The Owls expect the level of competition to heat up in their new home, familiarizing themselves with new opponents like Tulane and SMU, while retaining challenging rivals like UTSA. On July 1, Rice officially left Conference USA behind to join the American Athletic Conference - a league which has sent its champion to the New Year’s Six in six consecutive years and claimed five AP Top 10 finishes since 2017. While the goal of bowl experience was checked off the list in a 5-8 season, sixth-year head coach Mike Bloomgren understands his program is capable of accomplishing more, as the Owls seek a return trip to the postseason and their first winning season in nine years.īut new challenges coincide with those goals in 2023. Due to the lack of 6-win teams available to satisfy every bowl slot, the Owls qualified with a 5-7 record due to their supreme academic progress rating (APR) when compared to the other 5-7 programs. However, Rice entered bowl season with a unique stipulation. For the first time since 2014, that objective finally came to fruition as the Owls participated in the LendingTree Bowl against former CUSA foe Southern Miss. The Rice Owls football program had been starved of a bowl game for quite some time heading into the 2022 season.

The same theme holds in the realm of college football. In the culinary world, many dishes involving rice are best complemented by a bowl.

Spread uh and rice odds 2018