Rice's ground assault too much as Owls roll past Houston Christian to start season

Rice and Houston Christian met on the football field for the first time Saturday. The matchup seemed to favor the Owls over the Huskies , an FCS institution and member of the Southland Conference.

As expected, Rice proved to be the better team, opening its 2026 season on a high note. After spotting the Huskies three points, the Owls prevailed 31-3 at Rice Stadium.

The Owls were not flashy and HCU's solid defense kept Rice from breaking off many long gainers, limiting the Owls to 28 passing yards in Rice's run-first offense.

Scott Abell become the eighth Owls head coach to win his first two season openers and the first since Fred Goldsmith, who won 35-6 in 1989 at SMU in his debut as a head coach, and then beat Wake Forest 33-17 at home the following season.

Houston Christian came in off a big victory in its opener, a 34-28 upset on the road over nationally ranked Southeastern Louisiana in a league game.

But the Huskies could not stay with the Owls, who pretty much leaned on the ground attack, rushing for 465 of their 487 yards.

Quinton Jackson scored on runs of 12 and 7 yards. D'Andre Hardeman scored the Owls' first touchdown, a 2 yarder. Enock Gota was successful on a 26-yard field goal.

For HCU, Lukasz Smolen's 42-yard field goal midway of the first quarter was HCU's only lead and score.

Kickoff was pushed back 20 minutes from a scheduled 6 p.m. start due to lightning in the area around Rice Stadium.

Jacurri Brown became the ninth different Rice player to start the season opener at quarterback over the past 11 seasons.

Only Wiley Green has made multiple starts at that position in that time period. Green made starts in openers in 2022 (at USC), 2021 (at Arkansas ) and 2019 (at Army). Chase Jenkins made the start at quarterback for the Owls' 2025 opener (at Louisiana).

For the Owls, Tyvonn Byars ran for 104 yards. Brown totaled 98 yards on the ground and Hardeman added 77. Jackson ran for 67.

A transfer from UCF , Brown's biggest gain was a 32-yard run to the left side midway through the third quarter.

RICE_Q.Jackson 12 run (Gota kick), 13:19.

RUSHING_Houston Christian, Dozier 8-86, Middleton 10-29, Harris 6-17, Stewart 7-14, Landers 3-7, Kopp 1-(minus 5). Rice, Byars 16-104, J.Brown 13-98, Hardeman 11-77, Q.Jackson 10-61, Morgan 7-54, Ochoa 4-34, Mosey 1-24, Grice 3-12, Crayton 1-6, Powell 2-3, Bruce 1-1, (Team) 1-(minus 9).

PASSING_Houston Christian, Stewart 6-17-1-61, Kopp 2-5-0-35, Garcia 0-1-0-0. Rice, Ochoa 2-5-0-17, J.Brown 2-5-0-11.

RECEIVING_Houston Christian, Hall 2-27, T.Bradshaw 1-22, Graham 1-22, Sample 1-13, Wallace 1-7, Wheeler 1-4, Llanas-Wilcox 1-1. Rice, Lane 2-11, Clark 1-11, Q.Jackson 1-6.

Rice turned the ball over on downs near midfield on its opening possession. But the Owls scored a pair of touchdowns and a field goal on their following three drives en route to a 17-3 lead at the break.

HCU totaled 244 yards, mostly under the direction of quarterback Cutter Stewart, who engineered the Huskies' opening win at Southeastern Louisiana.

Champ Dozier had a 49-yard run up the middle early in the fourth quarter for the Huskies. Dozier finished with 86 rushing yards. Linebacker Jayven Anderson led HCU with 10 tackles, six solo.

Jerrick Harper returned a fourth-quarter interception 32 yards to set up Rice's fourth touchdown - a 29-yard run from reserve quarterback Gael Ochoa.

Rice will be severely tested next Saturday. The Owls travel to South Bend, Ind., to take on No. 4 Notre Dame. Kickoff against the Fighting Irish is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on NBC.

Notre Dame has won all five games in the series. The teams last played one another in 2014, with the Irish prevailing 48-17.

The Huskies return home next week, hosting Arkansas Baptist for a 6 p.m. kickoff.