The Rice–SMU football rivalry was an American college football

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 (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universit ...

Owls Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers ...

and

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = " The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , pr ...

Mustangs. The game was first played in 1916, and since 1998 the winner was awarded the Mayor's Cup. SMU leads the series 48–41–1.

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 127–3. 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 included schools from Oklahoma ...

, and from 1926 they played every year except for 1987 and 1988, after the NCAA gave SMU's football program the " death penalty" 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, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of ...

(1996–2005) and

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

(2005–2012). In that time they had met 90 times, with SMU leading 48–41–1.

Mayor's Cup

In 1998 a traveling trophy, the "Mayor's Cup", was introduced to the series, and has been awarded to the winner each year. The Owls currently hold the trophy after the 2012 game and lead the trophy series 9–6. However, the future of the trophy is unclear, as SMU left Conference USA for the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

for the 2013 season, and no future games are scheduled. On June 15, 2022, Rice announced they will be officially joining the

for the 2023 season, renewing the series. On November 9, 2022, the

announced the football scheduling model for the 2023–26 seasons, with Rice–SMU scheduled to meet in 2023, 2024, and 2026.

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