CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1954 Rice

7–⁠3 (4–⁠2 Southwest Conference), coached by Jess Neely, finished No. 19 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Rice in 1954, game by game: won vs. Florida 34–14; won vs. Cornell 41–20; lost at No. 3 Wisconsin 7–13; lost vs. SMU 6–20; won vs. Texas 13–7; won vs. Vanderbilt 34–13; lost at No. 4 Arkansas 15–28; won at Texas A&M 29–19; won vs. TCU 6–0; won at No. 9 Baylor 20–14+21−14Won 34–14 vs. Florida+20FloridaWon 41–20 vs. Cornell+21CornellLost 7–13 at No. 3 Wisconsin-6No. 3 WisconsinLost 6–20 vs. SMU-14SMUWon 13–7 vs. Texas+6TexasWon 34–13 vs. Vanderbilt+21VanderbiltLost 15–28 at No. 4 Arkansas-13No. 4 ArkansasWon 29–19 at Texas A&M+10Texas A&MWon 6–0 vs. TCU+6TCUWon 20–14 at No. 9 Baylor+6No. 9 Baylor
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 18vsFloridaW 34–⁠1472%
Oct 2vsCornellW 41–⁠2079%
Oct 9at3WisconsinL 7–⁠1342%
Oct 16vsSMUL 6–⁠2069%
Oct 23vsTexasW 13–⁠761%
Oct 30vsVanderbiltW 34–⁠1381%
Nov 6at4ArkansasL 15–⁠2845%
Nov 13atTexas A&MW 29–⁠1968%
Nov 20vsTCUW 6–⁠067%
Nov 27at9BaylorW 20–⁠1437%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Baylor 20–⁠14; No. 19 in the final AP poll; tied for 3rd in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 3rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 115 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 16
  2. Wk 2: 13
  3. Wk 3: 16
  4. Wk 4: 11
  5. Wk 5: 15
  6. Wk 7: 19
  7. Wk 8: 15
  8. Final: 19

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 1954.

Led the nationDicky Moegle: punt return yards (293 yds), punt return average (19.5)

Consensus All-AmericanDicky Moegle, RB

Record
7–⁠3
Conference
4–⁠2 tied for 3rd in Southwest Conference
AP final
No. 19 peak No. 11
Points
205–⁠148
Coach
Jess Neely
Elo
1655 +26 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
14.7 No. 15 of 111 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

Drafted in 1955

The 1955 draft
Rd 1Dicky Moegle RBSan Francisco 49ers

All-Southwest Conference

3 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

  • Lamoine HollandEUP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1954 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1954 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Arkansas5–⁠18–⁠310
SMU4–⁠1–⁠16–⁠3–⁠1
Rice4–⁠27–⁠319
Baylor4–⁠27–⁠418
Texas2–⁠3–⁠14–⁠5–⁠1
TCU1–⁠54–⁠6
Texas A&M0–⁠61–⁠9

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