Rice football games against Marshall and UAB have been officially postponed pushing the season opener back to Oct. 24 vs Middle Tennessee.
Rice Football will not play their games against Marshall (Oct. 3) and UAB (Oct. 10) as previously scheduled. Per an announcement made Monday afternoon, the Owls tentative season start date has been pushed back to October 24. Rice will host Middle Tennessee that afternoon.
We told subscribers this development was coming when Rice announced a further delay in fall practices. The differences between the decision-making factors wouldn’t have changed much between Oct. 3 and Oct. 10. You can read more about that decision and what the Owls hoped to achieve with the delay in our recent update.
The delay marks the fourth time Rice football has modified its 2020 schedule. The LSU game was canceled on July 30 and Rice postponed games against Houston and Army on Aug. 10. The Lamar game was struck from the schedule on August 21.
If things go according to the revised plan, Rice would open their season 49 days after their first opponent (Middle Tennessee) opened their season against Army on Sept. 5. Assuming they were able to complete their games as currently scheduled, Middle Tennesee would have already played five contests, including three conference games (home against WKU and North Texas and away at FIU).
More: This week in Conference USA on The Roost Podcast
As the schedule currently stands, Rice has six opponents. The Owls are home against Middle Tennessee (Oct. 24), UTSA (Nov. 7) and UTEP (Nov. 28). Rice will play at Southern Miss (Oct. 31), Louisiana Tech (Nov. 14) and North Texas (Nov. 21).
Further modifications to the schedule are likely should the Owls proceed with the season. Should Conference USA be willing to move the championship game back, Rice would consider efforts to schedule UAB on Dec. 5 to give them seven conference games. That would bring the Owls back into alignment with the majority of their conference peers.
