(Photo: Icon/Sportswire)
THE QUICK READ
Head Coach: Scott Abell — 2nd season
2025 Record: 5-8
2026 Record: 1-0
Series History: Notre Dame leads 5-0
Last Meeting: Notre Dame 48, Rice 17 — 2014, Notre Dame Stadium
Best Offensive Weapon: Jacurri Brown
Defensive Player to Know: S Daveon Hook
Biggest Question: How much trouble can Rice’s unusual shotgun option cause Notre Dame on only six days of preparation?
Let’s get something straight right from the start: This is not Navy.
Rice runs the option, but head coach Scott Abell has brought a very different version of it to Houston. The Owls operate primarily from the shotgun, spread the field and use motion, misdirection and multiple ball carriers to make a defense account for just about everybody.
And in Year 2, Rice may be getting pretty good at it. The Owls opened the season Saturday by beating Houston Christian 31-3 and rushing for an eye-popping 465 yards. Eleven different players carried the football as Rice ran it 70 times and threw it just 10.
Of course, Houston Christian isn’t Notre Dame. The Irish should have an enormous talent advantage Saturday, but after playing Sunday night at Lambeau Field, Notre Dame gets only six days to prepare for an offense it doesn’t see very often.
That makes Rice a little more interesting than your typical September visitor to Notre Dame Stadium.
OFFENSE: THIS ISN’T NAVY
Abell brought his offense to Rice after seven seasons at Davidson, where running the football wasn’t merely the preference. It was an obsession. Davidson led the FCS in rushing in each of Abell’s final five seasons, averaging 315 yards per game in 2024.
Abell brought much of that system with him to Rice, and the transformation was immediate. The Owls averaged 204.7 rushing yards and only 97.6 passing yards per game last season. They ran the football 647 times and attempted only 224 passes.
The scheme is option football, but don’t expect the old-school fullback dive with the quarterback turning down the line from under center. Rice spreads the field, operates from the shotgun and uses multiple backs and slot receivers to create leverage and force defenders to make decisions.
Against Houston Christian, we saw what it can look like when everything is working. Rice finished with 493 total yards — 465 of them on the ground.
That should get Notre Dame’s attention.
QUARTERBACK: JACURRI BROWN CHANGES THE EQUATION
Rice added a very interesting piece to this offense during the offseason in Jacurri Brown. The 6-foot-4, 227-pound redshirt senior began his career at Miami before transferring to UCF and then Rice. He arrived in January, won the starting job during the spring and was elected a team captain before playing his first game for the Owls.
And he’s here for a pretty obvious reason: He can run.
Brown entered this season with 821 career rushing yards on 137 carries — exactly 6.0 yards per attempt — and eight rushing touchdowns. Against Houston Christian, he ran 13 times for 98 yards while completing only two passes for 11 yards.
Rice also used backup Gael Ochoa, who ran for 34 yards and scored on a 29-yard run. That’s the challenge this offense creates. Notre Dame isn’t simply defending a running back. The quarterback is part of the running game, and the Irish have to account for him on every snap.
RUNNING GAME: EVERYBODY GETS A TURN
If you’re looking for Rice’s best proven offensive player, start with Quinton Jackson. Jackson led the Owls with 889 rushing yards last season, the most by a Rice player since 2014. He also led the team with 1,225 all-purpose yards and tied for the team lead with seven touchdowns. Unfortunately for Rice and for Jackson, the news came out at midweek that Jackson was injured in the Owls opener and he will be unavailable for the ND game.
But Rice isn’t a one-back offense. Sophomore Tyvonn Byars led the Owls Saturday with 104 yards on 16 carries. Brown had 98, D’Andre Hardeman Jr. added 77, Jackson had 61 and two touchdowns, and Ochoa ran for 34.
In all, 11 Owls carried the football. Notre Dame can’t spend the week preparing to stop one guy. Rice wants to force every defender to understand his assignment, read his keys and resist the temptation to chase the football. One missed assignment can turn into a big play.
PASSING GAME: ONLY WHEN NECESSARY?
Here’s a statistic that tells you just about everything you need to know: Rice ran 80 offensive plays against Houston Christian. Seventy were runs.
Brown and Ochoa combined to complete four passes for 28 yards. Rice isn’t going to beat Notre Dame by lining up and throwing the football 40 times. The passing game exists largely to complement everything the Owls are doing on the ground and punish a defense when it gets too aggressive against the run.
Last season, Rice averaged fewer than 100 passing yards per game. Notre Dame’s challenge is not allowing the option to create easy opportunities through the air. Play assignment football, make Rice earn its rushing yards and eventually force the Owls into obvious passing situations.
If that happens, this matchup tilts dramatically toward Notre Dame.
A FAMILIAR FACE: PRESTON ZINTER
There will be at least one Owl who knows his way around Notre Dame Stadium. Preston Zinter spent three seasons at Notre Dame before transferring to Rice during the offseason, but there’s a twist: The former Notre Dame linebacker is now a tight end.
