Rice Stays Undefeated, Looks to Playoffs
Rice Stays Undefeated, Looks to Playoffs
Rice capped off an 8-0 season with a fairly solid 33-10 victory over University of Dallas Saturday.
The Owls take the #1 seed into the Lonestar DIAA playoffs, and a win in the semifinals will book this quickly-improving side into the CRAA DIAA regionals, joining the other Lonestar finalists, Iowa State, and Kansas in the East.
It appears that Sam Houston State (49-0 winners over Teas State Saturday) Dallas, and UT San Antonio will join them in the Lonestar semis.
Those playoffs aren’t for a few weeks, and Rice Head Coach Stewart Morris said he hopes to secure at least one game to keep his side sharp.
“We do have guys who are beat up,” Morris told GRR. “But we don’t do well if we’re sitting idle.”
Morris will also be wanting to keep building on the steps the team has taken this year.
“They’ve grown and improved a lot,” Morris said. “Looking at this game [against Dallas] compared to out first game of the season against UTSA, it’s night and day. Our defense has been solid all season, but we’ve really fine-tuned our offense and learned more about controlling the ball.”
Rice’s early wins were based on their defensive efforts, added Morris. Even in the big-scoring games, he said, it was the defense that created the scoring opportunities.
“Now we’re better on attack,” he said. “We’re able to adapt within the game and that’s something we’ve struggled with. Each ref calls the game differently, and we struggled with adapting to that.”
This past weekend the Owls got good performances by Carson Hamilton, who moved from wing to center and has shone in wins over UTSA and Dallas. Up front, Hubert King at prop has been a power.
“He is probably our most improved player over the past couple of years,” said Morris.
Now the Owls just need to keep soaring.
