{"id":279335,"date":"2025-08-11T11:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T11:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/279335\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T11:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T11:02:10","slug":"how-former-wisconsin-running-back-dare-ogunbowale-performed-in-nfl-preseason-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/279335\/","title":{"rendered":"How former Wisconsin running back Dare Ogunbowale performed in NFL preseason opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Wisconsin running back Dare Ogunbowale\u00a0captained the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/houston-texans\/325\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Houston Texans;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Houston Texans<\/a>\u2019 backfield in the team&#8217;s preseason opener vs. the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/minnesota-vikings\/347\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Minnesota Vikings;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Minnesota Vikings<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Despite falling 20-10, the former Badger emerged as one of Houston&#8217;s few bright spots on the offensive end of the field. Ogunbowale took five carries for 29 yards on the day, leading Houston&#8217;s second unit.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Quarterback Graham Mertz, another former Badger, also suited up in the Texans&#8217; preseason opener at U.S. Bank Stadium. During the final five drives, Mertz completed seven of 14 pass attempts for 28 passing yards and three interceptions.<\/p>\n<p>Ogunbowale&#8217;s preseason performance marks his first stint on the gridiron since he <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/former-wisconsin-running-back-signs-104543002.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:signed a one-year extension;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">signed a one-year extension<\/a> with the Texans in March. The 31-year-old will earn $2 million in 2025 &#8212; his ninth NFL campaign and fourth with Houston.<\/p>\n<p>Ogunbowale appeared in all 17 games for Houston this past season either as a primary special-teams contributor or in the backfield behind star back Joe Mixon. He finished the &#8217;24 slate with 30 carries for 112 rushing yards, in addition to 19 receptions for 198 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Since 2017, Ogunbowale has posted 66 carries for 569 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Through the air, the dual-threat running back has reeled in 9 receptions, 774 receiving yards and two receiving scores. Outside of Houston, the Milwaukee native spent time with the Washington Commanders (2017), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2018-19) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2020-21).<\/p>\n<p>While his offensive outlook remains limited behind Mixon &#8212; a workhorse back who logged over 1,000 yards and a Pro Bowl appearance this past season &#8212; Ogunbowale has morphed into a useful threat through the air on later downs. He will look to carve out an even bigger role when Houston begins its regular season with a contest against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 7.<\/p>\n<p>Contact\/Follow\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thebadgerswire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:@TheBadgersWire;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">@TheBadgersWire<\/a>\u00a0on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/badgerswire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/ncaaf\/teams\/wisconsin-badgers\/3442\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Badgers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Badgers<\/a> news, notes and opinion<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/badgerswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/badgers\/football\/2025\/08\/11\/wisconsin-dare-ogunbowale-nfl-preseason-stats\/85602576007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Wisconsin football running back Dare Ogunbowale Texans preseason stats;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Wisconsin football running back Dare Ogunbowale Texans preseason stats<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Wisconsin running back Dare Ogunbowale\u00a0captained the Houston Texans\u2019 backfield in the team&#8217;s preseason opener vs. the Minnesota&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[3258,286,7579,23384,11318,3629,7,2496,221,253,2368,14656,125,5718,6048,569,3608,7463,58,259,6,9081,17686,6746,250,222,111,18944],"class_list":{"0":"post-279335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-aaron-wilson","9":"tag-aireontae-ersery","10":"tag-blake-fisher","11":"tag-cade-stover","12":"tag-dare-ogunbowale","13":"tag-davis","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-graham-mertz","16":"tag-houston","17":"tag-houston-texans","18":"tag-houstontexans","19":"tag-ingram","20":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","21":"tag-jake-andrews","22":"tag-jakob-johnson","23":"tag-jayden-higgins","24":"tag-joe-mixon","25":"tag-juice-scruggs","26":"tag-los-angeles-rams","27":"tag-minnesota-vikings","28":"tag-nfl","29":"tag-passing-yards","30":"tag-preseason-opener","31":"tag-rushing-yards","32":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","33":"tag-texans","34":"tag-washington-commanders","35":"tag-xavier-hutchinson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115009798238476271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}