Saturday, September 7
Rice Stadium
6 PM
Rice University
vs
Texas Southern
Photo by: Rhonda Taormina | Rice Athletics
Rice hosts TSU on Residential College Recognition Night
9/6/2024 9:14:00 PM | Football
Players to represent colleges with logos on their helmets
Game #2
Who: Rice (0-1) vs. Texas Southern (1-0)
When: Saturday 6:00 p.m. CT
Where: Houston, Texas
Stadium: Rice Stadium
Tickets: RiceOwls.com
Television ESPN+ Shawn Kenney (PXP); LaDarrin McLane (Analyst)
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.com
Digital Game Program: Game 2 Rice vs Texas Southern
Series Information: Rice leads 16-1
Full Game Notes
Series Notes
While every member of the Owls will have the familiar Old English R on one side of their helmets on Saturday, the other side will feature the crest of each player's residential college at Rice. Unlike most other universities, Rice has no sororities, fraternities, honors, or athlete dorms on campus. Instead, newly admitted students are randomly assigned to one of 11 residential colleges, which they will remain in throughout their undergraduate years.
Loss Leaders
Seven Owls combined for seven sacks in the opener vs. Sam Houston, the most sacks for Rice in a game since they dropped FIU quarterbacks eight times in 2014. In his Rice debut, Charlie Looes picked up a solo sack on the first drive of the game and shared a second to finish with 1.5. Brothers Ty and Elroyal Morris III each registered sacks in the same game. Josh Pearcy shared a sack to raise his career total for tackles for loss to 28 and move him into a tie for 10th on the Rice career list.
Catching on
Dean Connors led the Owls with a career-best nine receptions vs. Sam Houston and he leads all FBS running backs after the first week of action. Virginia Tech's Bhayshul Tuten (6 for 18 yards) is the only other running back ranked in the top 80 through Saturday's schedule. Connors had 42 receptions last season, the most for a Rice running back since Austin Walter had 44 in 2018 and now has 60 in his career. Matt Sykes also set a career-high with six receptions vs. Sam Houston, which was one more than he had in his career coming into 2024. He caught four at UCLA in 2022 and one with the Owls last year.
CB1
Sean Fresch made his 32nd career start vs. Sam Houston in the opener and played in his 37th career game. He has now played in more games at cornerback for the Owls since Bryce Callahan closed his career in the Hawai'i Bowl by playing in his 47th career game.
Up Next
Rice will make the shortest road trip in FBS football next Saturday as the Owls make the trek across 288 to face Houston in the 43rd Bayou Bucket Classic. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. with coverage on ESPN+.
Who: Rice (0-1) vs. Texas Southern (1-0)
When: Saturday 6:00 p.m. CT
Where: Houston, Texas
Stadium: Rice Stadium
Tickets: RiceOwls.com
Television ESPN+ Shawn Kenney (PXP); LaDarrin McLane (Analyst)
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.com
Digital Game Program: Game 2 Rice vs Texas Southern
Series Information: Rice leads 16-1
Full Game Notes
Series Notes
- This will be the third meeting between the two schools in football and Rice's fifth meeting with a team from the SWAC.
- Rice won the initial meeting with TSU 48-34 in 2021 and downed the Tigers 59-7 last year.
- Rice has faced Prairie View A&M twice, defeating the Panthers 65-44 on Homecoming in 2016 and 31-28 in 2018.
- The win in 2018 came in Dunlevie Family Head Football Coach Mike Bloomgren's debut.
- Texas Southern is the sixth current FCS school to face the Owls. Rice is a combined 10-0 vs. current Texas FCS teams (Lamar, 4-0; Prairie View, Stephen F. Austin, 2-0 & Texas Southern, 2-0).
- This will be the third time overall and the second consecutive year Rice has faced two teams from Houston in the same season. The Owls split games with TSU and Houston in 2021 and won in 2023.
While every member of the Owls will have the familiar Old English R on one side of their helmets on Saturday, the other side will feature the crest of each player's residential college at Rice. Unlike most other universities, Rice has no sororities, fraternities, honors, or athlete dorms on campus. Instead, newly admitted students are randomly assigned to one of 11 residential colleges, which they will remain in throughout their undergraduate years.
Loss Leaders
Seven Owls combined for seven sacks in the opener vs. Sam Houston, the most sacks for Rice in a game since they dropped FIU quarterbacks eight times in 2014. In his Rice debut, Charlie Looes picked up a solo sack on the first drive of the game and shared a second to finish with 1.5. Brothers Ty and Elroyal Morris III each registered sacks in the same game. Josh Pearcy shared a sack to raise his career total for tackles for loss to 28 and move him into a tie for 10th on the Rice career list.
Catching on
Dean Connors led the Owls with a career-best nine receptions vs. Sam Houston and he leads all FBS running backs after the first week of action. Virginia Tech's Bhayshul Tuten (6 for 18 yards) is the only other running back ranked in the top 80 through Saturday's schedule. Connors had 42 receptions last season, the most for a Rice running back since Austin Walter had 44 in 2018 and now has 60 in his career. Matt Sykes also set a career-high with six receptions vs. Sam Houston, which was one more than he had in his career coming into 2024. He caught four at UCLA in 2022 and one with the Owls last year.
CB1
Sean Fresch made his 32nd career start vs. Sam Houston in the opener and played in his 37th career game. He has now played in more games at cornerback for the Owls since Bryce Callahan closed his career in the Hawai'i Bowl by playing in his 47th career game.
Up Next
Rice will make the shortest road trip in FBS football next Saturday as the Owls make the trek across 288 to face Houston in the 43rd Bayou Bucket Classic. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. with coverage on ESPN+.
Players Mentioned
RB
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DL
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DL
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OLB
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WR
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