Rice Owls football
| Rice Owls football | |||
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| First season | 1912 | ||
| Athletic director | Joe Karlgaard | ||
| Head coach | David Bailiff 9th year, 53–58 (.477) |
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| Stadium | Rice Stadium | ||
| Year built | 1950 | ||
| Seating capacity | 47,000 | ||
| Field surface | FieldTurf | ||
| Location | Houston, Texas | ||
| Conference | Conference USA | ||
| Division | West | ||
| Past conferences | Southwest (1915-1996) WAC (1996-2004) |
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| All-time record | 463–581–32 (.445) | ||
| Bowl record | 7–5 (.583) | ||
| Conference titles | 8 (1934, 1937, 1946, 1949, 1953, 1957, 1994, 2013) | ||
| Division titles | 2 (2008, 2013) | ||
| Consensus All-Americans | 6 | ||
| Fight song | Rice Fight | ||
| Mascot | Sammy the Owl | ||
| Marching band | Marching Owl Band | ||
| Website | www.riceowls.com | ||
The Rice Owls football team represents Rice University in NCAA Division I college football. The Owls have competed in Conference USA's Western Division since 2005. Rice Stadium, built in 1950, hosts the Owls' home football games.
Contents
Venue
Rice Stadium was built in 1950, and has been the home of Owls football ever since. It hosted the NFL Super Bowl on January 1974. It replaced the old Rice Field (now Rice Track/Soccer Stadium) to increase seating. Total seating capacity in the current stadium was reduced from 70,000 to 47,000 before the 2006 season. The endzone seating benches were removed and covered with tarps, and all of the wooden bleachers were replaced with new, metal seating benches in 2006, as well. The stadium is also currently undergoing further renovations.
History
1954 Cotton Bowl Classic
The Owls played in the eighteenth Cotton Bowl Classic against the Crimson Tide of Alabama. The game featured one of the most famous plays in college football history[1] when Rice's Dickey Moegle (later Maegle) burst free on a sweep play, and on his way down the sideline, was tackled by Tommy Lewis, who had come off the Alabama sideline without his helmet to tackle Moegle. Referee Cliff Shaw saw Lewis come off the bench and gave the Owls the 95 yard touchdown. Rice would win the game 28-6, with the only Crimson Tide score coming from Lewis. The yardage added to Moegle's 265 yards rushing, a Cotton Bowl Classic record that would stand until Tony Temple's effort in 2008. This would be the Owls' last bowl win until the 2008 Texas Bowl, a win which also secured the Owls their first 10-win season since 1949.[2]
Kennedy Speech
Rice Stadium also hosted a speech by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962. In it, he used the Rice football team to challenge America to send a man to the moon.
- But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.[3]
Coaching history
| Name | Seasons | Overall | Overall % | Bowls | Bowls % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Bailiff | 2007–present | 48–53 | 47.5% | 3–1 | 75.0% |
| Todd Graham | 2006 | 7–6 | 53.8% | 0–1 | 0.0% |
| Ken Hatfield | 1994–2005 | 55–78–1 | 41.0% | -- | -- |
| Fred Goldsmith | 1989-93 | 23–31–1 | 42.7% | -- | -- |
| Jerry Berndt | 1986-88 | 6–27–0 | 18.2% | -- | -- |
| Watson Brown | 1984-85 | 4–18–0 | 18.2% | -- | -- |
| Ray Alborn | 1978-83 | 13–53–0 | 19.7% | -- | -- |
| Homer Rice | 1976-77 | 4–18–0 | 18.2% | -- | -- |
| Al Conover | 1972-75 | 14–28–2 | 34.1% | -- | -- |
| Bill Peterson | 1971 | 3–7–1 | 31.8% | -- | -- |
| Bo Hagan | 1967-70 | 12–27–1 | 31.3% | -- | -- |
| Jess Neely | 1940-66 | 144–124–10 | 53.6% | 3–3–0 | 50.0% |
| Jimmy Kitts | 1934-39 | 33–29–4 | 53.0% | 1–0–0 | 100.0% |
| Jack Meagher | 1929-33 | 26–26–0 | 50.0% | -- | -- |
| Claude Rothgeb | 1928 | 2–7–0 | 22.2% | -- | -- |
| John Heisman | 1924-27 | 14–18–3 | 44.3% | -- | -- |
| John Anderson | 1918 | 1–5–1 | 21.4% | -- | -- |
| Phillip Arbuckle | 1912-17,'19-23 | 51–25–8 | 65.5% | -- | -- |
Conference Championships
Southwest Conference: 1934, 1937, 1946*, 1949, 1953*, 1957, 1994*
Conference USA: 2013
* shared
Rice Bowl Game History
| Bowl Game History | Result |
|---|---|
| 1938 Cotton Bowl Classic | W, Rice 28 Colorado 14 |
| 1947 Orange Bowl | W, Rice 8 Tennessee 0 |
| 1950 Cotton Bowl Classic | W, Rice 27 North Carolina 13 |
