Brenden Rice admitted he has not been performing up to expectations. #USC’s holder created a viral moment. That and more in this Trojan notebook.
The Travis Dye injury dominated the USC game against Colorado on Friday night. It swallowed up the aftermath of the game. It was unavoidable for Dye’s injury — marking the end of his season and his USC career — to become the main point of conversation after the Trojans beat Colorado, 55-17.
There were other moments of note from this game. There is plenty to catch up on after Colorado — and heading into UCLA — in this USC football notebook.
Let’s give you some of the main highlights from this game, beginning with a tweet from USC wide receiver Brenden Rice, in which he admitted he has not been playing up to his own expected standard in 2022:
Brenden Rice will be playing for the USC Trojans next season
Perhaps the biggest loss for the Buffs via the transfer portal this offseason has found a new home.
Brenden Rice, who played just two seasons at Colorado before entering the portal, is now transferring to USC, the talented wide receiver announced Tuesday. It appears that Lincoln Riley’s early days at USC just keep getting better.
Rice’s decision to transfer within the Pac-12 wasn’t a huge surprise, but it will still be tough when the Buffs visit USC on Nov. 11. Colorado’s second-leading receiver from last season now joins Christian Gonzalez (Oregon) as former standout Buffs to find new Pac-12 homes.
On the bright side, let’s remember that the transfer portal giveth as well. On Sunday, the Buffs found a transfer wide receiver of their own in ex-Baylor Bear R.J. Sneed II.
Oregon Duck fans have to feel a little disappointed on Tuesday morning, with the news coming out that former Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Brenden Rice, the son of NFL legend Jerry Rice, would be committing to the USC Trojans rather than coming to Eugene.
Rice, a 6-foot-2 former 4-star recruit, chose the Buffs over the Ducks when he was first recruited. At Colorado, Rice had 419 yards and 5 touchdowns in 14 games played.
The WR position is one of major need for the Ducks, who saw Johnny Johnson III, Devon Williams, and Jaylon Redd leave for the NFL draft this year, as well as Mycah Pittman leaving in the transfer portal. There are a number of young and talented pass-catchers on the roster, but adding a proven playmaker like Rice would have been a massive boost for the position group.
Any Pac-12 school would be lucky to snag Brenden Rice
A generational type talent that was a Buffalo just one week ago is now on the open market. For the sake of CU not having to play him, it would be nice for Rice to land at a big-time Power-5 school that isn’t in the Pac-12.
Could Rice, an Arizona native, sign with either the Sun Devils or Wildcats? Considering the state of those programs, I don’t really see that happening. But it should be noted that Rice made a couple of unofficial visits to Arizona State before former CU head coach Mel Tucker convinced him otherwise. ASU QB Jayden Daniels is also sticking around next season and that could be a fun duo to watch.
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Are the northern California Pac-12 schools an option? Rice’s father and NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice played for both the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders, which could make for a homecoming of sorts. The elder Rice also played a few games for the Seattle Seahawks, just to add another Pac-12 connection into the mix.
As our friends at Ducks Wire so graciously reminded us, Rice was also once recruited by Oregon. Like ASU, Rice made a pair of unofficial visits to Oregon prior to signing with the Buffs. It looks like Oregon could be just as dangerous in 2022, too. Without forgetting how attractive Utah is at the moment, let’s remember that entering the transfer portal doesn’t require a player to leave their original program. Colorado would obviously love to have Rice back, and this tweet suggests the Buffs aren’t forgotten.
On Saturday afternoon, Colorado Buffaloes’ standout freshman receiver Brenden Rice announced on social media that he would be entering the transfer portal and looking for a new school.
This is notable for the Oregon Ducks, since the 6-foot-2 and former 4-star receiver is now in a position to be recruited once again, and the last time that happened, he was pretty high on the Ducks in the process.
Rice is one of the more talented receivers in the transfer portal, and Oregon fans should remember him well. Earlier this year when the Ducks hosted Colorado, Rice had 5 catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.
Of course, Duck fans should feel pretty good about their talent at the WR position after the Alamo Bowl, but beyond Troy Franklin, Dont’e Thornton, and Kris Huston, there isn’t much depth there. We saw this past season how pivotal it is for you to have players on the roster that you can rely on in case of injuries, and bringing in someone like Rice would be a huge steal for Dan Lanning and his staff.
We will keep an eye on him over the coming weeks, but don’t be shocked if Rice takes a visit to Eugene at some point in the future.
On Saturday, Colorado’s second-leading receiver from last season and arguably the Buffs’ most-talented offensive player announced that he’ll be entering the transfer portal. Rice, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, played just two seasons for Colorado.
The Buffs often struggled to utilize Rice in his two seasons, but his big-play ability will be difficult to replace next season.
Rice joins CB Christian Gonzalez and safety Mark Perry as Buffs’ starters to enter the transfer portal in the past 10 days. In a tweet by Brian Howell of BuffZone, he considered Rice and Gonzalez to be the two players that Colorado couldn’t lose this offseason. Both have now entered the transfer portal.
Brenden Rice will be unavailable in Friday’s finale
The Colorado Buffaloes will be without leading receiver Brenden Rice in their final game of the season against on Utah on Friday. Rice suffered an apparent lower-body injury in the second quarter of CU’s win over Washington and did not return.
