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Rice University Athletics
Photo by: Karen Warren | Rice Athletics
Owls and Roadrunners Open 2026 Conference Schedule
10/2/2026 10:34:00 PM | Football
Families Weekend matchup kicks off at 6 pm
Game #5 Rice (1-3/0-0) vs. UTSA (3-1/0-0) 6 p.m.
Stadium: First Community Stadium
Television: ESPN+ David Saltzman (Play by Play), Patrick Murray (Analyst), Smacker Miles (Sidelines).
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst), Luke Mauro (Sidelines)
Audio Streaming: RiceOwls.com, Varsity Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
Series Information: 14th Meeting (UTSA 9-4)
2026 Rice Football Fact Book
Series Notes
Of Note
Stadium: First Community Stadium
Television: ESPN+ David Saltzman (Play by Play), Patrick Murray (Analyst), Smacker Miles (Sidelines).
Rice Radio: JP Heath (play-by-play), Nate Griffin (analyst), Luke Mauro (Sidelines)
Audio Streaming: RiceOwls.com, Varsity Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
Series Information: 14th Meeting (UTSA 9-4)
2026 Rice Football Fact Book
Series Notes
- •This is the 14th meeting between the two schools, the last three as members of the American Athletic Conference.
- •UTSA leads the series 9-4 (7-2 in C-USA, 2-1 in The American, 0-1 non-conference), including a 3-3 mark at First Community Stadium.
- •This will be the sixth straight meeting between the schools, which is the longest active streak for Rice.
- •In the most recent meeting in Houston, E.J. Warner's 18-yard touchdown pass to Matt Sykes with 04 remaining allowed Rice to snap an eight-game USTA winning streak in the series.
- •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.
- •UTSA running backs coach Luke Turner was the Most Outstanding Player of that 2013 C-USA title game.
Of Note
- •Saturday's game will be the first home game for Rice at First Community Stadium after a 20-year naming rights agreement was announced on October 1.
- Rice is opening its American Conference slate on the home for the first time. The Owls made their debut in the conference on 9/23/23 with a 42-28 loss at South Florida, opened the 2024 American schedule with a 31-17 loss at Army and Scott Abell kicked off his American Conference action with a 28-17 win at Charlotte last year.
- The Owls have won the last two conference openers played at home (2021 & 2022).
- Rice is averaging 11.8 plays of at least 10 yards per game this season (47 in four games, compared with 9.1 last season (9.1).
- Rice has had four 100-yard rushing games in the first four games this season and has had nine in the 17 games under Scott Abell.
- The Owls have rushed for over 300 yards twice in the first four games, matching their total through all 13 games in 2025.
- Ben Grice's 88-yard touchdown run at Fresno was the longest by an Owl since Tyler Smith set a school record with a 97-yard scoring run at Houston in 2011 and matched the fifth-longest rush in school history.
- Grice finished with 109 yards and combined with Jacurri Brown (141) to give the Owls a pair of 100-yard rushers in the same game since Smith (170) and Turner Petersen (140) both went over 100 against Houston on Oct. 27, 2011.
- Jacurri Brown topped 100 for the second consecutive game, the first Owl to go back-to-back since Austin Walter had three straight in 2019.
- He is the first QB to top 100 yards on the ground in consecutive games since Joel Armstrong ran for @SJSU 10/2 at San Jose State and 138 vs. SMU in 2004.
Players Mentioned
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