What to know: UTEP Miners football at Rice Owls
What, when, where
UTEP takes on its oldest conference rival, for the final scheduled time, when it travels to Houston to take on Rice on Thursday night on national television.
The 5 p.m. Mountain time game at Rice Stadium will be carried on CBS Sports and also on 600 ESPN El Paso.
How is UTEP supposed to do?
Like most UTEP games this year it's expected to be close. Rice is a 3.5-point favorite, and with an over-under of 48.5, the Owls are picked to win 26-22.
Rice leads the all-time series 15-9 and has been particularly good in Houston, where it is 9-3. The Miners did win last time they were there, in 2018 when they broke their 20-game losing streak. In the COVID season of 2020, UTEP agreed to travel to Rice and be tested there, then had 10 players test positive for COVID.
The game was cancelled and the Miners later announced all the players who tested positive were in fact victims of false-positive tests.
Who is Rice
The Miners began playing the Owls in 1996 when Rice joined the WAC and the teams have been in a conference together ever since. That ends next year when the Owls join the American Athletic. The programs aren't scheduled to play again.
This year Rice, like UTEP, has been inconsistent, but far better than it was picked in the preseason, when it was tabbed to finish 10th in the 11-team league. The Owls are 4-4 after a blowout loss to Charlotte, but have beaten Louisiana Tech and UAB and also ended the longest winning streak in the nation when it beat Louisiana in Week 3.
Running back Ari Broussard is second in C-USA in rushing touchdowns while quarterback TJ McMahon completed 54 percent of his passes and has 16 touchdowns against 11 interceptions.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP Miners football at Rice Owls what to know
