Houston is next up on the 2025 Rice football schedule so we’re going behind enemy lines with Coogs’ insider Sam Razz from the Scott and Hollman Pawdcast.

Coogs’ insider Sam Razz was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions about the upcoming matchup between Rice Football and Houston. The answers below should shed some light on the Owls’ upcoming opponent.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?

Recent Posts

• Rice Football 2025: UAB Game Week Practice Notes
• The Roost Podcast | No Treats in Rice Football Halloween loss to Memphis
• Rice Basketball Routs College of Biblical Studies in Opener
• Rice Football 2025: UAB presser quotes and depth chart

Rice football returns home for the last scheduled installment of the Bayou Bucket against crosstown rival Houston How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

The 2025 battle for the Bayou Bucket pits a pair of undefeated teams following Week 1 wins by Rice football and Houston in their respective openers. The Owls upset Louisiana in their first game, knocking off the defending Sun Belt West Division champs on the road. The Cougars took care of business against Stephen F. Austin. Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup between Rice and Houston.

Kickoff time | 6:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Sizing up the contenders

Houston is a year ahead of Rice football on their reboot, going through their first year growing pains with head coach Willie Fritz in 2024 with hopes that 2025 would be marked by a turn for the better. Rice is just beginning that process, although an upset win the opener does raise the question as to how quickly the Owls can flip the script and become a consistent winner.

The Cougars need this one to prove to themselves they’re on schedule. To some extent, the Owls are playing with house money, but a 2-0 start — which would be their first 2-0 start since 2008 — would put the rest of the college football world on notice that the 2025 Rice football teams has no intentions of a slow build.

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to attack this week’s opponent, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. Don’t miss out! Join now!

Series History

All Time | Houston leads, 34-12
Last Five | Houston leads, 4-1
Last Meeting | Away 2024, Houston won 33-7

Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Jenkins – 7/9 (77.7 percent), 45 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Jackson – 22 carries, 119 yards (5.4 yards per carry), 1 TD / Alexander – 15 carries, 74 yards (4.9 yards per carry)
Receiving | Dickmann – 3 receptions, 44 yards (14.7 yds/rec)
Tackles | Awe – 6, Stevenson – 5 , Anyanwu/Daley – 4
Pass Breakups | Daley – 1
Interceptions | Kane – 1

Houston Stat Notables

Passing | Weigman – 15/24 (62.5 percent), 159 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Connors – 15 carries, 50 yards (3.3 yds/car), Burnette – 10 carries, 40 yards (4.0 yds/car)
Receiving | Koziol – 7 receptions, 63 yards (9.0 yds/rec), 1 TD, Amare Thomas – 3 receptions, 44 yards (14.7 yds/rec)
Tackles | Garner – 6, Webb – 5, James – 4
Pass Breakups | Vedder – 2, Five others tied with one
Interceptions | Stampley/Douglas – 1

Houston X-Factor | Win the Line of Scrimmage

The Cougars faired well in the trenches in their opener against Stephen F. Austin, holding the Lumberjacks to 1.6 yards per carry while racking up two sacks and five tackles for a loss. Against a Rice offense bent on running the ball, that level of control becomes even more important, especially as Houston continues its transition from Group of 5 program to a legitimate power conference squad.

In the interim, that means Houston will be relying on a mixture of transfer pieces and home grown players to secure the most meaningful yards on the field and set the terms of engagement up front. If they can do that, they’ll have the Owls on their heels. If not, control of the game shifts back towards the home team who already proved a week ago they have what it takes to upset a talented team in red.

Rice X-Factor | Stay on schedule

It was a tale of two halves for the Rice football offense against Louisiana. Before the break, Rice moved the ball well on first and second down and reached third and manageable with regularity. Following the halftime whistle, Louisiana started to perform better on early downs and got Rice into third and long, stifling the Owls’ opportunities to move the ball.

Trusting a two point lead worked a week ago, but it’s not a recipe for success, especially as Rice breaks in a new quarterback that wasn’t his best in those pure passing situations in his debut. There’s room for Chase Jenkins to grow into that, but Rice would much prefer that adjustment happens on their terms, not situations created by the Houston defense.

Injury Report (Subscribers only)

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?

One Final Thing

Given a schedule that opened with Louisiana and Houston, the oddsmakers pegged Rice football as an 0-2 team entering Week 3. Not only were those prognostications wrong, but the Owls have an opportunity to flip them on their heads with one more quite consequential rivalry win.

Knocking of Houston and Louisiana in back-to-back weeks would officially declare this team as good enough to challenge every team remaining on their schedule. Real conversations could start to be had about potential bowl berths and a season in which success went beyond just proof that this offense could work.

But even if that doesn’t happen and Rice splits their first two games, this upcoming contest against Houston will set the tone for how this program moves forward. There’s a lot to clean up from the opener and plenty of opportunities to take the next step as an offense. The most important thing Rice football can do on Saturday is take that next step. They’re already ahead of schedule.

