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Rice Football: Owls’ announce 2021 football schedule

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The 2021 Rice Football scheduled has been released. If all goes according to plan, we now know when and where the Owls will play this fall.

The offseason is moving quickly as teams across the country progress toward what will hopefully be a more convention season next fall. Players are returning to campus, including some key members of the Rice football senior class ($), and schedules are being released.

Today marks the announcement of the 2021 Rice Football schedule. It features four non-conference matchups and eight Conference USA games. The Owls will have six home games and six road games.

2021 Rice Football schedule

  • at Arkansas – Sept. 4
  • vs Houston – Sept. 11
  • at Texas – Sept. 18
  • vs Texas Southern – Sept. 25
  • vs Southern Miss – Oct. 2
  • at UTSA – Oct. 16
  • at UAB – Oct. 23
  • vs North Texas – Oct. 30
  • at Charlotte – Nov. 6
  • vs WKU – Nov. 13
  • at UTEP – Nov. 20
  • vs Louisiana Tech – Nov. 27
  • Conference USA Championship Game – Dec. 4

The non-conference slate will be challenging. Rice visits Arkansas on Sep. 4 and Texas on Sept. 18, the only Power 5 opponents on the schedule. Rice last visited Austin in 2015 but hasn’t played the Razorbacks home or away since 1991. The Owls also plan to resume the Bayou Bucket rivaly against Houston. Last year’s meeting was postponed.

Rice draws Charlotte and Western Kentucky as their East Division opponents. The Owls’ are 2-0 against Charlotte all-time and 0-2 against Western Kentucky.

The 2020 Rice Football scheduled fluctuated several times because of COVID-19 postponements and cancelations. First came the cancellation of the non-conference slate. Then adjustments to the Owls’ start date. Once the season began, three different games were postponed by the Owls’ opponents. Rice would end the season with just five of their originally 12 scheduled games completed.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: COVID-19 forces second pair of postponements

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Rice Women’s Basketball remains on pause, missing its second weekend of action. When can the Owls return and what is at stake when they do?

Last week marked the first time Rice Athletics had initiated a postponement for a scheduled competition. Now, the Rice Women’s Basketball has postponed their third and fourth contests, delaying this coming weekend’s series against North Texas. Because of the arrangement of the schedule, every weekend off bumps two games off the docket.

Rice (10-1, 6-0) enters the weekend atop Conference USA West in winning percentage (1.00) and wins (six). The Owls can’t fall behind in the percentage column without playing and suffering their first conference defeat, but not returning to the court in the somewhat near future could put their No. 1 overall seed in jeopardy.

Unlike the football championship, there are no established quotas to make the conference tournament field. UAB had to play one more game during the final week of the regular season to fulfill those requirements. Missing too many weekends won’t disqualify Rice from the tournament. But, seeding is not guaranteed.

According to a source familiar with the revised procedures, a team must play within four games of the average number of games completed by conference members during the regular season to be eligible for a first round bye.

Rice has played six league games to this point and 11 total games. Without playing this weekend they’ll be roughly two games behind both measures. That’s well within the window stipulated, but losing additional weekends could push the Owls’ closer to the line than they’d prefer.

No verdict has been given to this point on when any postponed games would be rescheduled. If football did indeed set a precedent, one would assume those added games would be decided in the next few weeks. There are only four more scheduled weekends of conference play once February arrives. Until then, we sit and wait, hoping for a safe return to competition and uncertain of what the future holds.

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Rice Football: First glimpse at probable 2021 returners

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Rice Football players have returned to campus for offseason activities, giving us our first clear indication of who intends to return for 2021.

Rice Football welcomed its players back to campus on Friday following the winter break. In a typical year, this wouldn’t be much in the way of an event, rather a mere formality. It is anything but in 2021, which still bears the marks of an unpredictable 2020 season.

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What makes this year so unique is the additional year of eligibility afforded to all players who otherwise would have finished their careers in December. Those who have moved on needn’t worry about the offseason conditioning programs or spring practice. That means, for the first time, we have a fuzzy list of who will most likely be on the roster in 2021.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Flight School 21 wows as National Signing Day nears

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The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class is winding down, but the future Owls still in action have been impressing on the gridiron.

It’s been a relatively calm few weeks for the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class. The Owls have only added two new players to the fold since the Early Signing Period, both transfers.

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New Mexico transfer wide receiver Tre Patterson made his pledge to the Owls in mid-December, just after the Owls signed the majority of their class. Quarterback Jake Constantine made his announcement on January 5, a few days after being offered on New Year’s Day. That tandem will be among the last few additions to this class, which is starting to fill out quite nicely.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: 2020-2021 Midseason State of the Program

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Rice women’s basketball is off to a strong start to their 2020-2021 season. Where do the Owls stand as they enter the heart of Conference USA play?

In a year filled with so much change and uncertainty, the Rice women’s basketball season has proceeded according to plan. The Owls cruised through non-conference play, notched a marque road win against Texas Tech and gave a ranked Texas A&M squad a run for their money on the road.

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With non-conference play finished and the team two weekends into conference play, Rice women’s basketball sits at 8-1, owners of the best overall record in Conference USA and one of three teams yet to lose a C-USA game. Rice is 4-0 in league play for third consecutive season and won 38 of their last 40 C-USA games.

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