# 2017 Rice Owls football team

The 2017 Rice Owls football team represented Rice University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Owls played their home games at the Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas, and competed in the West Division of Conference USA (C–USA). They were led by eleventh-year head coach David Bailiff. They finished the season 1–11, 1–7 in C-USA play to finish in sixth place in the West Division.
On November 27, head coach David Bailiff was fired. He finished at Rice with an 11-year record of 57–80.

## Schedule

Rice announced its 2017 football schedule on January 26, 2017. The 2017 schedule consisted of 5 home, 6 away and 1 neutral site game in the regular season. The Owls hosted CUSA foes FIU, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, and Southern Miss, and traveled to Old Dominion, UAB, UTEP, and UTSA
The Owls hosted one of the four non-conference opponents, Army, who was independent from a conference, and traveled to Houston from the American Athletic Conference and Pittsburgh from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Rice traveled to Sydney, Australia to face Stanford from the Pac-12 Conference.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 26 | 9:00 p.m. | vs. No. 14 Stanford* | Allianz StadiumSydney, Australia (Sydney Cup) | ESPN | L 7–62 | 33,101 |
| September 9 | 7:00 p.m. | at UTEP | Sun BowlEl Paso, TX | CUSA.TV | W 31–14 | 19,136 |
| September 16 | 7:00 p.m. | at Houston* | TDECU StadiumHouston, TX (rivalry) | ESPN3 | L 3–38 | 38,900 |
| September 23 | 6:30 p.m. | FIU | Rice StadiumHouston, TX | Stadium | L 7–13 | 18,932 |
| September 30 | 11:00 a.m. | at Pittsburgh* | Heinz FieldPittsburgh, PA | ACCRSN | L 10–42 | 33,051 |
| October 7 | 5:30 p.m. | Army* | Rice StadiumHouston, TX | beIN | L 12–49 | 21,766 |
| October 21 | 6:00 p.m. | at UTSA | AlamodomeSan Antonio, TX | STADIUM | L 7–20 | 25,270 |
| October 28 | 2:30 p.m. | Louisiana Tech | Rice StadiumHouston, TX | FloFootball | L 28–42 | 19,992 |
| November 4 | 2:00 p.m. | at UAB | Legion FieldBirmingham, AL | | L 21–52 | 21,224 |
| November 11 | 2:30 p.m. | Southern Miss | Rice StadiumHouston, TX | STADIUM | L 34–43 | 18,124 |
| November 18 | 1:00 p.m. | at Old Dominion | Foreman FieldNorfolk, VA (Oyster Bowl) | ESPN3 | L 21–24 | 20,118 |
| November 25 | 12:00 p.m. | North Texas | Rice StadiumHouston, TX | ESPN3 | L 14–30 | 17,956 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to gameAll times are in Central time |||||||
    Schedule Source:

## Game summaries
### vs Stanford

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Owls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| No. 14 Cardinal | 21 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 62 |

### At UTEP

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Owls | 3 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 31 |
| Miners | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 |

### At Houston

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Owls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Cougars | 17 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 38 |

### FIU

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Panthers | 0 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| Owls | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |

### At Pittsburgh

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Owls | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Panthers | 21 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 42 |

### Army

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Black Knights | 21 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 49 |
| Owls | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 12 |

### At UTSA

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Owls | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Roadrunners | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 20 |

### Louisiana Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulldogs | 7 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 42 |
| Owls | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 28 |

### At UAB

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Owls | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
| Blazers | 21 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 52 |

### Southern Miss

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Golden Eagles | 10 | 12 | 14 | 7 | 43 |
| Owls | 0 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 34 |

### At Old Dominion

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Owls | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
| Monarchs | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 24 |

### North Texas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Mean Green | 7 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 30 |
| Owls | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |