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1974 Rice

2–⁠8–⁠1 (2–⁠5 Southwest Conference), coached by Al Conover.

Schedule and results

Rice in 1974, game by game: lost vs. No. 19 Houston 0–21; lost vs. Cincinnati 21–28; tied vs. No. 17 LSU 10–10; lost at No. 6 Notre Dame 3–10; lost at SMU 14–19; lost vs. No. 13 Texas 6–27; won vs. No. 13 Texas Tech 21–7; lost at Arkansas 6–25; lost at No. 10 Texas A&M 7–37; won vs. TCU 26–14; lost at No. 16 Baylor 3–24+14−30Lost 0–21 vs. No. 19 Houston-21No. 19 HoustonLost 21–28 vs. Cincinnati-7CincinnatiTied 10–10 vs. No. 17 LSU0No. 17 LSULost 3–10 at No. 6 Notre Dame-7No. 6 Notre DameLost 14–19 at SMU-5SMULost 6–27 vs. No. 13 Texas-21No. 13 TexasWon 21–7 vs. No. 13 Texas Tech+14No. 13 Texas TechLost 6–25 at Arkansas-19ArkansasLost 7–37 at No. 10 Texas A&M-30No. 10 Texas A&MWon 26–14 vs. TCU+12TCULost 3–24 at No. 16 Baylor-21No. 16 Baylor
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 14vs19HoustonL 0–⁠2138%
Sep 21vsCincinnatiL 21–⁠2864%
Sep 28vs17LSUT 10–⁠1034%
Oct 12at6Notre DameL 3–⁠1016%
Oct 19atSMUL 14–⁠1928%
Oct 26vs13TexasL 6–⁠2726%
Nov 2vs13Texas TechW 21–⁠723%
Nov 9atArkansasL 6–⁠2533%
Nov 16at10Texas A&ML 7–⁠3721%
Nov 23vsTCUW 26–⁠1472%
Nov 30at16BaylorL 3–⁠2425%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Baylor 24–⁠3; unranked in the final AP poll; 7th in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 63rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 115 on file).

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 1974.

Record
2–⁠8–⁠1
Conference
2–⁠5 7th in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
117–⁠222
Coach
Al Conover
Elo
1424 −64 this season
SP+ rating
-1.8 No. 78 of 124; offense No. 105, defense No. 36
SRS
0.8 No. 65 of 129 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

Drafted in 1975

The 1975 draft
Rd 3Cornelius Walker DTKansas City Chiefs

All-Southwest Conference

2 second team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1974 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1974 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Baylor6–⁠18–⁠414
Texas A&M5–⁠28–⁠316
Texas5–⁠28–⁠417
Arkansas3–⁠3–⁠16–⁠4–⁠1
SMU3–⁠3–⁠16–⁠4–⁠1
Texas Tech3–⁠46–⁠4–⁠2
Rice2–⁠52–⁠8–⁠1
TCU0–⁠71–⁠10

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