Owls Return to Action on the Road in San Antonio

Game #6
What: Rice (2-3) @ UTSA (6-0)
When: Saturday, October 16
Where: San Antonio, Texas
Stadium: Alamodome (65,000)
Television: ESPN + / Lincoln Rose (play-by-play), LaDarrin McClane (analyst)
Where to Find the Game: ESPN
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst), Jason Metko (sidelines)
Audio Streaming: Rice mobile (App Store / Google Play). Subscribers of the previous version of the app will be able to upgrade to the new version using the same links. The game will also be available on RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: RiceOwls.com
Digital Game Program: Rice at UTSA
Series Information: UTSA leads 5-3 (3-1 in San Antonio)

Series History
O13, 2012         W 34-14             Houston
O12, 2013         W 27-20             San Antonio
N8, 2014            W 17-7              Houston
N21, 2015         L 34-24               San Antonio
O15, 2016        L 14-13               Houston
O21, 2017         L 20-7                 San Antonio
O6, 2018            L 20-3                 Houston
O19, 2019         L 31-27               San Antonio

Series Notes

This is the ninth meeting between the two schools, the last eight as members of Conference USA.
The schools met for eight consecutive years (1 non-conference and seven in C-USA) before last year's meeting was canceled due to COVID-19 related issues.
The eight-games streak was one of the three longest vs. conference teams (UTEP 21, LA Tech 8) were all snapped due to COVID issues last year.
UTSA leads the series 5-3 (5-2 in C-USA) and has won five straight. They have split the four games played at Rice Stadium.
The two first met on 10/13/12 in a non-conference game that was part of Rice's Centennial Celebration, with Rice winning 34-14.
Rice won the initial meeting as members of C-USA, 27-20 in 2013. Later that season, UTSA's 21- 13 win at North Texas broke a tie between Rice and UNT and allowed Rice to capture the C-USA West and advance to the C-USA Championship game.

Coronation Times
Saturday's game will be the first of four consecutive Homecoming games for the Owls, who will also see UAB (October 23) and Charlotte (November 6) crown Homecoming royalty while also celebrating the return of their own Homecoming game vs. North Texas on October 20. This will be their 101^st homecoming game after the event was held virtually while the Owls were playing on the road at Southern Miss in 2020, breaking a streak of consecutive Homecoming games that dated back to 1930.

Rice Recently
The Owls opened C-USA play with a win for the first time since 2017 with their 24-19 victory over Southern Miss on October 2. The win was also their sixth in the last nine conference games. They come into Saturday looking to open a C-USA season with consecutive wins for the first time since 2015 (North Texas, @FAU), win their conference road opener for the first time since 2017 (UTEP) and win three consecutive games for the first time since 2019. The Owls have won four of their last five C-USA road contests (2019 @Middle Tennessee & UTEP; 2020 @Southern Miss & Marshall).

C-USA
Rice is 54-72 (.429) in Conference USA since joining the league in 2005. Rice has an overall mark of 31-31 in Conference USA at Rice Stadium, 0-1 at NRG Stadium and 23-40 on the road.

Picking Them Off
Rice picked off four passes vs. Southern Miss, their highest total in a home game since the swiped five vs. Hawai'i in 2000 and their most in any game since they picked off five at Marshall last December. Those two efforts give the Owls nine interceptions in their last three conference games. Rice has also picked off at least one pass in the last three games, their longest streak since they had three at the start of the 2013 season. The 2013 Owls also had a streak of four consecutive games later that same year. The Owls have seven interceptions this season, their most since they had eight in 2018. The last time they had nine was in 2014 and the last time they reached double figures was in 2013 when they finished the 14 on their way to winning the C-USA title. A total of six Owls have an interception this season, matching the total from last year. The last time they had more than six players with an interception in a season was in 2014 when seven players picked off at least one pass.

Setting 'Em Back
Rice's five sacks and nine total tackles for loss vs. Southern Miss were the most for the Owls under DC Brian Smith and their most sacks since they had five vs. FIU in 2017 and most tackles for loss since they had nine vs. North Texas that same year. Through five games, Rice defenders have 12 sacks and 25 tackles for loss, surpassing total for the five games of the 2020 season (7 & 22).

Nothing Early
George Nyakwol's interception on the first Southern Miss possession of the game allowed Rice to extend its streak to 16 conference games in which it has held the opponent scoreless on their first possession. The last team to score against the Owls on the first drive of the game was UTEP in 2018.

Doubling Up
Josh Pearcy (11) and Trey Schuman (10) each recorded their first double-digit tackle game vs. Southern Miss. Rice now has four players to be credited with a least 10 tackles in a game this year, joining Antonio Montero (twice) and Treshawn Chamberlain and seven active Owls have not topped that mark at least once (Kirk Lockhart, 2020; George Nyakwol 2018; Kenneth Orji 2019).

Next Up
Rice remains on the road next week, with the Owls first visit to UAB's new Protective Stadium. They return home in two week to (fittingly) celebrate Homecoming on October 30 when they welcome North Texas to Rice Stadium with kickoff set for 1 p.m.

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