Owls Host Navy for 104th Homecoming Game

Game #9
Who: Rice (2-6/1-3) vs. Navy (6-1/4-0)
When: Saturday 3:00 p.m. CT
Where: Houston
Stadium: Rice Stadium
Television ESPN 2 Mike Monaco (Play by Play), Kirk Morrison (Analyst), Dawn Davenport (Sidelines).
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst), Jason Metko (sidelines)
Audio Streaming: RiceOwls.com, Rice Game Day App, Varsity Network
Live Stats: Sidearm
Digital Game Program: Game 9 Navy
Series Information: Tied 6-6

Full Game Notes
Series Notes

This will be the 13th meeting between the schools and the first since 2009 when the Navy won 63-14.
The schools have split the first 12 games, with seven in Houston (Rice leads 4-3), four in Annapolis (tied 2-2), and one in Dallas for the 1958 Cotton Bowl (Navy won 20-7)... Navy has won the last four overall in the series, with Rice's last two wins coming in back-to-back games in Annapolis, 21-13 in 2001 and 17-10 in 2002.
The Owls' last win at home in the series came in 1999 (20-17).
Rice won the initial meeting, 21-14, on October 13, 1951, at Rice Stadium and won the first four games played in Houston.
Rice's 27-22 win in 1992 allowed the Owls to post their first winning season in nearly 30 years, spurring fans, who had waited out a lengthy rain delay when severe thunderstorms rolled through Houston at the end of the third quarter, to storm the field and tear down the goal posts… Jimmy Lee scored twice in the fourth quarter on a reverse and a shovel pass from Bert Emanuel to provide the winning margin. Emanuel rolled up 317 yards of total offense against a Navy defense committed to stopping 1991 Doak Walker winner Trevor Cobb.
Rice sophomore deep snapper Wyatt Freeman attended the Navy Prep School in 2022 and 17 of his former teammates are on the Middies travel roster for the Rice game

Pete Alamar
Pete Alamar was named the Owls' interim head coach on Sunday after Rice Vice President and Director of Athletics Tommy McClelland announced a change in leadership for the team. Alamar joined the Owls in the Spring of 2023 as the Associate Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator and is the first interim head coach for Rice football since 1918 when John Anderson stepped in to lead the Owls while Phillip Arbuckle--the Owls' original head coach--was serving in the military during World War I. This will be Alomar's second stint as a head coach. He was the head coach at Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in Monterrey Mexico in 1994.

Homecoming 104

Rice will hold its 104th Homecoming game on Saturday as part of the annual Alumni Weekend.
While it began playing football in 1912, the tradition of Homecoming did not make its first appearance at Rice until 1919, when the Owls trounced Arkansas 40-7 to cap the first eight-win season in school history (8-1).
The first ten Homecoming games were held on Thanksgiving Day.
After not designating a game in 1930 as Homecoming, the football game became the centerpiece of the annual alumni gathering over the next 90 succeeding falls until 2020, when the event was held virtually due to the pandemic.
The Owls have posted a 47-53-3 record in Homecoming games.
This is the second time Rice has hosted a service academy for Homecoming. Rice hosted #3 Army and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins on 11/3/58 and Dawkins broke up a 7-7 tie with a 64-yard TD reception with 51 seconds left in the game.

Talking Defense

Rice is second in the AAC in total defense, allowing 324. 2 yards per game and 4.9 yards per play which would be the lowest season averages for the Owls since they allowed 313.7 per game and 4.79 per play in 1994.
The Owls are second in the AAC in pass defense (164.1 per game) and are holding opposing quarterbacks to a 54.8 completion percentage this season, their lowest since allowing 54.6 in 2014.
Rice held Tulane to 133 yards under its season average for total offense, while on the ground, Rice held the Green Wave to less than four yards a carry, and 60 yards under their season average (154).
Army is averaging 6.6 YPC this year but gained only 5.1 vs. Rice.
The Owls are allowing 1.25 rushing TDs this season, their lowest average since they allowed 1.27 in 2002 (14 in 11 games).
Rice has allowed 16 plays from scrimmage of 30 or more yards this year compared with 32 in each of the last three seasons.
Opponents are averaging 25 points this season, the lowest average since 2013 (24.3).

Up Next
Rice has a quick turnaround with a second-consecutive appearance on ESPN 2 next Friday when they travel to Memphis to take on the Tigers at 8 p.m.

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Wyatt Freeman

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