Middle Tennessee isn’t sure which Rice team it will see on Saturday.
Will it be the team that scored 31 first-half points when they met last November, or the team that nearly surrendered a 17-point lead in the second half?
Rice coach Mike Bloomgren hopes for something akin to the former. But he’s uncertain if a nearly two-month delay to the season because of the coronavirus pandemic helps or hurts Rice’s chances.
“We've got six games of film to watch on them, they've got zero on us,” he said. “But the other side of it is this: They say the biggest games you get in a given year are Game 1 to Game 2, and all the experience of playing those games, so that’s an advantage for them.”
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With 30 newcomers but most of its defense and several offensive starters back, Rice anticipates a certain degree of consistency in a season that’s been unpredictable.
Despite Rice’s defensive depth, Saturday’s depth chart against Middle Tennessee (1-5, 1-3 Conference USA) could have some surprises for those who haven’t followed through its long-delayed season.
Junior safety Prudy Calderon is expected to return to the starting lineup for the opener. Captain and tight end Jordan Myers is listed as the team’s starting punt returner — the senior has 47 rushes and seven total returns in his career. Graduate transfer quarterback Mike Collins recently was named the starter over JoVoni Johnson.
“We’re really looking forward to just turning the corner this year,” offensive coordinator Jerry Mack said. “I think this could be a great year for us because of some of the young guys that we have, some of the older guys that we have with experience and then obviously our situation at quarterback is a lot better than it has been in the past.”
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Bloomgren hasn’t shied away from freshmen and has played many early in their Rice careers. At the start of his third year on South Main, that trend won’t change.
The team’s opening depth chart features six true freshmen and seven redshirt freshmen. True freshmen Sean Fresch — listed as a starting cornerback — and running back Khalan Griffin have garnered praise from coaches throughout fall.
“I don’t really see it looking necessarily different, I think more so than anything we’re going to be more efficient,” Mack said, adding that he expects some of the team’s newcomers to help create more explosive plays. “The whole goal is to be more efficient in what we’re doing.”
Bloomgren isn’t overlooking Middle Tennessee’s record.
He knows the team lost its first two games to Army and Troy by a combined 89-14 margin. But in its next three games, the team went 1-2, losing those two games by five total points. It lost to North Texas 52-35 last Saturday.
“Throw those first two games out and really look at who they’ve been these last four games, and they are in every single game,” Bloomgren said.
“What’s the problem? Well it certainly isn’t that they don’t have some explosive players. We've seen Asher O’Hara in person, we know exactly what he is. We talk about him as we do as the head of the snake.”
O’Hara became the second quarterback in Middle Tennessee history to rush for 1,000 yards last season. He currently ranks first nationally among quarterbacks with 407 rushing yards and is second in C-USA in total offense (263.8 yards per game).
But to start its season off well, Rice will look to focus on its own quarterback and evolving around him. It hopes the first film of 2020 shows a team poised for a winning season.
glynn.hill@chron.com
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