd half.

No offense, fellow MG fans, but this want might end up a 48-13 type game. I'd be awfully surprised if we keep this one close...

MeanGreenTexan · September 14, 2015

I think this game is going to get ugly. Rice will want to make a statement against a team that they sometimes recruit against, but is also needing to get better. I don't see us scoring too may TDs this week, but Rice will. This game may be close for a half, but I think Rice will duplicate what they did last year against us, which is just run away in the 2nd half.
No offense, fellow MG fans, but this want might end up a 48-13 type game. I'd be awfully surprised if we keep this one close...

Defense & Special Teams will keep us in it for the first half.

owl40 · September 16, 2015

We are very thin at DE and guys who are playing are undersized. Bailiff announced this week that one of the starters, Grayson Schantz, tore his ACL and another redshirt frosh who was providing depth is also hurt for NT. We were already depleted as both starters are gone from last year. We had a couple guys who play on offense that could move across but that would create even more problems on other side of ball. It did not hurt us as much as we thought given that we ran 96 plays to Texas 38 so they were not on the field very long and it was not hot. However, a mid-afternoon kick with 90+ degree temps and a few Mean Green long drives could make us very vulnerable up-front in 2H.

MGNation92 · September 16, 2015

We are very thin at DE and guys who are playing are undersized. Bailiff announced this week that one of the starters, Grayson Schantz, tore his ACL and another redshirt frosh who was providing depth is also hurt for NT. We were already depleted as both starters are gone from last year. We had a couple guys who play on offense that could move across but that would create even more problems on other side of ball. It did not hurt us as much as we thought given that we ran 96 plays to Texas 38 so they were not on the field very long and it was not hot. However, a mid-afternoon kick with 90+ degree temps and a few Mean Green long drives could make us very vulnerable up-front in 2H.

This would imply we can sustain drives longer than 3 and out.

GOMG2013 · September 16, 2015

We are very thin at DE and guys who are playing are undersized. Bailiff announced this week that one of the starters, Grayson Schantz, tore his ACL and another redshirt frosh who was providing depth is also hurt for NT. We were already depleted as both starters are gone from last year. We had a couple guys who play on offense that could move across but that would create even more problems on other side of ball. It did not hurt us as much as we thought given that we ran 96 plays to Texas 38 so they were not on the field very long and it was not hot. However, a mid-afternoon kick with 90+ degree temps and a few Mean Green long drives could make us very vulnerable up-front in 2H.

our QB, line, and talent at RB will offset any size or depth issues at DE. Now If J Wilson plays, he could cause some problems.

Cr1028 · September 16, 2015

It starts with our 23-year old 5th-year QB, Driphius Jackson (DJ) who has two bowl game MVP trophies under-his-belt. DJ is finally healthy after having bad ankle in Soph season and bad shoulder last year. Unfortunately, he has not played to his capabilities yet. Most think if he plays to what he did in Hawaii Bowl that we would have gotten a W last week. He is a leader. While the two other QB's that have taken garbage time snaps this year looked really good, there is no QB controversy although you could go over to the Rice message boards and read about how both of the other guys need more snaps. Bailiff will live and die with DJ's leadership, experience, and dual-threat capabilities.

The difference between a Class 5A(top division at the time) Honorable Mention Texas All State quarterback and our Class 4A(top division in Iowa) 2nd 1st team(Iowa has 2 quarterbacks on their first team) Iowa All State 5th year senior quarterback. Dual-threat? What's a dual-threat?

North Texas Shep · September 16, 2015

This game makes me nervous (Hell they all do). Hopefully, the coaches have made some improvements from last week. Our defense should be good. As we all know, offense is the issue. While, I hope we improve greatly from last week. I also hope Rice learns nothing and does way worse. It could happen.

FirefightnRick · September 16, 2015

All we gotta do is execute our offense...

Rick

Cerebus · September 16, 2015

All we gotta do is execute our offense...

Woah. Violence is never the answer.

Army of Dad · September 17, 2015

Woah. Violence is never the answer.

John McKay'd?

FirefightnRick · September 20, 2015

Rice...30...First Downs....tU....11
........228...Rush yards...........149
.......234....Pass yards...........128
.22-38-3...Comp-Att-Int....5-10-0
......2-2.....Fumbles Lost.......1-1
...44 min...Time of Pos.........15 min
Johnathon Gray was held to 17 yards on 9 carries.
Before I saw the turnovers listed my first thought was how in hell did the Owls lose this game?
Needless to say we're in trouble.

Rick

Yup.

Rick