Meeting Conference USA: Rice and La Tech

Despite not joining Conference USA until 2013, this upcoming season UTSA will play two of their future division rivals.  The Roadrunners will play Rice in Houston October 13th.  They will also play at Ruston, LA in a WAC conference game against Louisiana Tech on November 3rd.  Before joining the WAC, UTSA and Louisiana Tech had scheduled a home and home against each other. Interestingly enough, Rice and Louisiana Tech are also schedule to play each other this season in an out of conference match up.

Rice Owls
A familiar name to Texans, this Houston based private school will be the closest conference mate of UTSA's.  Rice is the second smallest school in the FBS with around 6000 students.  In comparison, UTSA boasts over 30,000.  Fellow conference partner Tulsa is the only FBS school that is smaller.  Rice prides itself on academics and baseball.  Their football and basketball hasn't done much to impress.  Their football team broke a 45 year streak of no bowls in 2006, behind the leadership of two San Antonio kids.  The basketball team hasn't been to the NCAA tournament in over 40 years.

All that being said, Rice has been able to win recruits over UTSA due to their solid academic programs. I believe they swooped in and have stolen at least two verbals from the Runners at the last second. They do have some history dating back to the Southwest Conference with all the major Texas programs. After the Southwest Conference collapsed, Rice played in the WAC for 10 years before joining Conference USA in 2005.

Rice basketball plays in Tudor Fieldhouse which  is similar in size to UTSA's beloved Convocation Center.  Football is played at Rice Stadium.  Rice Stadium can hold 70,000, but is configured to hold 47,000.  Their football attendance is well below this, barely staying around the supposed 15,000 threshold for FBS.  The stadium actually hosted Superbowl VIII in 1974.  When they host UT, they play at Reliant Stadium.  This season UTSA is scheduled to be the homecoming opponent.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs

Charlotte, Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Ruston.  Of the new Conference USA invitees, Louisiana Tech was the only program not located in a good media market.  Their merits were found elsewhere, one might say in the things that matter.  After being passed over by Conference USA, Louisiana Tech put their head down, and got their ducks in a row.  They spent many years in a WAC with the closest opponent being almost 1000 miles away.  They fought off the comfort of the Sunbelt's geography, insisting they were superior to Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe.  Now they find themselves in the conference they always thought they belonged in and it is a great geographic fit for them.

The Bulldogs boast some impressive names.  NBA legend Karl Malone, the greatest player not to win an NBA title (sorry I couldn't help it) and multi Superbowl winner Terry Bradshaw both came through Louisiana Tech.  They also have produced some WNBA greats and won three women's basketball championships in the 80s.

This past season the football team won the WAC and look to be on the upswing.  They are running an arcade type offense that promises to put up some serious stats.  Of all the new Conference USA additions, they will definitely be the most ready to compete, especially in the weaker western division.  Their football stadium holds around 30k, last year they averaged just over 20k.

Ruston is kind of a bitch to get to, it's over 8 hours from San Antonio.  There isn't any major airport very close to this old college town.  Guess what, UTSA is also their homecoming game.  When you are in a second season everyone sees you as a cream puff!