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1952 Rice

5–⁠5 (4–⁠2 Southwest Conference), coached by Jess Neely.

Schedule and results

Rice in 1952, game by game: won vs. Texas Tech 34–7; lost vs. LSU 7–27; lost at No. 11 UCLA 0–20; lost vs. SMU 14–21; lost vs. No. 20 Texas 7–20; lost vs. No. 18 Wisconsin 7–21; won at Arkansas 35–33; won at Texas A&M 16–6; won vs. TCU 12–6; won at Baylor 20–14+27−20Won 34–7 vs. Texas Tech+27Texas TechLost 7–27 vs. LSU-20LSULost 0–20 at No. 11 UCLA-20No. 11 UCLALost 14–21 vs. SMU-7SMULost 7–20 vs. No. 20 Texas-13No. 20 TexasLost 7–21 vs. No. 18 Wisconsin-14No. 18 WisconsinWon 35–33 at Arkansas+2ArkansasWon 16–6 at Texas A&M+10Texas A&MWon 12–6 vs. TCU+6TCUWon 20–14 at Baylor+6Baylor
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 27vsTexas TechW 34–⁠754%
Oct 4vsLSUL 7–⁠2766%
Oct 11at11UCLAL 0–⁠2028%
Oct 18vsSMUL 14–⁠2157%
Oct 25vs20TexasL 7–⁠2039%
Nov 1vs18WisconsinL 7–⁠2137%
Nov 8atArkansasW 35–⁠3346%
Nov 15atTexas A&MW 16–⁠633%
Nov 22vsTCUW 12–⁠648%
Nov 29atBaylorW 20–⁠1430%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Baylor 20–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; 2nd in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 26th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 115 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 2: 17

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 1952.

Led the nationHorton Nesrsta: punt return yards (536 yds)

Record
5–⁠5
Conference
4–⁠2 2nd in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 17
Points
152–⁠175
Coach
Jess Neely
Elo
1546 +4 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
6.8 No. 41 of 113 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

All-Southwest Conference

3 first team

First team

  • Bill CrockettOTAP-1
  • Dick ChapmanDefensive guardsAP-1
  • Don RhodenLBAP-1

From Wikipedia’s 1952 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1952 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Texas6–⁠09–⁠210
Rice4–⁠25–⁠5
SMU3–⁠2–⁠14–⁠5–⁠1
TCU2–⁠2–⁠24–⁠4–⁠2
Baylor1–⁠3–⁠24–⁠4–⁠2
Texas A&M1–⁠4–⁠13–⁠6–⁠1
Arkansas1–⁠52–⁠8

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