Brown won't be doing it alone. Running back Quinton Jackson is back for a 4th season after piling up a career-high 889 rushing yards, and his double-overtime masterpiece against UConn — 180 rushing yards, 80 receiving yards, 4 total touchdowns — is the kind of tape that makes Rice's backfield the scariest part of this roster heading into 2026.
Houston Christian, meanwhile, is coming off a rough 2-10 season and just 1-7 in Southland play, and now steps up a level to face an FBS opponent in just its second game of the year. Jason Bachtel is in year 3 at the Huskies' helm looking for any signs of progress, but a trip to Rice Stadium against a team that just landed a proven mobile quarterback is a tough spot to find them.
The bigger question for Rice isn't whether it wins this one — it's whether the defense looks any different. All four Owls who posted at least 2.5 sacks in 2025, led by Tony Anyanwu's team-high 6.5, are gone, and rebuilding a pass rush from scratch is one of Abell's stated offseason missions. A game like this against an FCS opponent is exactly the low-risk environment to let new faces like Nwajuaku get their reps against real competition before conference games start punishing mistakes.
Don't expect much drama. This is a get-right game for a Rice program still chasing its first winning season in over a decade, and a measuring-stick trip for a Huskies team that needs marked improvement just to get back above .500 in its own conference.