Rice football falls 33-7, loses possession of Bayou Bucket

By Andersen Pickard     9/18/24 12:36am

Rice football’s quest for back-to-back Bayou Bucket titles fell short as the Owls lost to the University of Houston Cougars at TDECU Stadium, 33-7, on Saturday evening. 

Houston delivered a quick strike midway through the first quarter. On the second play of their third drive, they broke off a 65-yard rushing touchdown to pull ahead 7-0. Less than two minutes later, they added seven more points on a 75-yard punt return touchdown. Rice left the first quarter trailing 14-0 as the result of these two plays. 

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Rice continued to stall on offense throughout the second quarter. All seven of their drives in the first half resulted in punts, and five of those seven ended after just three plays from scrimmage. Rice finished the opening half with just three first downs. For comparison, Houston recorded eight first downs. The Owls also went 0-for-7 on third down in the first half and 0-for-11 to start the game.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been part of [something like] that,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said. “So that’s not good. You’re not moving the sticks; you’re not giving your defense a chance to rest, and you’ve got a lot of plays on your call sheet you want to call that you can’t.”

The Cougars were able to add seven points in the second quarter, pulling ahead 20-0 with a 44-yard touchdown pass. Each of their first three scores came on gains of at least 44 yards. 

Redshirt senior defensive tackle Izeya Floyd said postgame that even if a defense holds its ground for the vast majority of plays, just a few mistakes can dig a 35-point hole. He said that the Owls’ defense needs to have more consistency going forward to minimize the number of big plays surrendered. 

As the teams went to their locker rooms at halftime, tension built in the Section 125 bleachers as stadium security relocated a portion of the 600-plus Rice students in attendance. 

According to Wiess College junior Ben Bridges, some Rice students moved down from the second level to join their peers in Section 125 and support the cheerleading and dance teams.

“We were given tickets for a different section but moved one section down [because] it was empty, and [we] wanted to be in front of the Rice cheer and dance teams to support and better engage with them,” Bridges said.

In the first half, security had asked students to refrain from standing on the bleachers. They also asked students to show their tickets again, which posed a challenge for individuals who had misplaced or disposed of their tickets.

“Some of my friends had difficulty returning to the section after going to the bathroom or getting food,” Jake Chapman, a Baker College freshman, said. “Apparently, you had to show your ticket again, and most people had thrown theirs away. Most of my friends managed to sneak back in. Following this, they sent officers to vacate the entire section row by row.”

Chapman estimated that security relocated more than 150 students to upper-level seating, including Section 225.

In an email to the Thresher, University of Houston Vice President for Media Relations Shawn Lindsey wrote, “The individuals seated in Section 125 did not possess tickets for that area. They were instructed to relocate to their assigned seats. No one was asked to leave the stadium; rather, they were asked to vacate the seats for which they did not hold tickets, ensuring that ticketed guests could occupy their designated seats.”

The majority of seats in Section 125 remained empty after students were removed according to students at the game.

Students told the Thresher they felt security targeted them because they were Rice fans, the visiting team. 

Students found their way to new seats in the second and third levels of the stadium as both teams emerged from their locker rooms. The Owls’ struggles continued coming out of halftime. They recorded just one first down before having to punt to Houston — their eighth consecutive drive resulting in a punt.

Rice’s defense was able to force a turnover on downs at the seven-yard line, re-claiming possession backed up against their own end zone. Junior quarterback E.J. Warner wasn’t able to get any cushion for the offense before he threw an interception, giving the ball back to Houston at the one-yard line. The Cougars’ quarterback found the end zone from one yard out for the team’s fourth touchdown. Falling into a 26-0 deficit prompted Bloomgren to make a quarterback change, replacing Warner with true freshman Drew Devillier. 

Warner finished with his worst stat line in three games since transferring to Rice. He completed just 12 of 21 passes for 50 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. He rushed for four yards and also took one sack. Warner’s 6.3 QBR was his lowest mark through three seasons in the NCAA.

“For [Warner], we’ve got to figure out what’s going on, what are we not seeing, what are you not liking, what are you not understanding?” Bloomgren said.

Houston added seven points in the fourth quarter as their quarterback broke off a 37-yard touchdown run, putting Houston up, 33-0.

It was too late for Rice to mount a full comeback, but Devillier did seem to inject some life into the offense on the latter of his two drives. He moved Rice 70 yards down the field, finishing the drive with a hand-off to senior running back Dean Connors, who found the end zone from four yards out. The touchdown saved the Owls from a shutout, and the score remained 33-7 until the final whistle blew.

The result returned the Bayou Bucket to the University of Houston, thwarting Rice’s bid at winning back-to-back matchups with the Cougars for the first time in over 20 years.

Connors continued to be the Owls’ top offensive performer, tallying 32 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. He remained very involved as a pass-catcher, totaling an additional 17 yards on a team-most five receptions. 

Defensively, redshirt junior defensive lineman Elroyal Morris III was the only Owl to register a sack. Senior cornerback Sean Fresch led the team with nine tackles, but he also had a costly muffed punt in the second quarter. It was his second muff of the season. 

With the loss, the Owls dropped to 1-2 on the season. Conference play begins next week against the United States Military Academy, more commonly known as Army. 

“We’re on the cusp of entering conference play, and we know the great opponent we have next week,” Bloomgren said. “We’ve got everything we want in our conference right there, but if we don’t fix some things, it ain’t going to matter.”

As it stands, Army is 2-0, putting them atop the American Athletic Conference standings. The clash between Rice and Army kicks off at 11 a.m. CDT in West Point, N.Y., on Saturday, Sept. 21. The Owls are currently 6.5-point underdogs against the Black Knights on DraftKings. CBS Sports Network will televise the game. 

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