Brent Hotard puts that weight room work to additional good use, carving out a scoop of ice cream on Thursday night at Rice Stadium

Quality work earns rewards and after two weeks of hard work in a run of heat and humidity that will be a reference point for years to come ("son, you might think this is hot, but when I was playing at Rice in 2010...THAT was some heat"), David Bailiff threw his team a dandy changeup on Thursday, cancelling the day's second practice and opting for ice cream and a movie.

Earlier in the day, the Owls battled through 21 periods on the turf at Rice Stadium and the action included work by both Taylor McHargue (ankle) and Turner Petersen (hamstring) during live work.

Bailiff's troops will be back on the grass practice field tomorrow morning for a single practice, as preparations prepare them for Friday night's second scrimmage of training camp.