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American Conference Football 2025: Week 12 Roundup

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American Conference Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron this week.

TeamRecord This WeekResultUp Next
Army5-4 (3-3)— OFF — —vs Tulsa
Charlotte1-9 (0-7)vs UTSAL, 28-7at Georgia
ECU7-3 (5-1)vs MemphisW, 31-27at UTSA
FAU4-6 (3-4)at TulaneL, 35-24vs UConn
Memphis8-3 (4-3)at ECUL, 31-27— OFF —
Navy8-2 (6-2)vs USFW, 41-38— OFF —
North Texas9-1 (5-1)at UABW, 53-24at Rice
Rice5-5 (2-4)— OFF — —vs North Texas
Temple5-5 (3-3)— OFF — —vs Tulane
Tulane8-2 (5-1)vs FAUW, 35-24at Temple
Tulsa3-7 (0-6)vs Oregon StW, 31-14at Army
UAB3-7 (1-5)vs North TexasL, 53-24vs USF
USF7-3 (4-2)at NavyL, 41-38at UAB
UTSA5-5 (3-3)at CharlotteW, 28-7vs ECU

Storylines // Standings // Preseason Poll

Ahoy, Pirates!

East Carolina was flying under the radar after a 3-3 start with losses to a pair of power conference teams and Tulane on the road. Since then, the Pirates are 4-0 including this latest impressive win over Memphis. The Tigers can still reach 10 wins, but have effectively been eliminated from the conference championship game and the playoff. That’s a tough pill to swallow for Memphis.

Midshipmen Make it Happen

Memphis’ next opponent, Navy, posted a statement win this weekend. Following back-to-back losses against North Texas and Notre Dame on the road, the Middies returned to Annapolis and won a thriller over South Florida. The loss knocks the Bulls out of conference title contention with tiebreaker while the Midshipmen remain alive if they can get some help over the last two weeks.

North Texas, Tulane Hold Serve

While some of the other contenders stumbled, North Texas and Tulane posted rather mundane wins over teams in the bottom half of the conference standings. Neither game was particularly close or in doubt down the stretch, keeping both the Mean Green and the Green Wave in contention along with East Carolina with one loss in conference play.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Beware, the Dome

East Carolina had best keep their eyes wide open as they travel to the Alamodome next weekend, a place where the Roadrunners seem to turn into the best version of themselves. If the Pirates play like they did this past weekend, they should be okay, but that’s the last place any contender wants to pay a visit to at the moment following UTSA’s drubbings of Rice and Tulane in their most recent home contests.

Post-bye Rice

As for Rice, they posted what’s looking to be one of the more impressive non-conference wins of the season following their first bye week, taking down UConn in double overtime. The Owls have had another two-week stretch to prepare, but they’ll still be heavy underdogs when they host North Texas on Senior Day.

Going North

Tulane also better be careful when they travel north to take on Temple. The Owls have their eyes set on bowl eligibility and gave a then-undefeated Navy squad a scare a few weeks back. Even the slightest potential for chilly weather wouldn’t help the southern squad in their hopes for a quick and easy road trip before their regular season finale at home against Charlotte.

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Rice Women’s Basketball posts team win over MTSU

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Rice Women’s basketball grinded out a four-quarter battle against Middle Tennessee, outscoring the Blue Raiders in the final minutes to clinch the win.

Days removed from a relatively comfortable win over rival Houston, Rice women’s basketball found itself in a dogfight against former C-USA foe Middle Tennessee at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday. The two squads were tied after the first quarter and separated by just two points at the break following six dead even scores in the first half alone.

After falling behind briefly on an MTSU three-pointer to open the third quarter, Rice started to got on the offensive with a thorough 10-0 run made possible by tremendous defense. MTSU would shoot 31 percent in the frame as Rice went inside, dominating the paint with Hailey Adams and Shelby Hayes accounting for 10 of the Owls’ 14 points in that 10-minute period.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

Even a nine-point lead wouldn’t prove enough, though. MTSU knotted things back up at 51 all with 4:31 to play in the final quarter. And then, with the game on the line, Rice got a succession of huge shots from Louann Battiston and some clutch free throws from Hailey Adams to salt the game away. The Blue Raiders would make just three shots from the field in the final three minutes, another stout defensive effort.

Rice women’s basketball improved to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Final Box | Rice 66, Middle Tennessee 59

Key takeaway | Team Mentality

When March comes around, Rice women’s basketball will need to find a player or two they can trust to make the big shot when it counts. As it stands, there hasn’t yet been one dominant player, but with where this team is at, that might not be a problem.

On Saturday, Rice got a team-high 18 points from Aniah Alexis. Her double-double paced the team, but the massive fourth quarter from Battiston and a four-steal, three-assist effort from Victoria Flores were equally vital to pulling out a close win. More often than not, a “team win” is cheesy line from a press conference. This time around, it really was a collective effort that made the difference.

Up Next: at Princeton (Nov. 19 at 6:00 pm)

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Rice Basketball Rallies Past East Texas A&M

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Rice basketball persevered through a slow start, rallying past East Texas A&M with a strong finish to improve to 2-1 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

For the second time in just a few days, Rice basketball found itself playing from behind on its home court. East Texas A&M opened the game by making five of its first 10 field goals as Rice sputtered to a 3-13 start. Trailing 13-7 near the midpoint of the first half, the Owls finally got into some rhythm on the court and began to mount an offensive of their own.

