Stat Attack | Rice
A lot went wrong in the humiliating loss to Southern Miss. The pass defense allowed two touchdowns that were thrown by a running back. But when the running back actually ran the ball, the rush defense wasn't able to stop that either. And the offense could get into field goal range but was never able to find the endzone.
But possibly the biggest issue was just how often Tech committed costly turnovers.
The Bulldogs handed the ball to the Southern Miss defense five times on Friday night. Tech hasn’t turned the ball over five times since the game against the Golden Eagles in 2015.
Only two of the turnovers were interceptions, but Tech’s final opponent of the 2021 season excels at pulling down those INTs.
So on 3.3% of passing plays Rice has faced this year, the play has ended on an interception. But luckily for Tech, intercepting the ball is one of only a handful of things the Rice defense does consistently well.
The Owl defense ranks in the bottom twenty teams in both yards per rush allowed and yards per pass allowed. Teams can sometimes survive having a bad rush defense or a bad pass defense, but definitely not both.
The only team Tech has faced this season worse per play than Rice was Charlotte, one of the few teams the Bulldogs seemed to move the ball at will against.
But the chart above shows the Rice defense squarely between Charlotte and Southern Miss. And the offensive collapse on Friday night doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence heading into the final game of the season.
Rice's defense has shown how bad it is this year, but so has the Tech offense. This game might just come down to which bad is worse.
In a season where the bad news just never stopped coming, the Bulldogs have a real chance to end the season on a high note. It won't make up for the poor record, or the lows of the conference realignment situation, or the end of the bowl streak.
But thanks to a poor Rice defense, a 2021 season filled with losses may end in a win.
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Nathan is also a contributor to gtpdd.dog, a lighthearted Louisiana Tech blog. Be sure to check out @gotechplsdntdie on Twitter.