The Road to Respect: A Rice Dynasty: Turn it back to 1990

[Kcordloh]

Playoff Projections

The current projected top 6 conference champions are

#2 Rutgers
#3 Texas
#4 Oregon State
#6 Syracuse
#7 Missouri
#8 Ole Miss

Which leaves #1 Tulane, #5 Southern Miss, #9 North Carolina, #10 TCU, #11 Navy, and #12 Vanderbilt as the at large bids.

Which sets up Rutgers, Texas, Oregon State, and Syracuse as byes.

[Kcordloh]

Owls travels to the Bears

(AP)- And here we are. The 2024 regular season winds to an end, as the Rice Owls (3-8) travel to the Baylor Bears (4-7) in a matchup that nobody outside of Texas will be watching.

Baylor/Rice will be competing with #24 Arkansas/Texas Tech, SMU/Houston in a battle where the winner becomes bowl eligible, UAB (8-3)/ #10 TCU (9-2), and #23 Texas A&M / #3 Texas; as far as the biggest games relevant to the state of Texas.


This is a stalemate in turns of talent. And momentum. Baylor is fresh off a 38-34 victory over Houston, while Rice just beat SMU 27-24.

Baylor is led by 6'3 205lb freshman QB Chad Abrams (158 of 326 for 1908 yards, 18 TD, 6 INT) and senior HB Daniel Hayes (6'1, 233) who has 150 touches for 1048 yards, 12 TD, and 2 fumbles.

[Kcordloh]

Owls throttle Bears 37-7 to end the season

Rice may have only won 4 games in 2024, but at least the season ended with a two game winning streak.

After barely surviving against SMU last week, after a heart breaking loss to Houston to week before, Rice broke out all the stops and laid waste to the Baylor Bears at Baylor.

Rice took a 10-0 lead after one thanks to a K Hammond 44 yarder, and a 22 pass from Williamson to C Manson,

Baylor made it a 10-7 halftime game thanks to a 11 yard pass from Bright to A Thompson, but the Rice defense went lights out in the 2nd half.

Baylor gained a mere 97 yards the entire second half, R Branch rushed for 2 TD's, Williamson hit B Newton with a 17 yard strike, and K Hammond added a pair of field goals from 38 and 35 yards out.

Rice walks away a 37-7 victory.

POTG
Rice's Williamson finished 22/38 for 366 yards with 2 TD's and 0 INT
J Bright led Baylor with 18/31 for 218 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, and was sacked 5x.

What's Next

The season is over for both teams. Neither one is bowl eligible.

Next year looks great for the defense for Rice, but what will happen to the offense?

[Kcordloh]

Regular Season Ends: It's Playoff Time!

What a year 2024 was!

4 undefeated teams in college football, 5 that only lost one game, and 4 that lost 2 games!

The top ranked champions are:
#2 Texas
#3 Oregon State
#4 Rutgers
#7 Missouri

Those teams will get first round byes
#8 Ole Miss and #10 North Carolina round out the auto bids.

#1 Tulane, #5 Southern Miss, #6 Syracuse, #9 TCU, #11 Navy and #12 Vanderbilt are the six at larges.


We will kick off with Tulane vs Vanderbilt, followed by Ole Miss vs TCU, Syracuse vs North Carolina, and Southern Miss vs Navy.

Tulane/Vanderbilt winner will play Missouri, Ole Miss/TCU will play Texas, Syracuse/North Carolina will play Oregon State, and Southern Miss/Navy will play Rutgers.

[Kcordloh]

National Champion Crowned!

The seeding for the national championship playoff are:

1. Texas
2. Oregon State
3. Rutgers
4. Missouri
5. Tulane
6. Southern Miss
7. Syracuse
8. Ole Miss
9. TCU
10. North Carolina
11. Navy
12. Vanderbilt

First Round Results

#12 Vanderbilt exposed #5 Tulane 44-12
#11 Navy surprised #6 Southern Miss 27-10
#7 Syracuse destroyed #10 North Carolina 33-7
#9 TCU throttled #8 Ole Miss 43-10

Second Round

#9 TCU upset #1 Texas 33-19
#7 Syracuse upset #2 Oregon State 24-14
#3 Rutgers defeated #11 Navy 17-10
#4 Missouri defeated #12 Vanderbilt 35-32

Semi Finals!