| 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic | W, Rice 28 Alabama 6 |
| 1958 Cotton Bowl Classic | L, Rice 7 Navy 20 |
| 1961 Sugar Bowl | L, Rice 6 Ole Miss 14 |
| 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl | L, Rice 7 Kansas 33 |
| 2006 New Orleans Bowl | L, Rice 17 Troy 41 |
| 2008 Texas Bowl | W, Rice 38 Western Michigan 14 |
| 2012 Armed Forces Bowl | W, Rice 33 Air Force 14 |
| 2013 Liberty Bowl | L, Rice 7 Mississippi State 44 |
| 2014 Hawaii Bowl | W, Rice 30 Fresno State 6 |
All-time record vs. CUSA teams
Official record (including any NCAA imposed vacates and forfeits) against all current CUSA opponents:
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Rivalries
SMU
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Rice and SMU had been in the same conference with each other from 1918 through 2012, and have played each other 90 times as of 2012 with SMU leading the series 48-41-1. The rivalry is because Rice and SMU were two of four private schools in the old Southwest Conference (Baylor and TCU were the others). Rice and SMU were also the two smallest schools in the conference, were located in the two largest cities of any teams in the conference (Houston and Dallas, respectively), and have historically been considered the two best private universities in Texas.
| Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | RICE win | RICE loss | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | November 17, 1916 (Won 146–3) | November 17, 2012 (Won 36–14) [1] | 41 | 48 | 1 | 45.5% |
Houston
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Rice participates in a crosstown rivalry with Houston. UH and Rice play annually for the Bayou Bucket, a weathered bucket found by former Rice guard Fred Curry at an antique shop. Curry had it designed into a trophy for $310. The two universities are separated by five miles in Houston. The Cougars lead the series 29-11.The Cougars' 2013 move from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference has jeopardized the status of the series though, it is scheduled to resume in 2017 .
| Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | RICE win | RICE loss | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | September 11, 1971 (lost 21–23) | September 21, 2013 (lost 26–31) [2] | 11 | 29 | 0 | 27.5% |
Texas
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Rice and Texas have maintained a largely one-sided rivalry beginning in the early days of the Southwest Conference. Texas' 28 consecutive victories from 1966–1993 represents the sixth longest single-opponent winning streak in college football history. In 1994, in a nationally televised ESPN game, Rice scored a major upset win over Texas, but since then Texas has resumed series dominance. Despite the dissolution of the Southwest Conference, Texas and Rice still play on a "near annual" basis, allowing the Longhorns to keep a high profile in the state's largest city and the fourth largest city in the United States. Texas is a public university that enrolls 50,201 total students (5th largest in the US as of 2007) and over 37,000 undergraduates. Rice is a private university and enrolls 3,926 undergraduates.
| Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | Rice win | Rice loss | Ties | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 94 | October 17, 1914 (lost 0–41) | September 12, 2015 (lost 42–28) | 21 | 72 | 1 | 18.8% |
Baylor
Rice and Baylor have a long-standing rivalry dating back to each of these foes days in the Southwest Conference. Since they are no longer in the same confernence they have scheduled each other on and off since 1997 with Baylor winning the latest matchup (2015 contest) 70-17; the Baylor Bears also hold the all-time record in the rivalry at 40-30-2 with the next matchup scheduled for 2016 at Rice.
Texas A&M
The Rice Owls have been longtime rivals with the Texas A&M Aggies since each other's days in the Southwest Conference but since they are no longer in the same conference they still scheduled each other sometimes with the next matchup being scheduled for 2019 at Rice in NRG Stadium. Texas A&M holds the all-time record in the rivalry at 52-27 with the latest contest being played in 2014 with an Aggie victory.