Recent Posts

• Rice Football 2025: UAB Game Week Practice Notes
• The Roost Podcast | No Treats in Rice Football Halloween loss to Memphis
• Rice Basketball Routs College of Biblical Studies in Opener
• Rice Football 2025: UAB presser quotes and depth chart

Rice football is set for Senior Day and their final game of the 2024 season where they’ll host South Florida. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Any hopes of a five-win bowl berth for Rice football were squashed last weekend in a one-sided loss to UAB on the road. The Owls’ upcoming opponent, South Florida, faired much better, defeating Tulsa for their sixth win of the season to clinch a spot in the postseason ranks. Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup between Rice and USF.

Kickoff time | 1:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN+ (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs USF on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, kicking off live on Wednesday on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. Look for a recap of the game on the site afterward as well as on The Roost Podcast, which should be released early next week.

Sizing up the contenders

Rice football is playing for pride at this point. Led by an interim head coach with a roster full of seniors set to be recognized before the game, the Owls are hoping to end the final game of the Mike Bloomgren era on a high note. On the other side, South Florida hopes to build some momentum as they prepare for a second consecutive bowl season under Alex Golesh.

Series History

All Time | USF leads, 1-0
Last Five | USF leads, 1-0
Last Meeting | Away 2023, USF won 48-29

Get the Inside Scoop

Get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to attack this week’s opponent, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. Don’t miss out! Join now!

Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Warner – 245/397 (61.7 percent), 2280 yards, 14 TD, 13 INT /  Devillier 2038 (52.6 percent), 137 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Rushing | Connors – 142 carries, 740 yards (5.2 yards per carry), 8 TD / Jackson- 43 carries, 235 yards (5.5 yards per carry), 0 TD
Receiving | Sykes – 58 receptions, 664 yards (11.4 yds/rec), 5 TD / Campbell – 29 receptions, 320 yards (11.0 yds/rec), 1 TD / Connors – 58 receptions, 394 yards (6.8 yds/rec), 1 TD
Tackles | Morris – 55, Taylor – 54, Awe/Hook- 46
Pass Breakups | Fresch – 9, Ahoia – 6, Taylor -5
Interceptions | Taylor/Flowers – 2, Fresch/Williams/Mutombo – 1

USF Stat Notables

Passing | Archie – 129/220 (58.6 percent), 1452 yards, 8 TD, 8 INT
Rushing | Joiner Jr. – 101 carries, 747 yards (7.4 yards per carry), 11 TD / Wright – 98 carries, 459 yards (4.7 yards per carry), 6 TD
Receiving | Atkins – 61 receptions, 567 yards (9.3 yds/rec), 1 TD / Brown-Stephens – 22 receptions, 294 yards (13.4 yds/rec), 3 TD / Porter – 24 receptions, 200 yards (8.3 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Harris – 65, Pettway – 54, Byard – 49
Pass Breakups | Austin – 9, Rucker/Knox – 5, Banks – 3
Interceptions | Austin/Ward/Schuler – 2, Five tied with one

USF X-Factor | In Archie we trust

Things got dark for South Florida when quarterback Byrum Brown went down midseason. It took the Bulls a while to get back on their feet and rekindle the offense, but backup quarterback Bryce Archie has been integral to that turnaround.

Archie completed 53.7 percent of his passes in his start against Memphis and has increased his completion percentage in each subsequent game until it fell for the first time from 68.8 percent against Charlotte to 67.7 percent last week against Tulsa in a rout, his first 300-yard game with the Bulls this year. If he stays locked in and gets this offense back up to it’s lofty standards USF will be hard to beat.

Rice X-Factor | Hold onto the ball

Rice turned the ball over four times against UAB and lose by four scores. The math doesn’t always work out quite like that, but it speaks to how slim the margins are for this team right now. The Owls fumbled the ball away in the second quarter when the game was still within a field goal margin. But three interceptions in a span of five drives doomed any chance of the Owls making this a competitive game.

UAB was only forced to perform one extended scoring drive after the first quarter last week. South Florida has proven their offense is capable of more than that. Spotting them any extra chances will take an already tall order and make it even more challenging.

If Rice can protect the ball and play complimentary football they’ve proven themselves able to hang with even the best of the best in the AAC. If they can’t this one might be over quickly.

Injury Report (Subscribers only)

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?

One Final Thing

Is it too cliche to call this coming Rice football game the end of an era? Perhaps. But it many ways the Owls will be closing the door on Mike Bloomgren’s tenure for good and opening themselves up to the great unknown. The Owls are in the midst of a coaching search — more on that front coming, hopefully, soon for our Patreon subscribers — and once that is finalized, new era will indeed be upon us.

However, there is still one more game to be played.

The seniors playing in their final game put every ounce of effort into building this program from humble begins. To reach back-to-back bowl games was no small feat from where they started. And while it’s fair to be disappointed with the results this year, it’s hard to look at this class and these players with anything but gratitude for the groundwork they laid for what’s next.

This group proved that winning is possible here in the current climate of college football. They proved a program like Rice can go toe-to-toe with the best of the AAC and take them to the brink. What’s to say a new voice and renewed investment won’t be the catalyst to get the program to that next step?

Those answers will come in time. Right now, everyone inside the Brian Patterson Center is focused on one thing: beating South Florida. It sure would be a nice way to go out.

Recent Posts

• Rice Football 2025: UAB Game Week Practice Notes
• The Roost Podcast | No Treats in Rice Football Halloween loss to Memphis
• Rice Basketball Routs College of Biblical Studies in Opener
• Rice Football 2025: UAB presser quotes and depth chart