Fox and Friends Give Bloomgren Successful Debut

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Football

at South Florida

Nov 29

6 PM

Tampa, FL

The Lead: Jack Fox kicked a 23-yard field goal as time expired to give Rice a 31-28 win over Prairie View A&M to give Mike Bloomgren a memorable debut as the head coach of the Owls.
The Story: Rice jumped out quickly to a 16-0 lead early in the second quarter, only to see the Panthers score 21 unanswered points to take a 21-19 lead at halftime. They extended the lead to 28-19 before the Owls used the precision punting of Fox and a resurgent pass rush to score the game's final 12 points.
The Stats: Junior running back Emmanuel Espukpa carried the bulk of the offensive load for the Owls, establishing career-bests with 32 carries and 173 yards. It was his first career 100-yard rushing effort and the most in an opening game by an Owl since Trevor Cobb opened his record-setting 1991 season with 197 yards at Northwestern. Austin Walter added 83 yards on 11 carries and after leaving the game with cramps, saw his twin brother Aston break off a 26-yard run in the game's final minute to move the Owls to the Prairie View 11.
The Turning Point: Six plays after Fox pinned Prairie View at its own seven with a career-best, 63-yard boot (the first of two crucial fourth quarter punts), sophomore linebacker Anthony Ekpe stripped the ball from Panther quarterback Jalen Morton and Dylan Silcox recovered at the Prairie View 25. Four plays later, the Owls overcame a personal foul penalty to close within two on an eight-yard touchdown run by Austin Walter.
The Stud: Head coach Mike Bloomgren described senior punter Jack Fox as "A Stud" at Rice's Media Day and the senior from St. Louis lived up to the nickname on Saturday. He kicked a pair of field goals, matching his career total, and placed four of his five punts inside the 10-yard line.
The End: With the win, Rice snapped a 10-game losing streak overall and a five-game losing streak at home as well as a three-game losing streak in debut games for head coaches.
The Rest of the Notes:

Rice is now 57-48-2 all-time in season openers.
Rice is also 67-38-1 in home openers.
Rice opened the season at home for the 72^nd time. The Owls are 51-21 when opening the season at home.
Rice scored a touchdown on its opening drive for the first time since Nov. 18, 2017 at Old Dominion.
It was the first at home since Nov. 5, 2016 against Florida Atlantic.
It was also its first touchdown in the first quarter at home since Nov. 19, 2016 against UTEP.
Rice's 13 first quarter points were the most since scoring 14 against Prairie View A&M on Oct. 22, 2016.
Rice recorded its first safety since Oct. 31, 2013 at North Texas.

Individual

C Shea Baker, TE Jaegar Bull, DT Elijah Garcia, OL Jack Green, CB George Nyakwol, QB Shawn Stankavage and WR Austin Trammell made their first career starts.
Baker, Bull, WR Rhett Cardwell, CB Treshawn Chamberlain, FB Jacob Doddridge, WR Brendan Harmon, LB Antonio Montero, DB Tyrae Thornton all made their collegiate debuts.
With Stankavage's start at quarterback, the Owls have now had a different starting quarterback for the opener in the last four years. It is the first time that Rice has had different starting quarterbacks in four consecutive season openers since 2003-06.
Jack Fox's walk-off field goal was the Owls first win on the final play since Nov. 21, 2013 at UAB. It is also the first game-winning field goal as time expired since Chris Boswell at Kansas, Sept. 8, 2012.
Esupka's 173 rushing yards are the most by a Rice player since Sam McGuffie had 178 at Tulsa on Nov. 6, 2010.

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