Q&A: Rice beat writer Adam Coleman
Southern Miss returns home to square off against Conference USA West Division foe Rice (0-4) at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Rice beat writer, Adam Coleman of the Houston Chronicle, answers a few questions about this week's matchup:
Q. Southern Miss coaches have played up Rice’s strength of schedule to this point. How much does that factor into the team’s struggles thus far?
A. Rice has other issues, but I would agree that their strength of schedule is a huge part of what’s gone wrong this season. The funny thing about it is, no one knew how tough the first quarter of their season would be before the year started. You knew the trip to Western Kentucky was difficult and you know they’d get a ranked Baylor team, but Army is much improved and might see a bowl this year. Even North Texas has taken steps forward this year.
Q. What are the Owls’ primary strengths and weaknesses?
A. Rice’s strength is depth at running back. Darik Dillard has really rounded into form, and Emmanuel Esukpa has done well the last few weeks. They are expecting Samuel Stewart back from injury. He’s a home run threat. If it could be considered a weakness, Rice shoots itself in the foot too often. That ranges from penalties to turnovers and mistakes. In the North Texas game, they let up when they had a 17-0 lead and early turnovers came bite to bite them. It’s the mark of a team that’s struggling to put it all together.
Q. The last meeting between these two teams was very lopsided. Has there been any talk around the Rice camp about using that as motivation for Saturday’s matchup?
A. If Rice wasn’t 0-4, it would be the main talking point. That’s not to say it’s not playing a factor. But the Owls are 0-4 for the first time since 2009. They lose this game, their bowl hopes may be gone.
Q. What/who gives Rice the best chance to win Saturday?
A. It has to be this defense, which is going against a potential conference MVP in Nick Mullens. Rice’s defense shut out Baylor and held North Texas to minus-17 total yards in the first quarter. But they haven’t been able to finish. If they can put a complete game together, Rice might have a shot.
Q. Rice's Tyler Stehling seems to be a true dual-threat at quarterback. Give us a brief scouting report on him.
A. It’s funny you mention that. Coach (David) Bailiff talked about his ability to run the ball Monday and how he’s underrated in that regard because he has a somewhat lanky build. Stehling is a fifth-year senior getting his first chance to start. He’s a capable quarterback and showed that against North Texas. He was really the reason they got back into the game after losing the lead to North Texas. But I’m not sure we’ve seen his absolute best game yet, though.