The 2019 Rice Football schedule has been finalized and published. Here are three takeaways from the Owls’ upcoming slate.
| Date | Opponent | Location |
| Fri, Aug 30, | @ Army | West Point, NY |
| Sat, Sep 7, | Wake Forest | Rice Stadium |
| Sat, Sep 14, | Texas | NRG Stadium |
| Sat, Sep 21, | Baylor | Rice Stadium |
| Sat, Sep 28, | Louisiana Tech | Rice Stadium |
| Sat, Oct 5, | @ UAB | Birmingham, AL |
| Sat, Oct 19, | @ UTSA | San Antonio, TX |
| Sat, Oct 26, | Southern Miss | Rice Stadium |
| Sat, Nov 2, | Marshall | Rice Stadium |
| Sat, Nov 16, | @ Middle Tennessee | Murfreesboro, TN |
| Sat, Nov 23, | North Texas | Rice Stadium |
| Sat, Nov 30, | @ UTEP | El Paso, TX |
1. Two bye weeks
You’re not reading that incorrectly, Rice has two off weeks (Oct. 12 and Nov. 9). That’s true of every team in college football this year. The calendar falls a bit differently with a later Thanksgiving. To make sure everything is accounted for the season is stretching just a bit. There will be the same amount of games, but it will be spread over one more weekend. College football fans will be just fine with that arrangement.
2. Home cooking
Rice starts 2019 on the road against Army, but returns for a four-game homestand. That’s two games longer than the Owls’ longest stretch of home games in 2018 and the longest stretch of home games since 1986 — Rice hosted Lamar, SMU, Southwest Texas and Texas.
3. Tough sledding
Army finished No. 19 in the final AP Top 25 poll of 2018. Texas finished No. 9. Nine of the Owls’ 12 opponents went to a bowl game last season. Rice plays both UAB and Middle Tennessee, the two championship game representatives from Conference USA. Outside of a large chunk of games at home, you couldn’t draw up a road which was that much more challenging.
