Rice Owls Football

The Rice University Owls play college football in the FBS division as part of Conference USA. Coached by David Bailiff since 2007, the Owls play home games at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas.

Rice is a small institution to have a FBS division football team. Rice University had only 3,279 undergraduates and 2277 graduate students enrolled in 2009.http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Students4.asp?SnID=1575611869 The football team joined Conference USA in 2005 and by winning the Texas Bowl in 2008 ended a 54 year drought.http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Timeline.asp?SnID=1575611869

The Rice Owls finished the 2009 season with a 2-10 record which was a disappointment after their 2008 record of 9-3, and finishing with the defeat of the Western Michigan Broncos, 38-14, in the Texas Bowl on December 30, 2008.ESPN.com: Western Michigan Broncos vs. Rice Owls Box Score

• 1938 Cotton Bowl: Rice 28 - Colorado 14Official Site: Bowl Games (1.9 MB)
• 1947 Orange Bowl: Rice 8 - Tennessee 0Official Site: Bowl Games (1.9 MB)
• 1950 Cotton Bowl: Rice 27 - North Carolina 13Official Site: Bowl Games (1.9 MB)
• 1954 Cotton Bowl: Rice 28 - Alabama 6Official Site: Bowl Games (1.9 MB)
• 1958 Cotton Bowl: Navy 20 - Rice 7Official Site: Bowl Games (1.9 MB)
• 1961 Sugar Bowl: Mississippi 14 - Rice 6Official Site: Bowl Games (1.9 MB)
• 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl: Kansas 33 - Rice 7Official Site: Bowl Games (1.9 MB)
• 2006 New Orleans Bowl: Troy 41 - Rice 17Official Site: Bowl Games (1.9 MB)
• 2008 Texas Bowl: Rice 38 - Western Michigan 14

2009 was not very good to the Rice football team. They did win two of their last three games but they had lost every game before that. With a new offensive coordinator, David Beaty, look for Rice to open the offence up. The spring practice game had the score of 47 to 41 in an offensive display.http://www.riceowls.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/032710aaa.html

The quarterback position will still be up in the air going into fall practice between Sophomore Nick Fanuzzi, Sophomore Taylor Cook, and redshirt freshman Taylor McHarque. On the defensive side the NCAA leading solo tackler Travis Bradshaw will return at his safety position for his junior year.http://www.riceowls.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/bradshaw_travis00.html

The 2010 season starts on September 4 on the road against Texas. One note about the 2010 season is cross town rival, Houston will have to play at Rice on October 16.