Rice announces 2011 football schedule

By Kevin Kelley -

The Rice Owls have announced their 2011 football schedule, which features games against Baylor, Northwestern, Purdue, Texas, Houston, SMU and UTEP.

Rice has lined up a tough non-conference schedule in 2011 against four teams from BCS conferences, two each from the Big 12 and Big Ten. The Owls opens the 2011 season with a September 3 trip to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns.

The Purdue Boilermakers visit Rice Stadium on September 10. Following a bye, the Owls travel to Waco to take on Baylor on September 24. Their final non-conference game is November 12 at Northwestern.

Rice opens Conference USA play on October 1 on the road against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The rest of their C-USA road slate includes Marshall (10/15), Houston (10/29) and SMU (11/26).

The Owls host conference foes Memphis (10/08), Tulsa (10/22), UTEP (11/05) and Tulane (11/19).

The Conference USA Championship Game will be held on Saturday, December 3, 2011 and will be hosted by the team with the highest winning percentage in conference play.

Listed below are links to the 2011 Rice football schedule and future schedules: