Owls Back in Action in San Antonio

Photo by: Colin Mitchell

10/19/2019 9:24:00 AM | Football

RIce vs. UTSA, 5 p.m.

By: By Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)

Game #7
What: Rice (0-6/0-2) @ UTSA (2-4/1-2)
When: Saturday, October 19
Where: San Antonio, Texas
Stadium: Alamodome (36,582)
Television: ESPN3 Lincoln Rose (play-by-play), LaDarrin McClaine (analyst), Brooke Shoemaker (sidelines)
Where to Find the Game: ESPN3
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst), Matt Pederson (sidelines)
Audio Streaming: Stretch Internet, Rice Game Day App, TuneIn app
Live Stats: RiceOwls.com
Series Information: USTA leads 4-3 (2-1 in San Antonio)

Series History
O 13, 2012 W     34-14                Houston
O 12, 2013 W     27-21                San Antonio
N 11, 2014   W     17-7                  Houston
N21, 2015    L       34-24                San Antonio
O15, 2016   L       14-13                Houston
O21, 2017   L       20-7                  San Antonio
O6, 2018     L       20-3                     Houston

Series Notes
• This is the eighth consecutive meeting between Rice and UTSA, with the Roadrunners holding a
4-3 lead, 2-1 in San Antonio.
• The schools first met in a non-conference game in 2012 at Rice Stadium as part of Rice's
Centennial Celebration. They have played the last six years as members of C-USA, with Rice
winning the first two and UTSA the last four.
• Rice has a long history of San Antonio products starring for the Owls, including a pair of College football Hall of Famers: Tommy Kramer, who was inducted in 2012 and Weldon Humble, who was the first Owl inducted (1961). Four of the Owls top seven career passing yardage leaders were products of Alamo City schools (Chase Clement, Kramer, Mark Commalander and Nick Fanuzzi) while another San Antonio QB product, Tobin Rote, was the only quarterback to win both NFL and AFL championships. Among the other notable football recruits from the San Antonio area who have stared for the Owls are Jarett Dillard, ND Kalu, Andrew Sendejo, Darryl Grant, Phillip Gaines and Charles Ross. Elijah Garcia, the Owls starter at nose tackle, is a graduate of John Paul Stevens HS in San Antonio.

Familiar Surroundings
While this will be his first game as a head coach at the Alamodome, Dunlevie Family Head Football Coach Mike Bloomgren is familiar with the building. After becoming the Owls 19^th head coach on December 6, 2017 and signing his first group of recruits, he returned to Stanford for the Alamo Bowl vs. TCU on December 28. Current Owls Brian Chaffin and Reagan Williams were on the Stanford team as was current Rice punter Adam Nunez was the punter for TCU in the game.

Blaze in the Backfield
Linebacker Blaze Alldredge was added to the Nagurski Trophy Watch List after his standout performance over the first six games of 2019. He has reached double figures in tackles in each of the past two games, including matching his career-high with 13 tackles vs. LA Tech. He was credited with 3.5 TFL at UAB to run is season total to 11.5 which are tied for third the nation while his average of 1.92 per game ranks fifth. His total is the most by an Owl since Brian Womac finished with 22 in 2017 and the most by a Rice linebacker since Rashad Reynolds totaled 15 in 1997. Alldredge has at least one TFL in each of the last five games, including a career-best 4.5 against Texas which was the most by an Owl since 2014. In his last nine games dating back to last season, Alldredge has amassed 84 tackles, including 12.5 for loss. He was credited with a career-high 4.5 vs. Texas. His game total vs. the Longhorns was one more than he recorded in his first season with the Owls in 2018 and were the most by an Owl since Zach Patt was credited with five at FIU in 2014.

Making the Most
Sixth year senior Aston Walter is making the most of the additional year of eligibility he was granted by the NCAA. He lead the Owls in rushing (396 yards) and touchdowns (6) and has topped 100 yards in each of the last two games. He came into the year with no career touchdowns, but has found the end zone six times in the last five games. He is the first Owl to rush for 100 yards in consecutive games since Jowan Davis in 2014. Charles Ross (2013) is the last to do it three consecutive games. Aston has matched his twin brother Austin's top season touchdown total. Austin scored six touchdowns in both 2016 and 2018.

Passing a Thousand
Redshirt freshman Wiley Green surpassed the 1,000 yard passing mark (1,008) in his eighth career game (four last season while redshirting). He is the fastest Owl to reach 1,000 yards passing since Nick Fannuzi threw for 1,203 yards in his first seven games with Rice in 2009 after transferring from Alabama. The Rice freshman record for passing yards is held by Randy Hertel, who threw for 1,620 yards in 1977.

Debuting
24 players have seen their first action at the collegiate level in the Owls first five games. 15 are true freshmen (Jake Bailey, Adrian Bickham, Jack Bradley, De'Braylon Carroll, Tre'shon Devones, Izeya Floyd, Hunter Henry, Zach Hoban, Hunter Jones, Zane Knipe, E.J. Lahlou, Joshua Landrum, Kirk Lockhart, Myron Morrison and Josh Pearcy). Four are redshirt freshmen (Derek Ferraro, August Pitre III, Brandon Suckley and Cameron Valentine), two are redshirt sophomores (Austin Conrad, Jonathan Sanchez) and three are junior college transfers (Myles McCord, Brad Rozner and Naeem Smith). Landrum and Devones made their debuts on the Owls kickoff coverage team at Army and combined on a tackle on their first play. In his first 19 games as the Dunlevie Family Head Football Coach, Mike Bloomgren has seen true freshmen gain 167 games of experience.

Next Up
The Owls return to Rice Stadium next Saturday to host Southern Miss and celebrate the newest inductees into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame. Kickoff is set for noon.