VOLUME 107, ISSUE NO. 10 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2022
Nightmare on South Main: Football blown out by last-place Charlotte on Homecoming CADAN HANSON
SENIOR WRITER
KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER
Rice prepares for Election Day her classes on Election Day so that her students can use that time to vote. MANAGING EDITOR “I decided to do so after realizing that Early voting for the midterm elections many Rice students are registered to vote ends on Nov. 4 in Harris County. On Election in other Texas counties and therefore Day, Nov. 8, Sewall Hall’s Welcome Center might need to travel to cast their ballots,” will be Rice’s on-campus polling location, Johnson said. “Making accommodations open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for Election Day helps remind the students The closest early voting location is the of their obligations to their communities, John P. McGovern Texas Medical Center, which they should carry with them as they which is a 15- to 20-minute walk from progress in their personal and professional central campus, and it offers parking lives.” validation at the McGovern parking garage According to Johnson, she will hold for voters. On Election Day itself, students office hours on Nov. 8 for students who are can also vote at nearby off-campus not voting that day, so they can drop in and locations, such as McGovern or the Emanu discuss their progress in her courses. El synagogue just across Sunset Blvd. from Carrie McNeil, a Rice chemistry Martel College. A full map of early and professor, said that she won’t be canceling Election Day voting locations can be found class, but she will support students at harrisvotes.com. on Election Day through other voting During the 2020 presidential election, accommodations. Rice policies “ V o t i n g forbade any is incredibly Election Day due important, and I dates and required my students Making accommodations give all instructional extra credit for either materials to for Election Day helps voting or supporting be available remind the students of someone to vote,” asynchronously, their obligations to their McNeil said. “This is according to such an important communities, which the Office of the election for our Registrar. This they should carry with state, and I want year, no campus- them as they progress to make sure my wide voting in their personal and students get to accommodations exercise their right exist. Instead, professional lives. to vote. I’ve posted President Reginald Amanda Louise Johnson a n n o u n ce m e n t s DesRoches sent out ENGLISH PROFESSOR with polling a message, signed locations, sample by other campus leadership, encouraging ballots and the Harris County website to see Rice professors to provide their own voting if they’re registered.” accommodations for students. McNeil said that she cannot give her “We encourage all instructors to students the entire day off to vote, because consider ways to support this goal for both it’s very difficult to work out make-up labs undergraduate and graduate students,” for so many students. DesRoches wrote in the message. “Some “I have, though, made sure we are things you can do include canceling a doing a lab that should finish much earlier scheduled class meeting, rescheduling for than usual so they can vote after class and another time that works for the class and before the polls close,” McNeil said. “I will creating asynchronous options on Election also let my students know that if their only Day to allow eligible students to cast their opportunity to vote is during my class, I ballots. Faculty are also encouraged not to will let them come Monday or Wednesday make assignments due or have exams on instead. My NSCI 120 class will likely be a Election Day.” mix of Zoom and in-person to allow the Amanda Louise Johnson, a Rice English first-year students the chance to vote in professor, said that she has canceled all their first election.”
BONNIE ZHAO
In the true spirit of Halloween, Rice Stadium resembled a haunted house with proverbial carnage all over the field following Saturday’s loss. Going into the game as 15 point favorites against the last-place team in Conference USA, who had fired their head coach six days prior, all indications pointed to the Owls celebrating Homecoming with a resounding win. But not only did the University of North Carolina at Charlotte spoil the Homecoming festivities, they did so with a 33 point victory, defeating the Owls 56-23. Head coach Mike Bloomgren was very disappointed with the loss after the game. “I’m incredibly disappointed that this game went the way it did today,” Bloomgren said. “As much as last week was a team win for us, this is a team loss. They took us to the woodshed today. We earned this loss every bit as much as Charlotte earned this win.” Going into the weekend, Rice was looking to extend their four game home win streak. But the Owls’ Homecoming curse had other plans. According to Bloomgren, what made their fifth straight Homecoming loss even worse was doing it in front of family and friends. “This is [redshirt senior defensive end] Trey Schuman’s sixth year here and he’s never won a homecoming game,” Bloomgren said. “It sucks because I thought we had really good attendance today and I thought we owed our fans a better product. It stings a little more on Homecoming because we had fans in the stands that cared and we wanted to put on a good show for our friends, family and the people we love.”
HAI-VAN HOANG / THRESHER
On the opening drive, the Owls looked like the same team that scored 42 points in the last 35 minutes of their overtime win against Louisiana Tech University, with an 82 yard drive ending in a touchdown pass from junior quarterback TJ McMahon to sophomore wide receiver Luke McCaffrey. Later in the first quarter, McMahon found the back of the endzone with senior wide receiver Bradley Rozner. After taking a 1714 lead in the second quarter, the game went south and Charlotte rattled off 35 straight points in an offensive frenzy. The driver of the train was Charlotte quarterback Chris Reynolds, who put up five touchdown passes compared to just three incompletions. Bloomgren said that going into the game, Charlotte’s offense was a concern. “We knew that they are a very very talented offense,” Bloomgren said. “They really haven’t put it together this year but they did today so I think their coaching staff did well pulling everybody together and their players made plays.” Defensively, the Owls struggled, allowing 239 yards on the ground and 275 yards through the air. According to Schuman, one key that led to Charlotte’s offensive success was converting on third and long. “That first quarter we went out and we played our brand of defense but later, we weren’t getting the stops and weren’t getting off the field,” Schuman said. “This game is a momentum game. [If] we don’t give some of those third downs up and we get off the field, the momentum shifts. Especially with a great quarterback like Reynolds, when you let that guy get rolling, he can put up points. We just didn’t do our job at the end of the day.” This article has been cut off for print. Read the full article at ricethresher.org.