Having branded Rice football in 2018 with the trademark “Intellectual Brutality,” Owls coach Mike Bloomgren this year employs a benign interpretation of another phrase to embody the hardships and progress represented by the Owls’ 2-11 record in 2018.

“We spent the year learning to play college football,” said redshirt freshman quarterback Wiley Green. “Coach Bloom likes to call it ‘Year Zero,’ and now we can step into ‘Year One’ full force.”

Year Zero has been used in album, book and movie titles as well as, more chillingly, for the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal destruction of Cambodia in the late 1970s. Bloomgren-speak, though, offers a more uplifting connotation.

“Absolutely that’s the case, going from Year Zero to Year One,” the coach said. “There are a lot of things culturally and a lot of things that were hard to quantify, but, gosh, every day feels better this year.

“I put on a spring practice tape from a year ago, and it looked like we were in slow motion compared to where we are now. There is work to be done, but we’re better than how we ended last fall, and now we have to make sure that when we start in August, it will be better than it is now.”

One of the more intriguing elements of Bloomgren’s makeover involves roster construction.

Players come and go in larger numbers, of course, after regime changes such as Bloomgren’s arrival last year to replace David Bailiff. Rice, though, faces additional dynamics because its academic standards require players who are likely to graduate and, thus, likely to have the option to transfer after graduating with eligibility remaining.

Last year, the Owls lost five graduate transfers, including offensive lineman Calvin Anderson, who started for Texas. Six have departed this season, led by defensive linemen Roe Wilkins and Zach Abercrumbia.

Bloomgren responded by bringing in seven grad transfers for the fall, including offensive linemen Nick Leverett of North Carolina Central, who was on hand for spring practice, and Brian Chaffin from his former stomping grounds at Stanford, plus quarterback Tom Stewart from Harvard and TCU punter Adam Nunez.

“It’s similar to the NFL,” the coach said. “The draft is what you do with signing day, and grad transfers, quite frankly, have become free agency.

“All but one of the guys who are leaving started a game for us last year. Some of them were beaten out and wanted to keep playing, so they felt it was best to go. Two wanted to go somewhere that in their mind was a better fit. It’s heartbreaking, but I’m fired up about the seven we have coming.”

Bloomgren expects the market, in Rice’s case, to stabilize as he establishes what he hopes is a winning program and as he learns the ropes of what it takes to be a successful head coach.

“We don’t have time to list the things I learned in Year Zero,” he said. “But as I sit here today, I am more convinced than ever that we can do things we talk about, that we can win and go to bowls and win championships and do that consistently.”

Rice faces a challenging schedule, opening at Army followed by Wake Forest, Texas and Baylor. The latter four are all in Houston, with the Texas game at NRG Stadium, so the Owls will spend all of September at home before their conference opener.

As for the challenging September run, Bloomgren said, “We’ll try to outhit them and play better in situational football and try to steal one.”

Army will be a chore because of the Black Knights’ ground-oriented offense. Rice, though, presents a similar test for foes, especially in she spread-dominated Conference USA, because of Bloomgren’s preference to put the quarterback under center and to run the ball.

“I love being the contrarian. I love being the team that it’s hard for people to prepare,” he said. “We spent a whole spring practice working on Army, and that’s what I hope people feel when they are trying to play us.”

Bloomgren’s optimism for 2019 mirrors his mood entering 2018, and that didn’t turn out so well. Twenty-one true freshmen played and 11 started, but the year closed on a high note with a win over Old Dominion.

“We continue to bring in the right character people who are the best student-athletes we can find,” he said. “I love how our locker room is shaping up. I love how they are learning to love each other more than themselves.”