RICE at HOUSTON
Saturday, September 14 | 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT
TDECU Stadium (40,000/Synthetic)
Houston, Texas
Television
ESPN+
Lowell Galindo, Fozzy Whittaker and Tori Petry
Live Statistics
StatBroadcast
Radio
Varsity Network
THE GAME | THE BAYOU BUCKET
Saturday’s game will be the 46th meeting between Rice and Houston, and it will be exactly 50 years to the day after the first meeting … Houston holds a 33-12 series lead … Rice broke the Cougars’ seven-game winning streak in the Bayou Bucket series with last year’s 43-41 double-overtime victory at Rice Stadium.
RICE
1-1, 0-0 American
Head Coach
Mike Bloomgren (Florida State ’99)
23-47, seventh season
Rice, which was unable to find its footing in Week 1 in a 34-14 loss to Sam Houston, bounced back in a big way last Saturday to the tune of a 69-7 victory against Texas Southern … The Owls led 38-0 at halftime and were 14 seconds away from completing a shutout … Rice had a 24-9 advantage in first downs and a 533-87 margin in total offense against Texas Southern … QB E.J. Warner, a transfer from Temple, has thrown for 416 yards and three touchdowns … RB Dean Connors has rushed for 165 yards and four TDs and is the leading receiver with 13 catches for 64 yards … The Owls lead the nation with 11 sacks in two games and have allowed only two sacks … Five players have at least 1.5 sacks, led by DE Demone Green, who has two sacks … The Owls play five of their first six games in the city of Houston.
HOUSTON
1-1, 0-0 Big 12
Head Coach
Willie Fritz (Pittsburg State ’83)
1-1, first season at Houston
208-117, 28th season as collegiate head coach
Houston is looking for its first win under new head coach Wilie Fritz, the two-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year who led Tulane to the 2022 conference title … The Cougars fell 27-7 to UNLV in their season-opener and dropped a 16-12 decision at Oklahoma in Week 2 … Houston has only 21 players on its roster who competed against Rice in last year’s Bayou Bucket matchup … The Cougars have 63 newcomers on their 2024 roster … Houston is 14-5 all-time in nonconference games at TDECU Stadium … DE Keith Cooper has been the top performer thus far, with four tackles for loss, ranking 11th nationally … QB Donavan Smith has passed for 395 yards and a touchdown against three interceptions … The Cougars have averaged only 48.0 rushing yards per game.