The 2022 Rice Owls football team represented

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

as a member of

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

(C-USA) during the

2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season will be the 153rd season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS ...

. They were led by head coach

Mike Bloomgren Michael Scott Bloomgren (born January 25, 1977) is an American football coach. He is currently the head football coach at Rice University. Prior to beginning his coaching career, Bloomgren played the tight end position at Culver–Stockton Colle ...

, who was coaching his fifth season with the team. The Owls played their home games at the Rice Stadium in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. In October 2021, Rice accepted the invitation to join the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

(AAC), scheduled to become a full-member on July 1, 2023. The 2022 season was expected to be the program's last season as a member of Conference USA. The Owls finished their regular season with a 5–7 record, and became

bowl eligible Bowl eligibility in college football at the Division I (NCAA)#Football Bowl Subdivision, NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves thi ...

due to having the highest APR among FBS teams with 5–7 records.

Preseason

C-USA media day

The Conference USA media day was held on July 27 at

Globe Life Field Globe Life Field is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers. It is located just south of Choctaw Stadium, the Rangers' former home ballpark. History Background On May ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

. The Owls were predicted to finish tenth in the conference's preseason poll.

Roster

Schedule

Rice and Conference USA announced the 2022 football schedule on March 30, 2022.

Game summaries

At No.14 USC Trojans

Vs. McNeese State

Vs. Louisiana

At Houston (Bayou Bucket Classic)

UAB

At Florida Atlantic

At Louisiana Tech

Charlotte

UTEP

At Western Kentucky

UTSA

At North Texas

Vs. Southern Miss (LendingTree Bowl)

References

{{Rice Owls football navbox

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

Rice Owls football seasons

Rice Owls football The Rice Owls football program represents Rice University in the sport of American football. The team competes at the NCAA Division I FBS level and compete in the American Athletic Conference. Rice Stadium, built in 1950, hosts the Owls' home f ...