Rice football hosts SMU this week in their lone crossover season as AAC foes. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

SMU enters this game riding high, winners of four-straight in AAC play, one of only two undefeated teams in league play with Tulane being the other. Rice football knows that all too well, falling by two points to the Green Wave last Saturday before this upcoming class of Texan squads. Here’s everything you need to know about this week’s matchup between Rice and SMU.

Kickoff time | 6:30 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPNU (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs SMU on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon 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

If the season ended today, SMU would be playing in the AAC Championship Game. It doesn’t. SMU still has some work to be done before they can have a chance to win a conference championship before departing for the ACC. That task is still manageable if they lose to Rice, but they’d have a much thinner margin for error.

On the other side, Rice football’s championship aspirations took a sizable dent last weekend against Tulane, putting bowl eligibility front and center. If Rice wants to reach six wins and clinch a bowl berth, they need two win two of their final four games and they’d rather not let things go down to the wire like they did a year ago.

Series History

All Time | SMU leads, 48-41-1
Last Five | SMU leads, 3-2
Last Meeting | Home 2012, Rice won 36-14

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!

Become a Patron!

Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Daniels – 173/272 (63.6 percent), 2362 yards, 19 TD, 6 INT
Rushing | Connors – 58 carries, 337 yards (5.8 yards per carry), 4 TD / Otoviano – 56 carries, 209 yards (3.7 yards per carry), 4 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 41 receptions, 692 yards (16.9 yds/rec), 8 TDs / MacNeill – 22 receptions, 290 yards (13.2 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Wyatt – 57/ Conti – 53 / Morrison – 47
Pass Breakups | Wyatt, Fresch, Taylor, Devones – 5 / Morrison -4, Jean – 3
Interceptions | Taylor -2 / Devones, Conti – 1

SMU Stat Notables

Passing | Stone – 151/254 (59.5 percent), 2138 yards, 19 TD, 5 INT
Rushing | Knighton – 83 carries, 456 yards (5.5 yards per carry), 4 TD / Johnson Jr. – 43 carries, 248 yards (5.8 ypc), 1 TD
Receiving | Kerley – 18 receptions, 319 yards (17.7 yards per reception), 2 TD / Maryland – 23 receptions, 315 yards (13.7 yds/rec), 5 TD / Bailey – 27 receptions, 311 yards (11.5 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Wilson – 44 / Nwokobia – 41 / Walker – 36
Pass Breakups | McGill, Sanders, Woods – 5 / Walker – 4
Interceptions | Six tied with one

SMU X-Factor | Protect the football

In the non-triple option category, SMU leads the AAC in turnovers lost through the first nine weeks of the regular season. Entering Saturday, they were in the Top 25 nationally in fewest turnovers, committing just seven giveaways in their first seven games. They did not turn the ball over at all against Tulsa. Their offense did the rest.

And while clean games have been the norm for the Mustangs so far this season, they haven’t been a guarantee. SMU has committed multiple turnovers twice this season, on the road against Oklahoma and on the road against TCU. SMU lost both of those games. They’ve had a plus turnover margin in every other game against FBS opponents this season.

For SMU, keeping this explosive offense on schedule has to be priority number one. Everything else will balance itself out. And Rice has shown on several occasions so far they can be dangerous if left to linger late in games. SMU best not play with fire and put the ball in the box instead of in the arms of Rice defenders.

Rice X-Factor | Get off the field

The Rice offense has had its lulls, but more often than not, it’s able to get points in bunches. If the Rice defense can generate a turnover or two and find a way to force a few punts, the Owls possess the necessary talent to win a shootout against one of the conference’s most prolific offenses.

Against Tulane, Rice forced exactly one punt and allowed Tulane to go 2-for-2 on fourth down before Pratt chucked the ball a mile high to milk clock in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Had Rice managed even one more stop, they might be talking about one of the bigger wins in program history right now, but they’re not.

SMU hasn’t beaten themselves very often this year, and it’s probably a fool’s errand to hope for the Mustangs’  offense to stay out of sync for long. No, if Rice wants to win this one, the defense is going to have to combine its opportunistic abilities with clutch plays on third and fourth down. That might very well be the difference.

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?

Become a Patron!

One Final Thing

Rice football has a choice during this week of practice. They can choose to allow the Tulane defeat to be disappointing and move forward or allow it to be defining and impact how they move forward with four games to go. The latter obviously has the potential to be much more detrimental to their upcoming matchup with SMU than the former.

And for whatever reason, this team has shown itself to be rather resilient. It’s hard to believe they’ll let this game beat them again, but it also feels like a bit of wishful thinking to dream they’ll have all their issues ironed out before going toe-to-toe with another of the AAC’s best teams.

Beat SMU and people won’t dwell on the Tulane game or start to assume the worst as the season enters its final quartet of games. Having the added bragging rights element of a win over the Mustangs on their way out of the conference would be something for the Rice fanbase to hold on to for who knows how long until these two teams play again down the road.

So, as cliche as it sounds, Rice football has to figure out a way to go 1-0 this week. Do that, and a bowl berth starts to look much more plausible. Do that this week, and it’s hard to come up with a reason Rice can’t hang with anyone left on their schedule

Recent Posts

• Rice Baseball 2025: MLB Owls Update – September 9
• Rice Football 2025: PVAMU presser quotes and depth chart
• Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 1 Roundup
• The Roost Podcast | Ep 211 – 2025 Rice Football falls to Houston

Rice football heads back to Houston to host Tulane this weekend. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

There is only one matchup this weekend pitting AAC teams with winning conference records and it’s being played in  Houston. Rice football hosts Tulane a week removed from a primetime win over Tulsa on the road. Tulane comes to town fresh off a victory over North Texas. Here’s everything you need to know about this week’s matchup between Rice and Tulane.