A slim six-point deficit dwindled and became a lead when Nick Anderson drained a triple in the final minutes of the first half. Rice would go into the break up by one, far from being firmly in control, but having braved the worst of the East Texas A&M attack.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

Rice looked more composed with the ball in the second half. Tied up at 37 near the first media timeout, the Owls would go on a 14-4 run with key three pointers from Anderson and Trae Broadnax to reach their first double-digit lead. Both sides would trade baskets down the stretch after that, but the Lions never threatened again.

The Owls improve to 2-2 with the win and are 2-1 at Tudor Fieldhouse this season.

Final Box | Rice 71, East Texas A&M 64

What They’re Saying

“The main adjustment really was just we had to play harder. We had to turn it up as a group. We felt as though we weren’t playing up to the standard that we set for each other. In the second half we came out and we’re like, we’re really going to put our foot on these guys necks.” – Rice basketball guard Dallas Hobbs on the adjustments the team made at halftime

Key takeaway | Scoring Helps

Rice Basketball is coming off a 2024-2025 season in which the Owls finished last in the American Conference in field goal percentage, knocking down a paltry 42.1 percent of their attempts. The rebuilt roster with the additions of Jalen Smith, Nick Anderson and Dallas Hobbs was expected to help remedy that significantly, but there were never any illusions this team was going to be knocking down every shot.

However, some shots would help.

After shooting worse than 36 percent in their last two games, Rice opened this one with a dreary 35 percent mark in the first half. Leading by one point, the Owls looked to be in for another slog before waking up in the second half and shooting a scalding 64 percent from the floor.

There’s ample room for growth when it comes to consistency, but it’s nice to see at least some of the shots start to fall. Rice can’t expect to finish the game 8-for-12 from three after intermission, but Friday’s showing should be proof they’re capable. They just need to find a way to do it more regularly as the quality of competition continues to increase.

Up Next: vs Tennessee (Nov. 17 at 7:30 pm)

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Rice Football Recruiting: LS Hamilton Sharpe commits to Owls

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The 2026 Rice Football recruiting class has landed a key special teams addition. Woodlands College Park long snapper Hamilton Sharpe has committed to the Owls.

Special teams offers at the D1 level are few and far between. For a school to spend a scholarship slot on one of those spots often requires an exceptional talent and a specific need. The 2026 Rice Football recruiting class required one such key piece. Long snapper Hamilton Sharpe has committed to the Owls.

A four-star rated long snapper by the Kohl’s Kicking Academy, Sharpe has offers from Florida Atlantic, UTEP and Prairie View before Rice jumped into the mix in mid-October. Weeks later, Sharpe had made his decision and committed to Rice.

“It is clear that Coach Abell and his staff are really committed to changing the standard at Rice and truly bringing success,” Sharpe told The Roost. “That’s something I really want to be a part of.”

Sharpe brings the commitment count of the 2026 class up to 18 players. He’s the second special teams representative alongside kicker Tommy Bauchiero, who committed to the Owls this summer.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

The tape is good, but that’s to be expected when recruiting a specialist, where consistency over hundreds of reps is the end goal. Sharpe certainly understands those expectations.

“My consistency is one aspect that I’m very proud of. Even though the snaps may not be perfect every time, there’s definitely a quality that is guaranteed,” he said. “That consistency takes a lot of stress off the holder and punter and allows for them to just focus on doing their job.”

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Rice Basketball Can’t Keep Up with Sharpshooting SFA

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Rice basketball dropped its first home game of the season, falling at home to Stephen F. Austin who took an early and never looked back.

Not far removed from a stout defensive showing against Oregon, Rice basketball found themselves on their heels rather quickly on Tuesday night at Tudor Fieldhouse. Owls’ guard Trae Broadnax scored the first points of the night before SFA took control, racing out to a double-digit first half lead. The Jacks controlled the pace of the game in the early going, keeping the home team off balance.

Trailing by five at the break, the situation worsened when SFA reeled off a 9-0 run in the early minutes of the second half as their red-hot shooting performance refused to slow down. The visitors were still shooting better than 50 percent from the field — they’d finish at 49.1 percent — making it hard for the Owls’ to narrow the deficit even when their shots started to fall later in the half.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

There was less than four minutes on the clock when Rice got deficit back within single digits again. Broadnax did his part, leading the way with 21 points, 17 of which came in the second half. It wouldn’t be enough to overcome the sizable hole as Rice fell at home for the first time this season. The Owls are 1-2 overall.

Final Box | SFA 81, Rice 69

Key takeaway | Out of Sync

At the beginning of the season, Rice basketball head coach Rob Lanier explained that the mantra for the team this season would be being undefeated. No matter what the final box score showed, Lanier wanted this to be a team that was relentless in their effort and never allowed any one game to take steal their focus from the next assignment.

Rice won the rebounding battle 39-36, but did not defend well. Only three times last season did Rice allow its opponents to shoot better than 49 percent from the floor, making this kind of defensive performance among the most disappointing from a Lanier-led squad.

Whether it was the hangover from the near-miss against Oregon or something else, the Owls just didn’t look fully like themselves tonight. Were they defeated? Maybe not, but they weren’t the best version of themselves and SFA took full advantage of that and won the game. All this team can do now is refocus and find a way to get back in the win column on Friday.

Up Next: vs East Texas A&M (Nov. 14 at 7:00 pm)

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