Owl football begins 100th season Saturday in Austin against Longhorns
Sept. 10 home opener to celebrate NASAversary, first responders

BY DAVID RUTH
Rice News staff

The 100th season of Rice football will kick off Saturday at 7 p.m. when the Owls battle the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin.

Rice is coming off a 4-8 season that culminated in back-to-back victories. This season, head football coach David Bailiff has 48 lettermen and a majority of his starters returning, which makes this squad his most experienced to the system he put into place since taking over the program in 2007.

“It’s an exciting year,” Bailiff said. “We have 10 starters back on offense and eight on defense as well as our two specialists. That gives you a sense of optimism. We have a large group of seniors who have been in this program their entire careers.”

Texas is coming off of a down year, a rarity for the burnt orange clan and its followers, going 5-7 last season, and Bailiff knows that the Owls need to be prepared for a Texas team that is ready to prove that last year was an aberration.

“UT is one of the premier programs in the country year in and year out,” Bailiff said. “I’m sure they are highly motivated because of last season. Those young men on that team are out to prove that was a fluke, and we are going to see the real Longhorns.”

Saturday’s game will be the 93rd meeting between Rice and UT. Texas leads the series 70-21-1. The game will be televised on the newly launched Longhorns Network (LHN); however, with UT still looking for broadcasting deals with local cable operators in Texas, the game will not be available in Houston. To listen to the game, tune in to AM 1430 KCOH or visit www.riceowls.com or www.kcohradio.com for online streaming.

Home opener Sept. 10.

Rice will honor its own history as well as the contributions of the men and women who protect citizens at home and abroad when the Owls open the home portion of their 100th season of football against the Purdue Boilermakers Sept 10.

Kickoff will be at 2:30 p.m.; the game will be televised nationally by CBS Sports Network.

The Purdue game will mark the start of a season-long celebration of the 100th season of Rice football. Prior to each of the five home games, one segment of a five-part documentary of the history of Rice football will be shown and a commemorative poster that celebrates the achievements and notable individuals of each era will be given to the first 1,500 fans. The video and poster given at the Purdue game will cover the period from 1912 to 1931. Each video will be shown again at the conclusion of the game.

The Purdue game will serve as the centerpiece of Rice’s NASAversary, a weeklong celebration of the 50-year collaboration between Rice University and NASA. The pairing of Rice and Purdue for the football game is appropriate, because the schools have produced nearly 60 astronauts, all of whom trained for their missions in Houston. Neil Armstrong, a Purdue graduate, was the first man to walk on the moon. One of the experiments he carried out while he was on the lunar surface was developed by researchers at Rice.

Tailgate Owley, which opens three hours prior to the start of every home game on the east side of Rice Stadium, will have a number of special NASA exhibits on display prior to the Purdue game.

Space travelers will not be the only heroes honored Sept. 10. The Owls will also hold a special pregame salute to the men and women of the military and the country’s first responders in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. All season, members of the military and first responders, along with their families, will receive free tickets to Rice home football games.

To see the 2011 Rice University football schedule, along with information on purchasing tickets, visit www.riceowls.com.