Looking for second win, Rice visits Southern Miss

HOUSTON – The 1-2 Rice Owls will open conference play Saturday at Southern Miss.

Coming off of a bye week, the Owls haven’t played since a Sept. 8 loss at Hawaii and are looking to start CUSA play with a win.

Southern Miss also hasn't played since Sept. 8 due to a postponed game scheduled for last Saturday at  App State.

First-year head coach Mike Bloomgren feels good about the two weeks of preparation the team has had.

“It's one of those things ... we're not where we want to be, but thank God we’re not where we used to be,” he said.

He said that has been a common theme since he took over 10 months ago and he hopes to see significant progress in the Owls performance this weekend in their fourth game of the season.

Quarterback Shawn Stankavage has defined himself as the starter and is doing great under center for the Owls. The senior has a 61 percent completion rate and has 546 yards passing and 5 touchdowns on the season.

The game kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday in Hattiesburg, Miss., as Rice hopes to start conference play 1-0 and notch their second win of the season.