Owls Return to Action with First Meeting with Middle Tennessee

Game #10
What: Rice (0-9/0-5) vs. Middle Tennessee (3-6/2-3)
When: Saturday, November 16
Where: Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Stadium: Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium (30,788)
Television: ESPN+ (Jake Rose, play-by-play; Alex Myers, analyst; Kaitlyn Runyon, sideline)
Where to Find the Game: ESPN+
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: This is the first meeting between the schools in football.

Series Notes
• Rice has played FAU and FIU three times and Charlotte, ODU and WKU twice since Conference USA welcomed those schools along with Middle Tennessee into the conference in 2013.
•Rice is 4-8 all-time when facing teams from Tennessee (Memphis 2-2, Tennessee 1-2, Vanderbilt 1-4) and Owls are 1-5 all-time when playing in the Volunteer state.
• Rice was 1-2 in three appearances in Memphis. The Owls split two games with the University of Memphis--including a 42-35 win in 2008--in addition falling to Mississippi State in the 2013 Liberty Bowl. The Owls also dropped road games at Tennessee (23-2 in 1966) and at Vanderbilt (38-21 in 2008).

Looking at the Schedule
Seven of Rice's first nine opponents have already reached bowl eligibility (Baylor, LA Tech, Marshall, Southern Miss, Texas, UAB and Wake Forest) while the other two (Army and UTSA) remain in contention with four wins each. They are a combined 50-23 this year. The Owls' seven 2019 home opponents were bowl eligible in 2018 and combined for a 56-34 (.622) record. Overall, the Owls 12 opponents this year finished 2018 with a 90-64 record (.584).

Starting with a stop
Thanks to true freshman Adrian Bickham's block of a Marshall field goal, Rice has held it's last six opponents off the scoreboard on their first possession of the game. The streak is the longest for the Owls since 2014 when they held 10 consecutive opponents scoreless on their first drives.

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 twice this year, including matching his career-high with 13 tackles vs. LA Tech. He was credited with 2 TFL vs. Mashall to increase his total to 16 (sixth in the nation and third in C-USA). His total is the most by an Owl since Brian Womac finished with 22 in 2017 and the most by a Rice linebacker since Larry Izzo set the school record with 17 in 1995 (TFL were only tracked beginning in 1981).    Alldredge has at least one TFL in each of the last eight games, including a career-best 4.5 against Texas which was the most by an Owl since 2014. In his last 12 games dating back to last season, Alldredge has amassed 105 tackles, including 17 for loss.

Century Marks
The Owls have had four games each with a 100-yard rusher (Aston Walter-3, Nahshon Ellerbe-1) and 100-yard receiver (Brad Rozner-3, Austin Trammell-1). The last time the Owls had at least four of each was in 2014 with four rushing (Jowan Davis-3, Darik Dillard-1) and six receiving (Jordan Taylor-4, Mario Hull-1, Dennis Parks-1). The four 100-yard rushing effors match the total from last year (Emmanuel Eskpa-2, Austin Walter and Juma Otoviano-1), giving the Owls eight 100-rushing days in Mike Bloomgren's first 22 games. The last time the Owls had more than four 100-yard rushing games was in 2013 when they had a total of eight (Charles Ross-7, Jowan Davis-1).

For the Defense
Rice ranks fifth in total defense in C-USA in conference games (363.8 per game), despite facing three of the top five offenses in the league through the first five games (1. LA Tech, 4. Marshall, 5. Southern Miss). LA Tech is averaging 473.4 but was held to 294 by the Owls; Marshall (454.8) gained 391, including just 96 in the second half and Southern Miss (441.6) gained 364. Rice is allowing 151.8 rushing yards per game and 28.1 points per game through the first nine games.   Their rushing total is their best since 2014 when they gave up 152.5 per game on the ground while the scoring average is the best since they allowed 24.4 per game in 2013. Rice has held consecutive C-USA opponents to under 21 points for the first time since 2017 when the Owls held UTEP to 14, FIU to 13 and UTSA to 20.

Next Up
The Owls return home to Rice Stadium for the final time in 2019 when they host North Texas at 2:30 for Senior Day.

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