Kickoff time | 3:00 PM CT
Venue | Rice Stadium – Houston, TX
TV | ESPN2 (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Varsity Radio App (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Tulane on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon 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

Tulane is still in the driver’s seat for the New Year’s Six bowl slot for the Group of 5. A loss to anyone along the way wouldn’t necessarily slam the door on that chance, but it would make it considerably more challenging. The margin of error is fully dependent on how well others play. The Mean Green would much prefer to control their own destiny in that respect, making a win on Saturday important.

Rice football doesn’t have New Year’s Six aspirations, but they do still have hopes for a conference championship game appearance. That would get much more challenging should they take on any additional losses. 3-1 with a win against the current conference favorite would officially put Rice on the map.

Series History

All Time | Rice leads, 20-15-1
Last Five | Rice leads, 4-1
Last Meeting | Home 2013, Rice won 17-13

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!

Become a Patron!

Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Daniels – 155/243 (63.8 percent), 2173 yards, 17 TD, 5 INT
Rushing | Connors – 50 carries, 300 yards (6.0 yards per carry), 4 TD / Otoviano – 47 carries, 171 yards (3.6 yards per carry), 2 TD
Receiving | McCaffrey – 36 receptions, 613 yards (17.0 yds/rec), 7 TDs / MacNeill – 21 receptions, 281 yards (13.4 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Conti – 46 / Wyatt – 45 / Morrison – 43
Pass Breakups | Fresch, Taylor – 5 / Devones – 4, Wyatt, Jean – 3
Interceptions | Taylor, Devones, Conti – 1

Tulane Stat Notables

Passing | Pratt – 80/113 (70.8 percent), 1121 yards, 12 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Hughes – 118 carries, 619 yards (5.2 yards per carry), 5 TD / Clayton-Johnson – 28 carries, 116 yards (4.1 ypc), 0 TD
Receiving | Keys – 27 receptions, 494 yards (18.3 yards per reception), 6 TD / Jackson – 19 receptions, 329 yards (17.3 yds/rec), 4 TD
Tackles | Machado – 51 / Despaine – 37 / Grubbs – 31
Pass Breakups | Pedescleaux – 7 / Eight others tied with 2
Interceptions | Robinson – 4 / Five others tied with 1

Tulane X-Factor | Stay on the field

Tulane and Rice rank second and third in the AAC, respectively, in time of possession. For both squads, being able to control the game and dictate how it’s played has been a crucial factor in their success. It’s how Rice was able to post their largest FBS win of the season last Thursday, controlling the second half almost entirely with two long possessions.

Rice is 0-2 this season when losing the time of possession battle whereas Tulane’s success hasn’t been as neatly tied to whether or not they control the clock. If the Green Wave are able to maintain command this time, though, they’ll be able to amplify any miscues the Owls have. A three-and-out becomes much more costly when you don’t get to see the ball again for an extended period of time.

Tulane must seek to give Rice a dose of its own medicine. Force the home team to execute to near-perfect standards when they have the football and minimize their margin for error. That’s given Rice trouble in the past and it could prove fatal against a team as talented as Tulane. 

Rice X-Factor | Hit some home runs

Rice won’t allow themselves to be intimidated against the reigning AAC Conference Champions. They’ll enter Saturday believing they can hang with the Green Wave. They can solidify those beliefs further by proving they can impose their will offensively against a Tulane defense that has been a bit leakier in the secondary than they’d like to admit. 

Tulane ranks 12th in the AAC in pass plays of 10+ yards allowed and 10th in pass plays of 20+ yards. Rice, on the other side of the ledger, leads all AAC teams in the latter category and is second in the former. Rice quarterback JT Daniels has become this team’s biggest asset and they’ve leaned into that identity in full force in their wins so far.

Sustained drives against the Tulane defense is a tough ask. Getting a few chunk plays here and there, particularly through the air, will go a long way toward helping Rice trade blows with the Tulane offense. It’s critical the Owls find success downfield.

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?

Become a Patron!

One Final Thing

Earlier odds have Tulane as a 10.5-point favorite against Rice on Saturday. In actuality, the Owls are the underdogs, a role they’ve reprised well in the past. Only two programs in the country, Wyoming and Ohio, have more outright wins as a home underdog since 2021 than Rice. Rice has been a home underdog just once this season, in Week 2 against Houston. They won outright.

The line is also indicative of a game oddsmakers project to be much more winnable than one might have initially thought. Tulane enters this game as a Top 25 team. Rice hasn’t beaten a ranked team since 2020. Nevertheless, Rice’s impressive performance against Tulsa has evidently gotten oddsmakers’ attention. When this time is rolling, they’re dangerous.

Now, whether or not they’re firing on all cylinders is a legitimate question. The UConn debacle isn’t all that far in the rearview mirror just yet. But the opportunity they have in front of them right now is quite tangible. Rice football should be able to hang with this team. If they can keep it close long enough, they might just have another historic upset on their hands, but they’d better come to play.

Recent Posts

• Rice Baseball 2025: MLB Owls Update – September 9
• Rice Football 2025: PVAMU presser quotes and depth chart
• Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 1 Roundup
• The Roost Podcast | Ep 211 – 2025 Rice Football falls to Houston