Herd Rides First Half Air Attack to Down Owls

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Football

vs Florida Atlantic

Oct 4

6 PM

Rice Stadium

Football

at UTSA

Oct 11

TBA

San Antonio, TX

Football

vs UCONN

Oct 25

TBA

Rice Stadium

Football

vs Memphis

Oct 31

6 PM

Rice Stadium

Football

vs UAB

Nov 8

TBA

Rice Stadium

Football

vs North Texas

Nov 22

TBA

Rice Stadium

Football

at South Florida

Nov 29

TBA

Tampa, FL

The Lede: Marshall parlayed several first half big plays into a 17-7 halftime lead and blanked Rice in the second half to take a 20-7 win in the Owls' 100^th Homecoming game.

The Details: The Herd came into the game averaging 430.2 yards per game, with a nearly even distribution between their passing (219.1) and running game (211.1 which led Conference USA), but they did all their first half damage through the air. Quarterback Isaiah Green hit on 12 of 13 passes for 229 yards and a touchdown in the first half, with the biggest blow coming on a 63-yard strike to Xavier Green on The Herd's first play from scrimmage after Rice had taken a 7-3 lead. Brenden Knox covered the final yard on the next play to put Marshall ahead to stay. True freshman JoVoni Johnson made his first start at quarterback for Rice and led the Owls on an 11-play, 66-yard scoring drive on his second possession, completing the drive with his first career touchdown pass, a two-yard connection with Austin Trammell. Johnson finished the day 10-of-17 for 97 yards and a touchdown and added 65 yards on the ground before he was forced to leave midway through the fourth quarter with an injury. Sophomore Juma Otoviano rushed for 66 yards on 14 carries in his first extensive action after returning from an injury in training camp. The Owls held Marshall to just 96 yards on 31 plays in the second half, but could produce only 126 yards on 36 plays of their own while being held off the scoreboard.

The Defense: Rice held C-USA's leading rushing attack to 122 yards, 89 under its season average and to 2.8 per carry (5.5 average coming in). They held a sixth straight opponent scoreless on their opening drive of the game, thanks to Adrian Bickham's block of a 28-yard field goal attempt. That's the longest streak by the Owls since 2014 when they held 10 consecutive teams scoreless on their first possession. It was the Owls' first block of a field goal since Zach Abercrumbia at Old Dominion in 2017.

Mike Bloomgren:
"It's the first time in a conference game this year that I felt we got manhandled around a little bit, especially the first half. Our defense really came out and answered the bell in the second half and finished the game like we've been on our defense to do. We think there are really big things in our defense's future. I really appreciate how they competed in the third and fourth quarter until the very end. I think when JoVoni was in there, the offense looked and felt different. I think our team has confidence in him. I have a lot of confidence in him as well in his ability, what he brings to the table and how he commands the offense while he is in there. I think it's awesome for our team to get to see him in our huddle virtually every snap.

The Notes:
Individual

CB Tre'shon Devones and QB JoVoni Johnson made their first career starts.
RB Jawan King and OL Regan Riddle made their collegiate debuts.
WR Austin Trammell caught four passes for 35 yards and a touchdown. He has three touchdowns this year and six in his career. His four receptions give him 112 in his career, tying Ed Lofton (1973-75) for ninth on Rice's all-time list.
LB Antonio Montero tied his career-high with 11 tackles. It was his second career double-digit tackle game.
S Naeem Smith set a career-high with nine tackles.
LB Blaze Alldredge recorded eight tackles on the day, including two tackles for loss (one sack). The sack was his third of the year and his two TFL increased his total to 16, the second most by a linebacker in a season since TFL were first tracked in 1981. Larry Izzo holds the record with 17 in 1995.
DE Ikenna Enechukwu set a career-high with seven tackles.
DE Trey Schuman recorded his first career sack in the first quarter.

Up Next: The Owls will be off next Saturday before returning to the gridiron on November 16 when they meet Middle Tennessee for the first time in history. Kickoff in Murfreesboro, Tennessee is set for 3:30 central.

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