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The visitors from South Main, however, if
they paid attention at all, laughed it off, breathing in the cool,
dry mountain air as they flexed in eagerness to get onto the field. This little-observed scene foreshadowed the
game’s opening drive, when the homestanding Herd, before a
surprisingly large and unsurprisingly vocal home crowd, moved the
pigskin at first but stalled with a fourth-and-ten on the Rice
27-yard line. It was an obvious field-goal situation, if
there ever were one.
But was Doc Holliday, the veteran Marshall coach, still smarting a
bit from the tail-whuppin’ the Owls put on his charges in the 2013
league championship game? Maybe not, but nonetheless he eschewed the
field goal try, instead electing to make an early statement with a
pounding TD drive on the game’s opening possession. The Herd’s pass completion fell a yard
short, however, and the Owls took over, smarting more than a bit
from the evident disrespect shown them by their hosts. That first, failed Marshall drive turned
out to be the high-water mark on the day for the Herdsmen, for an
aroused and precise Rice defense combined with a patchwork, but
quite serviceable, Rice offensive attack to lead the Feathered Flock
to a stunning 20-0 victory over the previously undefeated,
15th-ranked Herd. As the nation’s college football community
buzzed over the upset, it was time to get out the
record book and start rewriting. But while the streak-breaking might have
been gratifying to us Old Grads, it was the sheer rush of
unattenuated victory that the young men of the Institute found so
satisfying “We’re underdogs here; we all have chips on
our shoulder, but we showed that we can play with anybody,” said
Rice senior and defensive leader Blaze Aldridge afterwards.
“I feel like this is a huge statement of what Rice could be.
This is what we should be.” It wasn’t until the Owl offense’s second
possession that the engines got revved. Fueled by Treshawn
Chamberlain’s interception and 21-yard return of a Grant Wells pass,
the Flock set up at midfield, and methodically ground out what
turned out to be their only drive of the day that ended up with a
‘six’ put up on the board. At the helm was redshirt frosh Jovoni
Johnson, who overcame barnacles accumulated during a season riding
the bench as second-string quarterback behind grad transfer Michael
Collins. Mike was a
last-minute scratch from the travel roster for injuries said to be
non-Covid-related. Local papers a couple of days earlier had
run feature stories touting Rice’s TCU-transfer QB.
Doubtless the Marshall defense schemed against a Collins-led
Rice offense during game preps. Still, that wasn’t the whole of it.
The Owls’ leading offensive producer WR/kick and
punt-returner and senior captain Austin Trammell didn’t make the
trip as well, still nursing injuries.
Nor did first-string running back Juma Otaviano. While Jovoni might not’ve put up all-world
stats, he certainly did a yeoman job at – what does Coach Bloom call
it? -- “game management.”
Ten-of-14 passing, no turnovers, solid all around. The young QB from Conway, Arkansas, managed
the Owl offense with quite poise enough to support the defense and
capitalize on five interceptions Rice defenders captured from MU
quarterback Grant Wells. Rice’s ‘20’ woulda’ could’a easily been
‘30’, as Collin Riccitelli’s 23- yard field goal attempt went awry
on the last play of the first half – apparently just too close to
the left crossbar for a soccer-style kicker. In contrast, his 39 and
40-yard attempts made
it through the uprights just fine.
Next time, maybe, let’s take a delay penalty or two and back
him up a bit. And Jake Bailey’s stylish reception of
Jovoni’s pass on second and six from the MU eight yard line was
originally ruled a touchdown as he dived over the pylon, only to be
waved off moments later ‘upon further review’ – the officials said
he hadn’t crossed the plane before losing control of the ball.
Result: instead
of a touchdown, it was ruled a touchback. Was it “indisputable video evidence”?
Well, the Marshall boo-bird fans seemed to think it was. Those 10 points would’ve put a much finer
burnish on the Rice offense day’s oeuvre.
But they hardly proved necessary, such was the Owl defense’s
utter domination of the afternoon’s proceedings. The Rice DL and linebacking corps combined
to put consistent pressure on the Marshall quarterback, combining
for three sacks and a host of hurries, a couple of which led
directly to pass thefts. Meanwhile the vaunted MU running back
Brenden Knox netted only 76 yards on 20 carries, including several
that went for neative yardage – Owl defenders also accounted for
five tackles-for-loss. But the Owl ball hawks’ five pickoffs – one
each by Blaze Alldridge, the aforementioned Treshawn Chamberlain,
Josh Pearcy, Andrew Bird and Naeem Smith – were the story of the
game. Naeem’s 36-yard pick six midway through the
third quarter finished off Rice’s scoring, putting
the capper on festivities –
but not without some Intellectual Brutality down in the trenches by
the running game. Former walk-on running back Ari Broussard
toted the ball six straight times during a late fourth quarter
possession that netted only 18 yards before the Owls had to punt –
but consumed almost six minutes off the ticking time clock. Too, it was the ability to gain solid
yardage on first down that differentiated this effort from previous
games. On the Owls’ initial 48-yard, ten-play
touchdown drive, first-down rushes of ten, five and seven yards
moved the kept things moving. And then on the Flock’s final,
game-ending possession, first down yardage of six yards, six yards,
six yards and seven put the Buffalo Herd out of its collective
misery. Moving the pill like that on first down
makes the question of offensive predictability something of a moot
point. “We were exactly who we wanted to be,” Rice
head coach Mike Bloomgren emphasized after all was said and done.
“It was intellectual brutality all over the field. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve been
more proud of a team.”
(Compiled by RiceOwls.com) |
