HOUSTON – The American Athletic Conference announced its 2024 football season on Thursday and for the second time in as many seasons, Rice will open conference play on the road.
The Owls open AAC play in Week Four when they travel to West Point, New York on September 21 to face Army in the Black Knights’ AAC home debut.
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The Owls will open their AAC home slate the following week against Charlotte on September 28. Following an open week on October 5, Rice will host UTSA on October 12. Combined with the Owls three non-conference games to open the season, Rice will not leave the Houston city limits for five of the first six games: home games with Sam Houston (August 31) and Texas Southern (September 7) in addition to the Bayou Bucket Classic Presented by HEB at Houston (September 14).
After the initial stretch of five of six in Houston, the Owls will play four of their next five on the road. In addition to a non-conference game at UConn on October 26, the AAC road slate includes Rice’s first games at Tulane (October 19) and Memphis (November 8) since 2012 and concludes with a game at UAB on November 23.
The remaining conference home games feature Navy’s first game at Rice Stadium since 2009 on November 2 and South Florida’s first-ever game at Rice to wind up the season. The game with the Bulls is tentatively scheduled for November 30, but is one of three games, along with UAB-Charlotte and Navy-East Carolina, under consideration to be moved to Black Friday (November 29). Those selections will be announced by the conference on October 14.
The 2024 conference slate features four of the five other American Athletic Conference teams that joined Rice in representing the conference on postseason play: Memphis (Liberty Bowl), South Florida (Boca Raton Bowl), Tulane (Military Bowl); UTSA (Frisco Bowl). The combined lead mark of the Owls AAC opponents was 34-22, including the top three returning teams (Tulane, 8-0: UTSA ,7-1: Memphis, 6-2).
The American Athletic Conference Football Championship, which has been broadcast on ABC in each of the last nine years, is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 6 in prime time, and will be televised either on ABC or ESPN.
Kickoff times and television designations for the first three weeks of the season, as well as the season-long weeknight games, will be finalized by June 1. The rest of the schedule will fall under the customary 12-day and six-day selection processes. Game selections for annual campus events such as Families Weekend and Homecoming 2024 will be announced shortly.