The Rice football team is off to a historically great start following a 28-17 win last week against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. With the win, the Owls improved to 3-1 for their best start to a season through four games since 2001.
The win was the Owls’ first conference-opening victory since 2022 and made head coach Scott Abell the first first-year head coach at Rice to start 3-1 since Bo Hagan in 1967.
For Abell, the success is less about his own arrival and more about the players who chose to stay and build something new.
“I give a ton of credit to the people in the building — not myself but the players, guys that wanted to stay here and be a part of this when they could have had other choices,” Abell said. “Their belief in what our vision was and in what Rice football could be — that’s the foundation of what we’re seeing.”
One of those players who chose to stay is running back Quinton Jackson, who is following his coach’s message to not get satisfied with what’s behind them. He said the team knows its work is far from finished.
“We have high energy, but one thing we need to work on is being consistent and finishing drives,” Jackson said. “Once we do that, I think we’ll be really dangerous. Everybody’s working — from starters to reserves — and we’re improving every day.”
Inside the locker room, other players and coaches are careful not to let excitement turn into complacency. Abell’s message has been clear.
“I tell the guys every week: short memory,” he said. “It’s nice to read about our start, but the most important stat is how do we go 1-0 this week. Thursday night is gone. All anyone will talk about is the next game, and for us that’s Navy.”
As for the prospect of sitting atop the American Conference standings, Jackson downplayed the notion.
“We’re not really worried about that right now. If we keep winning, it’ll come,” he said. “We’re just focused on going 1-0 this week and then 1-0 the next. If we keep doing that, we’ll be where we want — and that’s a conference championship.”
The Owls will travel to Annapolis, Maryland, to take on Navy at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We have a big challenge ahead of us, but I’m excited for the opportunity our program has to go on the road and build on the momentum we’ve established,” Abell said.