Rice Owls

The Rice Owls carry one of college football's most storied academic-athletic traditions, playing in the cavernous Rice Stadium in Houston. A charter member of the old Southwest Conference, Rice combined rigorous academics with genuine gridiron success for much of the 20th century. Today the Owls compete in the American Athletic Conference, prizing the same scrappy, overachieving spirit that once made them a national power.

Rice fielded its first football team in 1912 and joined the Southwest Conference as a charter member three years later. Under legendary coach Jess Neely, the Owls became a regional and national power through the 1940s and 1950s, winning multiple Southwest Conference titles and playing in the Cotton Bowl. Rice has claimed eight conference championships in program history, though the team's fortunes cooled after the SWC dissolved in 1996 and Rice moved into Conference USA, later joining the American Athletic Conference.