Rice looking to bounce back against North Texas

The outcome against Texas - a 42-28 loss - wasn't something the Rice football team wanted or planned on.

Owls players stressed that they never thought their Week 2 game was out of reach.

In fact, on paper, in all categories but the score and turnovers, Rice was the better team.

"We didn't feel like we were outmanned or out-strengthened by any means," Rice running back Sam Stewart said.

Five turnovers - three interceptions and two fumbles - can make a big difference.

Rice's defense held Texas' offense to just 16 minutes of possession time. The Owls defensive line performed well above expectations, especially for being without starter Graysen Schantz, who suffered a torn ACL last week. Rice's offensive line also opened up large gaps for Stewart to run through. He amassed 130 yards rushing on the night.

But the secondary allowed too many big plays and quarterback Driphus Jackson struggled to connect with his wide receivers - or as coach David Bailiff put it, Jackson "pressed" too hard.

Then there were the several special teams miscues.

Rice's special teams gave up three big punt returns - one for a touchdown, one just outside the red zone and another way inside the red zone. Most of this came in the first quarter for Rice, leading to a 21-0 lead for Texas. Rice played catch-up the rest of the game.

All these mistakes came the weekend before Rice starts conference play with a trip to North Texas on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

"Rice mistakes beat Rice," Bailiff said of Saturday's 42-28 loss to Texas. "We can't have that. That's not what championship teams do. It's not how they perform. We expect more. The team expects more.

"I like the grit that this football team showed. Also, at no point did we fall apart. We have great seniors on the sideline that kept rallying the troops. We were convinced that we were going there to win. We're going to keep dreaming big. We're going to win our share. But, in a loss, I am very, very pleased in how we continued to compete as a football team throughout the whole game."

Rice's highlights outside of its stellar offensive and defensive lines' performances came mainly from Stewart - a redshirt freshman. The Cypress Woods product scored two touchdowns and rushed for 130 yards on 25 carries.

His biggest plays came on his touchdown rushes - the first was a 22-yard touchdown run up the middle. He looked like he was tackled at the five-yard line, but his body never touched the ground as he spun with his Texas defender.

"I knew while it was happening I hadn't touched the ground," Stewart said. "I was aware of that, and then my legs instinctively kept running. It was both, me knowing that I was on top of him the whole time and also my instincts taking over."

The second was a dive he made into the end zone over a Texas defender from four yards out. The play landed on SportsCenter's Top 10 that night and again on Monday for the Top 10 plays of the weekend.

"I just thought it was a regular play," Stewart said, then he cracked a big smile.

Stewart took a majority of the carries on Saturday after starting back Jowan Davis was held from the game with a lingering left ankle sprain.

Davis, a junior running back, will be evaluated this week to see if he is able to play on Saturday.

Junior Derek Brown is now listed as the starting defensive end in place of Schantz, who will have knee surgery in the next week or two.

He is expected to miss the rest of the season. On Saturday, Brown started and picked up his first career sack against Texas.

Left guard Andrew Reue and wide receiver Dennis Parks made their first starts of the season in Week 2. Parks was held out in Week 1 with a lingering hamstring pull, while Reue wasn't able to practice for several weeks with a lower left leg injury.

"Every week, one of our goals is to just keep improving," Bailiff said. "We're going to do that the entire season and we have to go to North Texas with the same demeanor and the same effort that we just played with. But, we have to eliminate those mistakes in order for us to win on the road. But, God was I proud of the grit that these young men showed."