Rice routs Houston Christian 31-3
Team pages: Houston Christian · Rice
Rice routed Houston Christian 31-3. Share this game
We had Rice favored. It won.
Next: Houston Christian beat Arkansas Baptist 88-0, Sat Sep 12
How it swung
Before kickoff, our ratings gave Rice a 59% chance, and the closing betting line (Rice was a 22.5-point favorite) put it at 97%.
Rice 31-3 Houston Christian
Rice wonMove across the chart, or tap a numbered swing, to see any play.Houston Christian 3-31 RiceHouston Christian lostMove across the chart, or tap a numbered swing, to see any play.No single play moved the chance by 20 points.
No single play moved the chance by 20 points.
How to read this chart
Starts from the pregame line (Rice -22.5), at 95% for Rice (the play-by-play feed's kickoff number, moved to match the line; our model's and the betting line's own numbers are in “The betting line, and the fans”). Dots are the biggest swings; ticks under the chart are scores.Every drive
Rice scored on 5 of its 10 drives; Houston Christian on 1 of its 9.
Rice’s drives are teal, Houston Christian’s amber. A line runs from where a drive started to where it ended; a filled dot means it scored.
Box score
Rice 31, Houston Christian 3
Rice covered −22.5 by 5.5. The total, 34, stayed under 47.5.
| Team totals | Houston Christian | Rice |
|---|---|---|
| Total yards | 244 | 493 |
| Passing | 8 of 23, 96 yds | 4 of 10, 28 yds |
| Rushing | 35 for 148 yds | 70 for 465 yds |
| First downs | 13 | 27 |
| Third down | 4 of 13 | 11 of 17 |
| Fourth down | 0 of 4 | 1 of 3 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 0 |
| Penalties | 3 for 25 yds | 3 for 30 yds |
| Time of possession | 20:28 | 39:32 |
Houston Christian leaders
- Passing Cutter Stewart 6 of 17, 61 yds, 1 INT
- Rushing Champ Dozier 8 for 86 yds; Jaylen Middleton 10 for 29 yds
- Receiving Jamaal Hall II 2 for 27 yds; Mason Graham 1 for 22 yds
Rice leaders
- Passing Gael Ochoa 2 of 5, 17 yds
- Rushing Tyvonn Byars 16 for 104 yds; Jacurri Brown 13 for 98 yds
- Receiving Jordan Clark 1 for 11 yds; Davis Lane 2 for 11 yds
Kickoff came 21 minutes late
88° at kickoff · no rain recorded
Thunder was reported in the vicinity of Houston Dunn airport (0.9 miles away) from 4:55 p.m. to 6:05 p.m., around the delay.
September game-day temperatures at Rice Stadium
Drag along the chart, or step through the game.
Where this weather comes from
Measured at Houston Dunn airport, 0.9 miles away, and Houston/will Hobby airport, 9.4 miles away. The paler thunder bar is thunder reported in the vicinity of an airport. Rain is NOAA's radar-and-gauge estimate at the stadium and wind is an airport reading; neither is measured on the field. Game times come from the play-by-play, good to a minute or two. Source: National Weather Service, through the Iowa Environmental Mesonet; rain radar from NOAA MRMS, through Iowa State University. Field direction from OpenStreetMap contributors.Before kickoff
Recent games, the series and the betting line below are as they stood going in; the season profile is the season so far.
Recent games
Last three games · 2025 season
Houston Christian · 2-10
Rated 257th in our preseason ratings, 257th now.
Three straight losses.
L 10-31 vs Incarnate Word #146 of 667
lost by 21 as a 17.5-point underdog
L 32-37 @ East Texas A&M #220 of 667
lost by 5 as a 9.5-point underdog
L 3-50 vs Stephen F. Austin #80 of 667
lost by 47 as a 24.5-point underdog
L 7-31 @ Nicholls #198 of 667
lost by 24 as an 11.5-point underdog
L 14-38 vs SE Louisiana #106 of 667
lost by 24 as a 21.5-point underdog
L 0-27 @ McNeese #219 of 667
lost by 27 as a 6.5-point underdog
W 20-17 vs Northwestern State #260 of 667
won by 3 as a 12.5-point favorite
L 7-27 @ UT Rio Grande Valley #162 of 667
L 23-26 vs Northern Colorado #225 of 667
lost by 3 as a 1.5-point favorite
L 7-59 @ NebraskaTop 25 #29 of 667
lost by 52 as a 46.5-point underdog
L 10-20 @ Eastern Kentucky #167 of 667
lost by 10 as an 18-point underdog
W 69-0 vs Arkansas Baptist
Last three games · 2025 season
Rice · 5-8
Rated 181st in our preseason ratings.
