Feb. 26, 2008

The Rice Owls will make their 2008 debut in front of national television audience when they host the SMU Mustangs on Friday, August 29. The game will be carried nationally by ESPN.

This will mark the third straight year that the Owls will open their season at Rice Stadium and the second time in their four years as a member of Conference USA that the Owls have opened with a conference game. The 12-game schedule is spread over 14 weeks, with a pair of bye weekends (October 11 and November 15) and concludes with the annual Bayou Bucket battle with the University of Houston on November 29.

After opening with the Mustangs, the Owls will take to the road for three consecutive road games, including back-to-back trips to Tennessee. Rice will open its 2008 road schedule with a trip to Memphis on September 6 and then head to Nashville the following Saturday to meet Vanderbilt. They will close out the road swing on September 20 with a trip to Austin to face the University of Texas.

The Owls will host single home games in September (North Texas on September 27) and October (Southern Miss on October 18) before concluding the season with three games in November: Army (November 8), Marshall (November 22) and the season-ender with Houston.

No game times have been determined at this time, pending the final determination of the full television broadcast schedule, and all dates are subject to change.