PF.com preview: SMU renews Rice rivalry, seeks fifth AAC win

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PF.com preview: SMU renews rivalry with Rice, seeks fifth AAC win
Mustangs, Owls kick off at 6:30 Saturday
Posted on 11/01/2023 by PonyFans.com

Seems like old times, doesn’t it?

Maybe not to the younger PonyFans among us, but for many, Saturday’s matchup between SMU and Rice at the Owls’ 47,000-seat stadium is a flashback to a time when the teams squared off on an annual basis, when each was a member of the Southwest Conference.

Th teams have met on 90 previous occasions, with the Mustangs holding a 48-41-1 edge, although the Owls are 25-21-1 against the Ponies in games played in Houston, including a 17-14-1 mark at Rice Stadium. The teams last met in 2012.

Rice, a team that SMU offensive coordinator Case Woods said is “a better team than what their record shows,” enters Saturday’s game with a 4-4 overall record, including a 2-2 mark in American Athletic Conference games. The Mustangs already are bowl-eligible, with a 6-2 record that includes a perfect 4-0 slate of conference games.

The Owls opened a few eyes around college football in their 2023 season opener when they hung in against a nationally ranked Texas team, falling 37-10 in a game that was closer than the score. A week later, they commanded a share of the regional spotlight when they knocked off Houston, 43-41, in double overtime. Rice alternated results in the ensuing six games, crushing Texas Southern before falling at USF, knocking off ECU before losing at home to Connecticut — a result Woods called “a complete fluke.” In the last two weeks, Rice crushed Tulsa, 42-10, before suffering a 30-28 setback against No. 22. Tulane.

The Mustangs’ record is strong, but their performance in conference games has been exceptional. SMU has yet to trail an opponent in any game against AAC opposition.

Through eight games, Rice’s statistics fairly reflect its 4-4 record. Rice has outscored its opponents by an average of 33.25-27.75 points per game. At the risk of falling back on a tired cliché, the Owls are most comfortable in the air: of their 394.6 yards per game of total offense, 303.5 have been through the air — the second-highest passing yards total in the AAC. So even are the statistics that even the time of possession in Rice games is separated by only 30 seconds (Rice averages 30:15, opponents 29:45). The Owls and their opponents each of fumbled seven times this season, losing five.

The Rice offense is led by graduate transfer quarterback J.T. Daniels, a college football nomad whose career has included stops at USC, Georgia and West Virginia before he arrived in Houston. The 6-2, 237-pound Daniels didn’t just enroll at those other schools — he played and started games at each, and upon arriving at Rice was voted a team captain. In eight games this season, Daniels has completed 173 of 262 passes (63.6 percent) for 2,362 passing yards, and has coughed up just six interceptions against 19 touchdown passes. His average of 295.3 passing yards per game is the most in the conference, and his 19 scoring passes are tied with SMU’s Preston Stone and North Texas quarterback Chandler Rogers for the AAC lead.

SMU defensive coordinator Scott Symons said that Daniels will test the Mustangs’ defense in ways unseen through the first four conference games.

“When you look at the start of conference play … we haven’t played a true pocket passer,” Symons said. “So now we’re playing a top-five quarterback in the country that’s really efficient with the ball. He does a great job knowing where to go, how to defeat a lot of looks, so I think our secondary, moreso than ever, will be really challenged this week.”

Rice’s top receiver is Luke McCaffrey (6-2, 197) — young PonyFans will know him as the younger brother of San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, while the … more mature fans will know him as the son of former Denver Broncos wide receiver Ed McCaffrey. Luke’s 41 receptions, 692 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns all are team highs. Up next on the receiving chart is running back Dean Connors, a 205-pound junior whose height is listed on the Rice roster as “6-null” (????) He has 28 catches for 338 yards, and is one of four Owls — along with redshirt freshman wide receiver Rawson MacNeill (6-5, 193), freshman wideout Landon Ransom-Goelz (6-0, 173) and 5-10, 172-pound redshirt freshman receiver Braylen Walker — with a pair of touchdown receptions.

The Rice ground game musters 91.1 yards per game — the Owls are the only AAC team averaging less than 100 yards per game (Temple is next, at 101.3 per game). Connors is the team’s top ground threat. He averages just 42.13 yards, but that total is skewed a bit by the fact that he gets just over seven attempts per game: his 58 carries for 337 yards translate to a perfectly respectable average of 5.8 yards per carry. He and redshirt senior Juma Otoviano each have four rushing touchdowns, trailing only freshman Daelen Alexander’s five scoring runs.

The Owls pick up more than three times as many yards through the air as they do on the ground, but when it comes to reaching the end zone, the margin shrinks considerably: Rice has 20 passing touchdowns, and 16 on the ground. They operate behind a solid-if-unspectacular offensive line, led by sophomore right tackle Ethan Onianwa (6-6, 340) and graduate left guard Brant Banks, a 6-7, 325-pound transfer from Nebraska.

Defensively, the Owls operate out of a 3-4 alignment that is headlined by über-athletic rush end/linebacker Josh Pearcy (6-2, 245). Woods called Pearcy Rice’s best defensive player, and acknowledged that the Owls’ versatile defender got hurt in last week’s loss to Tulane, and that his status for Saturday is up in the air, but said Pearcy who merits significant attention in the SMU offensive gameplan. Pearcy’s statistics are solid but not overwhelming — he ranks fifth on the team with 33 tackles, and has a pair of quarterback sacks; graduate defensive end Coleman Coco (6-5, 265) leads the team with three sacks, while redshirt junior defensive tackle De’Braylon Carroll (6-0, 290) has 2.5.

Redshirt sophomore Plae Wyatt (5-11, 207) plays the safety/linebacker hybrid VIPER role and leads the Owls with 57 tackles through eight games, followed by MIKE linebacker Chris Conti (6-2, 234), who has 55. Safety Gabriel Taylor (5-10, 193) has half of the Owls’ four interceptions this season.

“That guy (Rice defensive coordinator Brian Smith) has been there a long time (since 2019) and has done a really nice job,” Woods said. “(I) actually played him a couple of times when I was at UAB. They have a lot of multiplicity in what it is that they do.

“They do a great job of playing to their skillset. They protect where they’re deficient, and I think they attack where they’re strong. When you play a smart football team like that, it demands your execution.”

Kickoff is T 6:30 P.M. (Central time); watch on ESPNU or listen on KLIF (570 AM).