2017 Rice Owls football team

The 2017 Rice Owls football team represented Rice University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Owls played their home games at the Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas, and competed in the West Division of Conference USA (C–USA). They were led by eleventh-year head coach David Bailiff. They finished the season 1–11, 1–7 in C-USA play to finish in sixth place in the West Division.

2017 Rice Owls football
ConferenceConference USA
DivisionWest Division
Record1–11 (1–7 C-USA)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorBilly Lynch (4th season)
Offensive schemeSpread
Defensive coordinatorBrian Stewart (1st season)
Base defense3–4
Home stadiumRice Stadium
Seasons
← 2016
2018 →
2017 Conference USA football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
East Division
Florida Atlantic x$   8 0     11 3  
FIU   5 3     8 5  
Marshall   4 4     8 5  
Western Kentucky   4 4     6 7  
Middle Tennessee   4 4     7 6  
Old Dominion   3 5     5 7  
Charlotte   1 7     1 11  
West Division
North Texas x   7 1     9 5  
UAB   6 2     8 5  
Southern Miss   6 2     8 5  
Louisiana Tech   4 4     7 6  
UTSA   3 5     6 5  
Rice   1 7     1 11  
UTEP   0 8     0 12  
Championship: Florida Atlantic 41, North Texas 17
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

On November 27, head coach David Bailiff was fired.[1] He finished at Rice with an 11-year record of 57–80.

Schedule

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Rice announced its 2017 football schedule on January 26, 2017. The 2017 schedule consisted of 5 home, 6 away and 1 neutral site game in the regular season. The Owls hosted CUSA foes FIU, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, and Southern Miss, and traveled to Old Dominion, UAB, UTEP, and UTSA[2]

The Owls hosted one of the four non-conference opponents, Army, who was independent from a conference, and traveled to Houston from the American Athletic Conference and Pittsburgh from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Rice traveled to Sydney, Australia to face Stanford from the Pac-12 Conference.

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
August 269:00 p.m.vs. No. 14 Stanford*ESPNL 7–6233,101
September 97:00 p.m.at UTEPCUSA.TVW 31–1419,136
September 167:00 p.m.at Houston*ESPN3L 3–3838,900
September 236:30 p.m.FIU
StadiumL 7–1318,932
September 3011:00 a.m.at Pittsburgh*ACCRSNL 10–4233,051
October 75:30 p.m.Army*
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
beINL 12–4921,766
October 216:00 p.m.at UTSASTADIUML 7–2025,270
October 282:30 p.m.Louisiana Tech
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
FloFootballL 28–4219,992
November 42:00 p.m.at UABL 21–5221,224
November 112:30 p.m.Southern Miss 
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
STADIUML 34–4318,124
November 181:00 p.m.at Old DominionESPN3L 21–2420,118
November 2512:00 p.m.North Texas
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
ESPN3L 14–3017,956
  • *Non-conference game
  •  Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game
  • All times are in Central time
Schedule Source:[3]

Game summaries

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vs Stanford

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1 2 3 4 Total
Owls 0 0 0 7 7
No. 14 Cardinal 21 17 14 10 62

At UTEP

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1 2 3 4 Total
Owls 3 7 7 14 31
Miners 7 0 0 7 14

At Houston

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1 2 3 4 Total
Owls 0 0 0 3 3
Cougars 17 21 0 0 38
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 0 10 3 0 13
Owls 0 7 0 0 7

At Pittsburgh

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1 2 3 4 Total
Owls 0 0 10 0 10
Panthers 21 7 0 14 42

Army

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1 2 3 4 Total
Black Knights 21 14 7 7 49
Owls 0 0 6 6 12

At UTSA

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1 2 3 4 Total
Owls 0 7 0 0 7
Roadrunners 10 0 10 0 20

Louisiana Tech

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1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 7 14 7 14 42
Owls 0 7 7 14 28

At UAB

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1 2 3 4 Total
Owls 0 7 0 14 21
Blazers 21 21 7 3 52

Southern Miss

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1 2 3 4 Total
Golden Eagles 10 12 14 7 43
Owls 0 14 13 7 34

At Old Dominion

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1 2 3 4 Total
Owls 7 0 0 14 21
Monarchs 7 3 7 7 24

North Texas

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1 2 3 4 Total
Mean Green 7 17 3 3 30
Owls 7 7 0 0 14

References

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  1. ^ Hill, Glynn A. (November 27, 2017). "Rice fires football coach David Bailiff". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  2. ^ "C-USA Announces 2017 Football Schedules" (Press release). Rice University Department of Athletics. January 26, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  3. ^ "2017 Rice Owls Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved February 5, 2017.