The 2022 Rice Football schedule was released by Conference USA on Tuesday, including a full 12-game slate.
Despite announcements that three member schools (Southern Miss, Old Dominion and Marshall) intend to leave Conference USA before the beginning of the 2022 football season, the league released schedules for the fall this week. As far as Rice football is concerned, there aren’t many surprises.
As it’s currently set up, the Owls will complete their rotational matchups with East Division members Western Kentucky and Charlotte, flipping home/away designations from last season. They’ll also play each member of the West Division. Rice opens non-conference play at USC, now coached by Lincoln Riley with quarterback Caleb Williams at the helm. They’ll also face McNeese, Louisiana and Houston.
Conference USA released this statement concurrently with the schedule:
Conference USA intends to conduct the 2022-23 athletic year with the full 14 institution membership intact. The C-USA Board of Directors will exhaust all necessary legal actions to ensure all members meet their contractual obligations as defined by and agreed to in the Conference USA Bylaws.
Simply put, Conference USA won’t let the three departing Sun Belt schools go without a fight. There is likely to be some lawyering on both sides before this over, leading to further confusion among administrators, coaches and players throughout the conference.
As things currently stand, here is the 2022 Rice Football schedule:
| Date | Opponent | H/A |
| Sep. 3, 2022 | USC | Away |
| Sep. 10, 2022 | McNeese | Home |
| Sep. 17, 2022 | Louisiana | Home |
| Sep. 24, 2022 | Houston | Away |
| Oct. 1, 2022 | North Texas | Away |
| Oct. 8, 2022 | Charlotte | Home |
| Oct. 15, 2022 | — OFF — | — |
| Oct. 22, 2022 | UAB | Home |
| Oct. 29, 2022 | WKU | Away |
| Nov. 5, 2022 | UTEP | Home |
| Nov. 12, 2022 | Louisiana Tech | Away |
| Nov. 19, 2022 | Southern Miss | Away |
| Nov. 26, 2022 | UTSA | Home |
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