It’s a battle of middle of the road teams from Conference USA on the gridiron down in the bayou. The Rice Owls are on the road as they make the trip to face the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Saturday afternoon. Rice comes in off a 17-14 road loss to Florida Atlantic in their previous contest last Saturday. Louisiana Tech was clobbered 47-27 on the road by North Texas in their previous contest last Saturday in their most recent game. In the all-time series between the teams, the Bulldogs own a 9-4 advantage but it was Rice picking up a 35-31 home victory in the most recent matchup on November 27, 2021. That snapped a six-game Louisiana Tech win streak in the series.
Rice has hung tough in every game since their season-opening blowout loss to USC on the road. They’ve won three of five with their two losses coming by seven (at Houston) and three (at Florida Atlantic) to drop to 3-3 overall on the season while they are 1-1 in Conference USA action. Against Florida Atlantic, Rice jumped to a 14-0 lead less than 12 minutes into the game but they went scoreless the rest of the way. The Owls gave up the winning score early in the fourth quarter and couldn’t find a way to regroup. Rice was beaten 311-261 in total offense, gave up 21 first downs while picking up 15 and lost the time of possession by a 36:41 to 23:19 margin. In addition, the Owls turned the ball over three times while forcing just one takeaway.
The Owls are 83rd in the nation in passing offense with 225 yards per contest while they are 98th in rushing offense with 127 yards per game. Rice is 75th of the 131 teams in the FBS to play this season in scoring offense with 28 points per game while they are 80th in the country by allowing 28.7 points per contest. TJ McMahon has completed 97 of 164 passes for 1,277 yards with 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He adds 34 yards and a score on the ground. Wiley Green is eight of 13 for 69 yards and an interception while Shawqi Itraish is one of two for four yards. Ari Broussard is the team’s leading rusher with 85 carries for 233 yards and nine scores on the season. Cameron Montgomery (27 carries, 211 yards), Dean Connors (20 carries, 96 yards) and Uriah West (23 carries, 69 yards) are also in the mix. Luke McCaffrey leads the team with 33 catches for 384 yards and three scores on the year. Bradley Rozner (19 receptions, team-high 447 yards, four TD), Isaiah Esdale (19 grabs, 239 yards) and Jack Bradley (13 receptions, 108 yards, TD) are good secondary targets. Christian VanSi ckle has booted all 19 extra point attempts and five of five field goal tries with a long of 43 this season.