Owls Open AAC Era at South Florida

Game #4
Who: Rice (2-1, 0-0 AAC) vs. South Florida (1-2, 0-0 AAC)
When: Saturday 3:00 p.m. CT
Where: Tampa, Florida
Stadium: Raymond James Stadium
Television: ESPNU Jay Alter (PXP); Rene Ingoglia (Analyst)
Where to Find the Game: Watch
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst), David Pillen (sidelines)
Audio Streaming: RiceOwls.com, Rice Game Day App, Varsity Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com
Digital Game Program: Game 4 Rice @ USF
Series Information: First Meeting

Full Game Notes
Series Notes

This will be the first meeting between the Owls and Bulls as well as Rice's first American Athletic Conference game.
This will be the Owls' first game in Tampa and their 13th in the state of Florida. Rice is 5-7 all-time in Florida (3-3 in conference games as members of C-USA) since making its debut in the Sunshine State with an 8-0 win over Tennessee in the 1947 Orange Bowl.
The Owls are 1-2 vs. the University of Florida (0-2 in Gainesville, 1-0 in Miami); 1-1 at UCF, 1-1 at FIU, 1-1 at FAU, and 0-1 at Florida State and Miami in addition to their Orange Bowl win.
Rice is looking to start a season 3-1 for the first time since 2001.
Four Owls have ties to the Tampa area. OG Lavel Dumont (Wharton HS) was named one of the 50 best players in the Tampa area prior to the 2017 season by the Tampa Bay Times, despite playing organized football for the first time in 2016 and safety Ichmael Joseph prepped at Tampa Bay Tech. Safety Jonathan Jean is from Lakeland, and quarterback Shawqi Itraish is from Bradenton.

Owls Open Inaugural AAC Season in Tampa
Rice Football opens a new chapter in its history as the Owls make their American Athletic Conference debut on Saturday on the road against USF. The AAC is Rice's fourth conference since the Owls joined the Southwest Conference in 1915. The Owls remained members of the SWC through 1995 and then competed in the Western Athletic Conference from 1996 through 2004 and then Conference USA from 2005 to 2022.
Rice is 0-3 in conference debut games:

10/8/15 Baylor 26, Rice 0 in Houston (first win in 3rd game, 7-0 over Texas A&M)
9/28/96 @Air Force 45, Rice 17 (first win in 2nd game, 38-21 @New Mexico)
10/1/05 @UAB 45, Rice 26 (first win in 6th game, 42-34 over Tulane)

Last Week: Fast Start Spurs Rice Past TSU to Claim City Sweep
Rice completed a sweep of games against other Houston schools with a 59-7 win over Texas Southern. JT Daniels tied his career high with four touchdown passes and Rice saw a total of 73 players log playing time in the win.
Also of note:

Rice has started 2-1 for the second straight year and is 5-1 at home in September since 2021.
The 59 points scored tied for the sixth-most in school history and were the most since Rice defeated Prairie View 65-44 in 2016.
The Owls' 42 first-half points were the most since scoring 56 against North Texas on Sept. 27, 2008.
The seven points allowed were the fewest in a game since shutting out Marshall on Dec. 5, 2020.
In addition to using 73 players in the game, 10 were credited with at least one rush, nine catching at least one pass and 19 were credited with at least one tackle.

Super Settings
With Saturday's game at Raymond James Stadium, Rice will have played in 10 of the 27 stadiums that have hosted at least one Super Bowl. In addition to playing at Rice Stadium, the Owls have also played at least once at the LA Memorial Coliseum, the Superdome and Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, the Metrodome in Minneapolis, NRG Stadium, the Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl and Stanford Stadium.

First Points in a Conference
After being shut out in its first two SWC games in 1915, the Owls' first touchdown in the conference was scored by W. Edward "Mick" Brown in a 7-0 win over Texas A&M at Houston's West End Park on11/8/1915 (The recap of the game in the Houston Chronicle did not provide the yardage). Spencer George scored the Owls' first points in the WAC on a four-yard run in the second quarter after Air Force had taken a 14-0 lead on 9/28/96. Brennan Landry's 43-yard field goal late in the first quarter against UAB on 10/1/05 provided the Owls first points in C-USA action and fullback Andrew Cates scored Rice' s first C-USA touchdown on a one-yard run in the second quarter.

Nationally Ranked
Daelen Alexander leads all FBS freshmen with five rushing touchdowns this season and is tied for 4th among all players. Luke McCaffrey is tied for fourth in the NCAA stats with four touchdown receptions. JT Daniels is tied for 14th in the nation with eight touchdown passes.

Up Next
Rice makes its AAC home debut next Saturday in when the Owls host ECU at 6 p.m. with coverage by ESPN+.

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Players Mentioned

Daelen Alexander

JT Daniels

Lavel Dumont

Shawqi Itraish

Jonathan Jean

Luke McCaffrey

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