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Rice Owls football
2019 Rice Owls football team
First season	1912
Athletic director	Joe Karlgaard
Head coach	Mike Bloomgren 2nd season, 2–11 (.154)
Stadium	Rice Stadium (Capacity: 47,000)
Year built	1950
Field surface	FieldTurf
Location	Houston, Texas
NCAA division	Division I FBS
Conference	Conference USA
Division	West
Past conferences	Southwest (1915–1996) WAC (1996–2004)
All-time record	466–589–32 (.443)
Bowl record	7–5 (.583)
Conference titles	8 (1934, 1937, 1946, 1949, 1953, 1957, 1994, 2013)
Division titles	2 (2008, 2013)
Rivalries	SMU (rivalry) Houston (rivalry) Texas (rivalry)
Consensus All-Americans	6
Colors	Blue and Gray[1]
Fight song	Rice Fight
Mascot	Sammy the Owl
Marching band	Marching Owl Band
Website	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.

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^[2] 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.^[3]

Kennedy Speech

Kennedy at Rice University – GPN-2000-001618

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. 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.^[4]

Conference affiliations

• Independent (1912–1914)


• 
  Southwest Conference (1915–1996)


• 
  Western Athletic Conference (1996–2004)


• 
  Conference USA (2005–present)

Head coaches

† 15–27–2 overall per NCAA due to 1975 forfeit win over Mississippi State.^[5]

Conference championships

Rice has won seven conference championships, four outright and three shared.

† Co-championship

Bowl games

Rice has participated in twelve bowl games, garnering a record of 7–5.

Stadium

Rice Stadium

Rice Stadium was built in 1950, and has been the home of Owls football ever since. It hosted the NFL Super Bowl in 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.

Rivalries

SMU

Rice and SMU were members of the same conference 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 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.

SMU leads the series 48–41–1 as of 2017.^[6]

Houston

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 32–11.The Cougars' 2013 move from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference has jeopardized the status of the series.

Houston leads the series 31–11 after a win in September 2018.^[7]

Texas

Rice and Texas play in 2006.

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 leads the series 72–21–1 as of the conclusion of the 2017 season.^[8]

College Football Hall of Fame

Eight former Rice players and coaches have been inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame.^[9]

All-Americans

As of 2017, the following 18 players have been named All-America^[10] with 6 selection being consensus.^[11]

† Consensus selection

Other notable players

• 
  Tony Barker, LB Washington Redskins


• 
  Chris Boswell, K Pittsburgh Steelers


• 
  O.J. Brigance, LB multiple teams


• 
  James Casey, TE/FB multiple teams


• 
  Bryce Callahan, DB Chicago Bears


• 
  Earl Cooper, RB San Francisco 49ers


• 
  Vince Courville, WR multiple teams


• 
  Christian Covington, DL Houston Texans


• 
  Patrick Dendy, DB Green Bay Packers


• 
  Buddy Dial, WR, multiple teams


• 
  Jarett Dillard, WR Jacksonville Jaguars


• 
  Michael Downs, S Dallas Cowboys


• 
  Emmanuel Ellerbee, LB Seattle Seahawks


• 
  Bert Emanuel, WR multiple teams


• 
  Phillip Gaines, DB multiple teams


• 
  Darryl Grant, OL Washington Redskins


• 
  Courtney Hall, OL San Diego Chargers


• 
  King Hill, QB, multiple teams


• 
  Donald Hollas, QB Oakland Raiders


• 
  Robert Hubble, TE San Francisco 49ers


• 
  Larry Izzo, LB New England Patriots


• 
  N.D. Kalu, DE multiple teams


• 
  Tommy Kramer, QB Minnesota Vikings


• 
  LaDouphyous McCalla, DB Saskatchewan Roughriders


• 
  Vance McDonald, TE Pittsburgh Steelers


• 
  Primo Miller, T Cleveland Rams


• 
  Cheta Ozougwu, DE, multiple teams


• 
  Ryan Pontbriand, DS Cleveland Browns


• 
  Frank Ryan, QB Cleveland Browns


• 
  Andrew Sendejo, DB Minnesota Vikings


• 
  Scott Solomon, DE multiple teams


• 
  Seaman Squyres, HB Cincinnati Reds


• 
  Jordan Taylor, WR Denver Broncos


• 
  John Underwood, G Milwaukee Badgers


• 
  Joe Watson, Detroit Lions


• 
  Bones Weatherly, LB Chicago Bears


• 
  Luke Willson, TE Seattle Seahawks

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of July 5, 2018.^[12]

References

External links

• 
  Official website