1957 Rice Owls football team

1957 Rice Owls football
SWC champion
ConferenceSouthwest Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 7
APNo. 8
Record7–4 (5–1 SWC)
Head coach
Home stadiumRice Stadium
Seasons
← 1956
1958 →
1957 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 8 Rice $ 5 1 0 7 4 0
No. 11 Texas 4 1 1 6 4 1
No. 9 Texas A&M 4 2 0 8 3 0
SMU 3 3 0 4 5 1
Arkansas 2 4 0 6 4 0
TCU 2 4 0 5 4 1
Baylor 0 5 1 3 6 1
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1957 Rice Owls football team represented Rice University during the 1957 NCAA University Division football season.[1] The Owls were led by 18th-year head coach Jess Neely and played their home games at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas. They competed as members of the Southwest Conference, winning the conference with a conference record of 5–1. After two consecutive losing seasons in 1955 and 1956, Rice bounced back to finish the 1957 regular season with a record of 7–3. They won the last four games of the regular season, including a victory over the undefeated and number one-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, coached by Bear Bryant. The Owls were ranked eighth in the final AP Poll and seventh in the final Coaches Poll, which were conducted before bowl season. Rice was invited to the 1958 Cotton Bowl Classic, held on New Year's Day, where they were defeated by fifth-ranked Navy.

The season-opening victory vs. 1957 is the Owls' most recent at Tiger Stadium. Rice is 0–14–1 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana since.

Schedule[edit]

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 21at LSU*W 20–1450,912[2]
October 5No. 17 Stanford*W 34–7
October 12No. 5 Duke*No. 15
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
L 6–752,000[3]
October 19at SMUNo. 19W 27–2136,000
October 26at No. 19 TexasNo. 13L 14–1948,000[4]
November 2Clemson*
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
L 7–20[5]
November 9No. 12 Arkansas
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
W 13–7
November 16No. 1 Texas A&MNo. 20
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
W 7–6
November 23at TCUNo. 13W 20–0
November 30BaylorNo. 9
  • Rice Stadium
  • Houston, TX
W 20–043,000
January 1vs. No. 5 Navy*No. 8
L 7–2075,504[6][7]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

References[edit]

  1. ^ "1957 Rice Owls Schedule and Results". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  2. ^ "Rice defeats LSU by 20–14, late rally topples Tigers". The Daily Advertiser. September 22, 1957. Retrieved October 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Blue Devils score early, then sstave off Owls, 7–6". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. October 13, 1957. Retrieved January 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Long run gives Texas victory". The El Paso Times. October 27, 1957. Retrieved April 30, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Harvey White leads Clemson in victory over Rice, 20–7". The Tyler Courier-Times. November 3, 1957. Retrieved January 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Tom Forrestal leads Navy to 20-7 victory over Rice". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 2, 1958. p. 18.
  7. ^ Ratliff, Harold (January 2, 1958). "Forrestal pilots Navy in 20-7 rout of Rice". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 17.