At 6-foot-1 and 254 pounds, Zinter’s physicality makes him a natural fit for an offense that asks its tight ends and inside receivers to block in space and create running lanes. He played in 30 games for Notre Dame, primarily on defense and special teams, before making the move to Rice.
It will certainly be strange seeing No. 9 on the other sideline Saturday — and even stranger seeing him playing offense.
DEFENSE: CAN THE OWLS HOLD UP?
Rice’s offense has an identity. The defense has considerably more to prove. The Owls allowed 32.9 points and 403.8 yards per game last season, while opponents threw for 240 yards per game and averaged 6.3 yards per play.
But Marcus Freeman pointed out this week that Rice also presents a challenge because of the nontraditional looks the Owls give you defensively. Much like the offense, Rice is going to make Notre Dame identify some things it doesn’t necessarily see every week.
There are some experienced pieces. Safety Daveon Hook is a team captain and has been a starter for the last two seasons. Defensive end and fellow captain Chibby Nwajuaku had his most productive season in 2025, finishing second on the team with 17 quarterback pressures. Rice also has UCLA transfer Jamir Benjamin at cornerback and some experience scattered throughout the front seven.
The first result of 2026 was certainly encouraging. The Owls held Houston Christian to 244 total yards and three points, including only 96 yards passing.
But now comes CJ Carr, Notre Dame’s offensive line and a skill group operating at an entirely different level. Rice doesn’t necessarily have to shut Notre Dame down, but if the Owls can’t force a few punts and keep the Irish from scoring quickly, their ball-control offense becomes considerably less useful.
THE GREAT UNKNOWN
Just how much better is Rice at running Abell’s offense in Year 2?
Last season provided some encouraging signs. The Owls averaged more than 200 yards rushing per game, but only 4.1 yards per carry and 19.1 points per game. Saturday looked different: Rice averaged 6.6 yards per carry, produced 27 first downs and possessed the football for nearly 40 minutes.
That’s exactly what Abell wants this offense to look like. But there’s an enormous difference between doing it against Houston Christian and doing it against Notre Dame.
So what happens when Rice’s option runs into an Irish defensive front that is bigger, faster and deeper than anything the Owls normally see?
We’re about to find out.
THE PLAYER WHO CAN CHANGE THE GAME
Jacurri Brown may not be Rice’s most accomplished offensive player, but he’s the guy who can make this offense particularly annoying.
A 227-pound quarterback who can run forces Notre Dame to defend all 11 players. Brown doesn’t have to throw for 250 yards to make an impact. He needs to make the correct reads, keep the chains moving and punish Notre Dame when a defender loses his assignment.
And that’s where the short week matters. The Irish played Wisconsin Sunday night and now have six days to recover, install a completely different defensive plan and prepare for an option offense they rarely see. Brown is precisely the kind of quarterback who can turn one missed assignment into 30 yards.
Notre Dame’s job is to make sure that doesn’t happen very often.
THE MATCHUP THAT MATTERS
Rice’s option offense vs. Notre Dame’s defensive discipline.
This isn’t really about whether Rice can physically overpower Notre Dame. It shouldn’t. The Irish have too much size, speed and depth. The question is whether Notre Dame can play disciplined football against an offense designed to make defenders hesitate — or get impatient.
The Irish have to read their keys, stay home on the backside, maintain leverage and tackle Brown when they have the opportunity. Don’t chase ghosts, don’t try to make somebody else’s play and don’t give Rice the explosive runs that allow the Owls to turn a three-yard offense into a 40-yard one.
If Notre Dame does that, eventually the talent difference should become overwhelming.
THE FIP BOTTOM LINE
Let’s not oversell this. Rice rushed for 465 yards Saturday, but it did it against Houston Christian. Notre Dame is a completely different proposition.
The Owls went 5-8 last season and averaged just 19 points per game. They’re walking into Notre Dame Stadium to face one of the best teams in the country, a team that just beat Wisconsin 41-13 and believes it can win a national championship.
Notre Dame should win this game comfortably. But Rice does bring one legitimate complication: the Irish have six days to prepare for something they don’t normally see.
Abell’s shotgun option spreads you out. Brown gives Rice a big, athletic quarterback. Jackson is a proven runner. And Saturday’s 465-yard performance showed what can happen when defenders start losing their assignments.
So this isn’t Navy, but it is option football. Respect the scheme, play your assignment, get Rice behind the chains and make the Owls throw the football. Then let the talent take over.
And after opening the season at Lambeau Field, Notre Dame finally gets to do it inside Notre Dame Stadium.
There’s no place like home.
VEGAS LINE: Notre Dame -44.5 | O/U 54.5
FIP PREDICTION: NOTRE DAME 48, RICE 10