Notable players
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College Football Hall of Fame
| Name | Position | Years | Inducted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buddy Dial | End | 1956–1958 | 1993 | was his team’s co-captain, Most Valuable Player, and was consensus All-America |
| John Heisman | Coach | 1892–1927 | 1954 | Inducted for his career as a coach at Oberlin, Akron, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Pennsylvania, Washington & Jefferson, Rice |
| Weldon Humble | Guard | 1941–1943, 1946 | 1961 | He was a consensus All- America choice. Like most athletes of his time, Weldon was required to suspend his career for military service during World War II. |
| Dick Maegle | Halfback | 1952–1954 | 1979 | He was consensus All-America and academic All-America in 1954 |
| Jess Neely | Coach | 1924–1966 | 1971 | Inducted for his career as a coach at Rhodes, Clemson, Rice |
| Bill Wallace | Halfback | 1932, 1934–1935 | 1978 | Wallace was Rice's initial first team All-America selection |
| James "Froggy" Williams | End | 1946–1949 | 1965 | a consensus All-American and was also selected to the Cotton Bowl’s All-Decade team for the 1950s |
| Tommy Kramer | Quarterback | 1972–1976 | 2012 | Senior Bowl MVP and 1976 George Martin Award winner |
Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Don Maynard, WR New York Jets
Rice All-Americans
| Name | Position | All-America |
|---|---|---|
| Bill Wallace | B | 1934 |
| H.J. Nichols | G | 1944 |
| Weldon Humble | G | 1946 |
| Froggy Williams | E | 1949 |
| Joe Watson | C | 1949 |
| Bill Howton | E | 1951 |
| John Hudson | T | 1953 |
| Kosse Johnson | B | 1953 |
| Dicky Maegle | HB | 1954 |
| King Hill | QB | 1957 |
| Buddy Dial | E | 1958 |
| Malcolm Walker | C | 1964 |
| Tommy Kramer | QB | 1976 |
| Steve Kidd | P | 1985 |
| Trevor Cobb | HB | 1991, 1992 |
| Charles Torello | OG | 1997 |
| Jarett Dillard | WR | 2006, 2008 |
| Kyle Martens | P | 2010 |
Former Rice players currently in the NFL
| Name | Position | Draft Round (Overall) | Current Team | Years in the NFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Casey | TE | 5 (152) | Broncos | 5 |
| Phillip Gaines | CB | 3 (87) | Chiefs | R |
| Vance McDonald | TE | 2 (55) | 49ers | 2 |
| Cheta Ozougwu | OLB | 7 (254) | Saints | 3 |
| Andrew Sendejo | S | UD | Vikings | 3 |
| Scott Solomon | DE | 7th (211) | Browns | 3 |
| Luke Willson | TE | 5th (158) | Seahawks | 2 |
| Chris Boswell | K | UD | Steelers | 2 |
| Christian Covington | DE | 6 (216) | Texans | R |
Other former players
- Tony Barker, LB Washington Redskins
- O.J. Brigance, LB multiple teams
- Earl Cooper, RB San Francisco 49ers
- Vince Courville, WR multiple teams
- Patrick Dendy, DB Green Bay Packers
- Jarrett Dillard, WR Jacksonville Jaguars
- Michael Downs, S Dallas Cowboys
- Bert Emanuel, WR multiple teams
- Darryl Grant, OL Washington Redskins
- Courtney Hall, OL San Diego Chargers
- Donald Hollas, QB Oakland Raiders
- Robert Hubble, TE San Francisco 49ers
- Larry Izzo, LB New England Patriots
- N.D. Kalu, DE multiple teams
- LaDouphyous McCalla, DB Saskatchewan Roughriders
- Primo Miller, T Cleveland Rams
- Ryan Pontbriand, DS Cleveland Browns
- Frank Ryan, QB Cleveland Browns
- Seaman Squyres, HB Cincinnati Reds
- John Underwood, G Milwaukee Badgers
- Joe Watson, Detroit Lions
- Bones Weatherly, LB Chicago Bears
Future non-conference opponents
Announced schedules as of January 21, 2016
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025' |
| at Stanford | vs Stanford | at Wake Forest | vs Baylor | vs Army | at Oklahoma State | at USC | at Boise State | vs Boise State | Northwestern |
| at Army | at Houston | vs Houston | vs Texas A&M | Northwestern | |||||
| vs Baylor | vs Army | at Hawaii | at Army | ||||||
| vs Prairie View A&M | at Pittsburgh | at LSU | vs Wake Forest |
