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1951 Rice

5–⁠5 (3–⁠3 Southwest Conference), coached by Jess Neely.

Schedule and results

Rice in 1951, game by game: lost vs. Clemson 14–20; lost at LSU 6–7; won vs. Navy 21–14; won at No. 15 SMU 28–7; lost at No. 10 Texas 6–14; won vs. Pittsburgh 21–13; won vs. No. 20 Arkansas 6–0; won vs. Texas A&M 28–13; lost at TCU 6–22; lost vs. No. 9 Baylor 13–34+21−21Lost 14–20 vs. Clemson-6ClemsonLost 6–7 at LSU-1LSUWon 21–14 vs. Navy+7NavyWon 28–7 at No. 15 SMU+21No. 15 SMULost 6–14 at No. 10 Texas-8No. 10 TexasWon 21–13 vs. Pittsburgh+8PittsburghWon 6–0 vs. No. 20 Arkansas+6No. 20 ArkansasWon 28–13 vs. Texas A&M+15Texas A&MLost 6–22 at TCU-16TCULost 13–34 vs. No. 9 Baylor-21No. 9 Baylor
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 29vsClemsonL 14–⁠2053%
Oct 6atLSUL 6–⁠736%
Oct 13vsNavyW 21–⁠1465%
Oct 20at15SMUW 28–⁠736%
Oct 27at10TexasL 6–⁠1429%
Nov 3vsPittsburghW 21–⁠1381%
Nov 10vs20ArkansasW 6–⁠068%
Nov 17vsTexas A&MW 28–⁠1361%
Nov 24atTCUL 6–⁠2247%
Dec 1vs9BaylorL 13–⁠3443%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Baylor 34–⁠13; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 3rd in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 20th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 115 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 8: 19
  2. Wk 9: 18

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1951.

Record
5–⁠5
Conference
3–⁠3 tied for 3rd in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 18
Points
149–⁠144
Coach
Jess Neely
Elo
1563 +6 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
11.1 No. 25 of 116 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

Drafted in 1952

The 1952 draft
Rd 2Billy Howton EGreen Bay Packers

All-Southwest Conference

3 first team

First team

  • Teddy RiggsBUP-1
  • Bill HowtonEAP-1; UP-1
  • Bill BurkhalterDBAP-1

From Wikipedia’s 1951 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1951 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
TCU5–⁠16–⁠511
Baylor4–⁠1–⁠18–⁠2–⁠19
Texas3–⁠37–⁠3
Rice3–⁠35–⁠5
Arkansas2–⁠45–⁠5
Texas A&M1–⁠3–⁠25–⁠3–⁠2
SMU1–⁠4–⁠13–⁠6–⁠1

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.