L 10-41 @ Texas State #41 of 667
lost by 31 as a 19.5-point underdog
L 3-52 @ South FloridaTop 25 #19 of 667
lost by 49 as a 28.5-point underdog
L 24-56 vs North TexasTop 25 #33 of 667
lost by 32 as an 18.5-point underdog
W 24-17 vs UAB #147 of 667
won by 7 as a 1.5-point favorite
L 14-38 vs MemphisTop 25 #36 of 667
lost by 24 as a 13.5-point underdog
W 37-34 vs UConn #76 of 667
won by 3 as a 9.5-point underdog
L 13-61 @ UTSA #55 of 667
lost by 48 as a 9.5-point underdog
L 21-27 vs Florida Atlantic #97 of 667
lost by 6 as a 4.5-point favorite
L 13-21 @ NavyTop 25 #80 of 667
lost by 8 as a 14.5-point underdog
W 28-17 @ Charlotte #176 of 667
won by 11 as a 1.5-point favorite
W 38-17 vs Prairie View A&M #181 of 667
won by 21 as a 29.5-point favorite
L 9-35 vs HoustonTop 25 #63 of 667
lost by 26 as a 13.5-point underdog
W 14-12 @ Louisiana #92 of 667
won by 2 as a 9.5-point underdog
Line, fans and home field
The betting line, and the fans
Our model and the betting line don’t fully agree on Rice’s chances here.
Rice favored by 22.5 · Total 47.5
How games like this usually go
Rice by 22.5, and it went to form
Half of games8 in 10 gamesThis game
The band is where a favorite’s chance ran in the 411 games since 2025 with a favorite of 21.5 points or more.
The market
The spread moved 2 points toward Houston Christian.
Spread: −24.5 → −22.5
The books’ cut: 3.7%, the margin built into the odds
Weather at kickoff
Hot and dry. Feels like 94° at kickoff.
Houston Christian at Rice · Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026 · Rice Stadium, Houston
- 94°feels like at kickoff
- Dryno rain at kickoff
- 52weather score, Rough
- 2ndbest of the day's 7 kickoff times
At kickoff, Sept. 5, 2026.
Weather score: 0 to 100, higher is better, for the first 3 hours and 20 minutes of the game. Ideal is 100, Comfortable 90 to 99, Mixed 75 to 89, Rough 50 to 74, Harsh under 50.
Later kickoff times scored higher that Saturday
Games in this time zone used 7 kickoff times that day, local time (kickoffs within 30 minutes of each other count as one). This game, ringed, was the second best of the day's seven kickoff times. At Rice Stadium that day, a 7 pm kickoff would have scored 69, against 52 at 6 pm.
- 11 am: 42, Harsh
- noon: 42, Harsh
- 2:30 pm: 39, Harsh
- 3:15 pm: 39, Harsh
- 4 pm: 39, Harsh
- 6 pm: 52, Rough (this game)
- 7 pm: 69, Rough
Weather score at each kickoff time.
Tap a dot to read that kickoff time.
At kickoff, Sept. 5, 2026. Wind is not drawn here; gusts are in each score.
Home field
Rice is worth +3.1 points (±3.6) more at home than on the road since 2018 — bottom third of FBS, 30th percentile.
35% at home, 22% on the road against FBS opponents (15-28 home, 10-36 away).
Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads -0.3 at home vs. away over 96 games — inside the ±6.7 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.
Night kickoff — historically worth about half a point more to the home side against the number, and not much more than that. The visitors travel about 7 miles to get here.