#9 TCU crushed #4 Missouri 37-3
#7 Syracuse got revenge against #3 Rutgers 27-24

Finals

#9 TCU defeated #7 Syracuse 44-32

TCU National Champions!

[Kcordloh]

Titus Johnson celebrates his amazing season with several awards

Excellence Recognized
Award	Player	Pos	Team
Chuck Bednarik Award	Titus Johnson	DT	Rice Owls
Bronko Nagurski Trophy	Titus Johnson	DT	Rice Owls
Lombardi Award	Titus Johnson	DT	Rice Owls

Transfers
WR Chauncey Frank will be transferring to LSU to be closer to home after Rice had him sit the bench most of the season.


Recruiting Results

Rice Owls Recruiting - 2024
NAME	POS	CLASS	HOMETOWN	HT	WT	CALIBER
Bret Hawkins	QB	HS	Lancombe, LA	6'2	207
Jamie Thurman	WR	HS	Donna, TX	5'11	190
Anthony Thomas	WR	HS	Adian, MI	6'1	212
Donnie Williams	WR	HS	Crowley, LA	6'0	187
Deon Boone	WR	HS	Palmdale, CA	6'5	213
Bryson Sherman	T	JUCO	Jacksonville, TX	6'6	300
Jammal Clifford	T	HS	Zapata, TX	6'6	272
Boyd Henley	G	HS	Belton, TX	6'4	294
Adam Butler	G	HS	Kingsville, TX	6'6	312
Marcus Garcia	C	HS	Richardson, TX	6'2	318
Steven Ross	DT	HS	Dumas, TX	6'6	276
Jacob Cook	OLB	HS	Larned, KS	6'0	218
Albert Butler	CB	HS	Lamesa, TX	6'0	195
Rudy Sanders	CB	HS	San Benito, TX	5'11	183
John Stevenson	CB	HS	Denton, RX	6'3	185
Thomas Medlock	CB	HS	Burkbennett, TX	6'1	197
Tim Sims	CB	HS	Pecan Grove, TX	6'1	196
Matt Baker	ATH	HS	Oviedo, FL	6'4	262

Top Classes

Top Recruiting Classes - 2024
RK	TEAM	5	4	3	2	1	TOTAL
1	Missouri	3	16	6	0	0	25
2	Alabama	0	7	14	4	0	25
3	Ohio State	1	7	10	1	0	19
4	Syracuse	0	9	7	1	0	17
5	Southern Miss	2	6	7	1	0	16
6	Michigan	0	8	8	4	0	20
7	Tennessee	2	4	10	4	0	20
8	Ole Miss	0	8	5	3	1	17
9	Army	0	7	9	3	0	19
10	TCU	0	7	9	2	1	19

Rice's Class Ranked #115

[Kcordloh]

Owl's 2025 looks tough!

Rice's 2024 was a tough schedule, but on the back end of some H&H schedules, 2025 just looks plain brutal!

Matt Raymer's defense will be on their second year, but to expect anything more than MAYBE bowl eligible is just way to much!

August 30th: At Colorado
September 6th: host Arkansas
September 20th: at #4 Syracuse
September 27th: host #5 Missouri
October 4th: host Hawaii
October 25th: at #25 Texas A&M
November 1st: host Texas Tech
November 8th: host #3 TCU (defending national champions)
November 15th: at #1 Texas
November 22nd: at Houston
November 29th: at SMU
December 6th: host Baylor

Pre Season Polls Rank Owls #89

NCAA Football Rankings - Coaches Poll - Updated: Aug 21, 2025
RK	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	Texas (40)			1504
2	Southern Miss (21)			1483
3	TCU			1231
4	Syracuse
5	Missouri
6	Ole Miss
7	UCF
8	Navy
9	North Carolina
10	Vanderbilt
11	West Virginia
12	Florida State
13	Notre Dame
14	USC
15	Ohio State
16	LSU
17	Tulane
18	Rutgers
19	Oregon State
20	South Carolina
21	Nebraska
22	Pittsburg
23	Northern Illinois
24	Ohio
25	Texas A&M