In his postgame presser after Washington, Karl Dorrell was hopeful Rice could return vs. Utah. But on Monday, Dorrell said the second-year freshman will not play in the season finale. Rice will end his 2021 campaign with 21 receptions for 299 yards and three touchdowns.
Coming into the season, Colorado’s top receivers were projected to be La’Vontae Shenault, Brenden Rice, Dimitri Stanley, Daniel Arias, Maurice Bell and Montana Lemonious-Craig. The #cubuffs will finish the season with only two of those guys – Stanley and Arias – available.
I asked Dorrell if freshmen wide receivers Chris Carpenter and Ty Robinson will play a bigger role in Friday’s finale. He confirmed that and expressed confidence in his other healthy wideouts.
“We still have a very capable group, a very confident group,” Dorrell said. “They know they can make plays and we just got to put them in positions to make plays and execute some good offense, but we feel we have the capabilities to do that.”
The Colorado Buffaloes played out a familiar synopsis on Saturday in arguably their most uninspiring performance of 2021. Coming off a dominant shutout win over Arizona, the Buffs fell horribly flat in a 26-3 loss to California.
Colorado, which dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in Pac-12 play, managed just 104 total yards and relinquished a season-high six sacks. Chase Garbers ran and threw all over the Buffs’ defense, which couldn’t make up for the poor offensive performance.
For Karl Dorrell, another “really good week of practice” preceding another brutal loss stumped him.
“That wasn’t the type of game I was expecting at all,” Dorrell said.
While we knew the Golden Bears were better than their 1-5 record said coming into Week 8, their superiority on both sides of the ball was concerning, especially considering the momentum Colorado supposedly had after last week. Cal cruised in the first half and scored two touchdowns and three field goals to take a 23-3 lead. Cole Becker’s 33-yard field goal, which was largely set up by a 67-yard Brenden Rice kickoff return, was the only response CU could muster.
Oct 23, 2021; Berkeley, California, USA; California Golden Bears tight end Keleki Latu (40) catches a pass for the touchdown during the first quarter against Colorado Buffaloes linebacker Quinn Perry (12) at FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium. Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Even for the biggest fans of defense, the second half was largely a snoozer. The Buffs recorded one first down and held possession for just seven and a half minutes. They did hold Cal to only three points, however, to mention at least one positive. Nate Landman, who recorded his 400th career tackle in the first quarter, and Mekhi Blackmon each had double-digit tackles on the afternoon.
The special teams’ performance was good, if you care for that. Josh Watts had two punts over 50 yards and two that he finessed inside Cal’s 20-yard line. Rice had an impressive kick return and with Dimitri Stanley absent with a soft tissue injury, Chase Penry returned a punt for 16 yards. Colorado nearly blocked a field goal in the fourth quarter but it was reversed when Christian Gonzalez was found to be offsides.
But the ever-important battle in the trenches was ultimately what lost Colorado this game. In addition to Cal’s 12 tackles for a loss and four QB hits, the Buffs’ running backs averaged just 2.3 yards a carry. Dorrell was once again puzzled by how his O-line got pushed around.
“I can’t quite put a finger on that,” Dorrell said. “I’m trying to figure that out and we’re going to have to really look at that and see what’s going on there. We’ve had some issues up front and I figured that at this point in time we should have some of those things cleared up. But apparently, we’re still struggling with doing some things.”
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Doing his best to navigate meager time in the pocket, Brendon Lewis threw for 69 yards on 9-of-17. Drew Carter replaced Lewis late in the game but attempted just one pass and was more there to just hand the ball off.
With the likes of Dorrell, offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini and now O-line coach Mitch Rodrigue receiving heavy criticism, Rice instead argued that it begins with player accountability.
“If you’re not bought in, you might as well just leave,” Rice said. “There’s no room for anybody who’s trying to be out or trying to excuse themselves from the team. We need to all be bought in in order for us to take the next step because the season’s not over.”
Brenden Rice earned some love as one of the Pac-12 Freshmen of the Week.
The Colorado Buffaloes finally got their first Pac-12 conference victory this past weekend against the Arizona Wildcats. Sure, the Wildcats have yet to win a game all year, but a win is a win.
In the victory, it was Buffs wide receiver Brenden Rice who thrived with three catches for more than 100 yards and a touchdown in impressive fashion. We spoke on Rice earlier, giving him the Buffs Player of the Week honors.
The son of Jerry Rice turned it on and put everybody on notice despite a rough start to the season for the Buffs as a team. Well, the praise kept coming for Rice, who earned some honors from SportsPac12 as well.
Both Nick Bartlett and Dane Miller of SportsPac12 named Rice as the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, and rightfully so.
Rice definitely deserved the honors. However, the other three analysts Noah Sewell, the Oregon freshman linebacker who had 12 tackles, a sack, and a pass break-up in the squeaker against Cal.
Nonetheless, huge praise for Brenden Rice, and perhaps the Buffs have found a true No. 1 wide receiver for quarterback Brenden Lewis to rely on going forward.
More importantly, the Buffs got that treasured first conference victory and can try and build on that momentum going forward. Next up for Karl Dorrell’s team is a matchup against Cal, followed by games against Oregon and Oregon State.
