The Rice–SMU football rivalry is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

Owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vis ...

and

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

Mustangs The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...

. The game was first played in 1916, and since 1998 the winner was awarded the Mayor's Cup. SMU leads the series 49–41–1.

History

The football squads of

and

, two of the smallest schools in

NCAA Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

, first played in 1916, with Rice winning 146–3. In 1918, both schools joined the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

, and from 1926 they played every year except for 1987 and 1988, after the NCAA gave SMU's football program the "

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

" following a cheating scandal. They played in the same conference until 2012, beginning with the Southwest (1918–1995), then the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(1996–2005) and

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

(2005–2012). The two teams have met 91 times, with SMU leading 49–41–1.

Mayor's Cup

In 1998 a

traveling trophy A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

, the "Mayor's Cup", was introduced to the series, and has been awarded to the winner each year. SMU currently holds the trophy after the 2023 game, but Rice leads the trophy series 9–7. However, SMU and Rice did not play each other from 2013-2022 as SMU left Conference USA for the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

for the 2013 season. On June 15, 2022, Rice announced they would be officially joining the American for the 2023 season, renewing the series. On November 9, 2022, the American announced the football scheduling model for the 2023–26 seasons, with Rice–SMU scheduled to meet in 2023, 2024, and 2026. However, on September 1, 2023, SMU accepted an invitation to join the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

starting in 2024, which once again puts the future of the Mayor's Cup in doubt.

Game results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice-SMU football rivalry College football rivalries in the United States Rice Owls football SMU Mustangs football Recurring events established in 1916 1916 establishments in Texas

History

Mayor's Cup

Game results

See also

References