Two teams trying to climb out of the American Conference basement finally play each other, and by mid-November it'll be clear which rebuild is actually working.
Bush’s Picks
RICETEM
RICETEM
OverUnder
Best BetTemple
Temple's the safer outright lean here mostly because of continuity — 9 returning offensive starters and an intact line give the Owls a floor that a QB competition alone shouldn't erase by November. Rice is asking a first-year transfer to run a run-based offense in a conference where the Owls were picked near the bottom, which is a tougher outright projection at this range. Home field in Philadelphia only adds to the case.
Rice
+Quinton Jackson returns after 889-yard rushing season
+Jacurri Brown's dual-threat game fits Abell's option scheme
−Finished 5-8, lost 4 of last 5 to close 2025
−Picked 12th of 14 teams, projected under 3.5 wins
Temple
+Nine offensive starters and 80% of O-line return
+Elite ball security last year — only 4 turnovers, +11 margin
−Must replace starting QB with unproven three-man battle
−Six straight seasons without a bowl appearance
Rice enters 2026 having handed the keys to UCF transfer Jacurri Brown, a run-first quarterback who fits Scott Abell's option attack about as well as anyone the Owls could've found on the portal. Brown's numbers won't jump off the page — 906 career passing yards, 821 rushing — but that's the point of this offense. It's built to control the ball and lean on Quinton Jackson, who ran for a career-high 889 yards a season ago and is back for a fourth year in Houston.
Temple's story is different. K.C. Keeler's second season starts with the best foundation the program has had in years — 9 offensive starters return, and 80% of the offensive line is intact outside of right tackle Diego Barajas. The catch is the most important spot on the field is wide open. Evan Simon's departure leaves a three-man scramble between transfers Jaxon Smolik and Ajani Sheppard and incumbent backup Camren Boykin, a room with almost no game snaps between them entering camp.
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RICE Rice
TEM Temple
By the time these two get to Thursday, November 19, both programs will have played 10-plus games of real evidence about whether the bet paid off. Temple's turnover discipline last year was elite — just 4 giveaways all season and a +11 turnover margin — and if that carries into a new starter's first extended run, it's the kind of thing that keeps Temple in low-scoring games it has no business winning. Rice, meanwhile, was picked 12th in a 14-team American Conference and projected for fewer than 3.5 wins, so anything resembling progress by November would already be a story.
Rice Owls
Nov 13?vs Tulane—
Nov 6?@ North Texas—
Oct 16?vs Tulsa—
Oct 9?@ East Carolina—
Oct 2?vs UTSA—
Sep 26?@ Fresno State—
Sep 19?vs Western Michigan—
Sep 12?@ Notre Dame—
Sep 5?vs Houston Christian—
Temple Owls
Nov 13?vs UAB—
Nov 7?@ Navy—
Oct 30?@ East Carolina—
Oct 16?vs Charlotte—
Oct 9?vs UConn—
Oct 2?@ South Florida—
Sep 25?vs Army—
Sep 19?@ Toledo—
Sep 12?vs Penn State—
Sep 5?vs Rhode Island—
Recent form.
The bigger question for Rice is whether last year's pattern repeats itself. The Owls opened 2025 winning 3 of 4 before dropping 4 of their next 5 and finishing 5-8 — a hot start that didn't hold. If Brown and Jackson can keep the option game humming into the second half of this schedule, that's the tell that Abell's program is actually building something instead of just flashing early.
For Temple, the fourth-down numbers from last season say a lot about this staff's identity — a fifth-nationally 73.7% conversion rate isn't an accident, it's an aggressive, ball-control program that trusts its offensive line. Whichever quarterback wins that summer competition inherits a group built to protect him and an identity that doesn't need him to do much beyond not turning the ball over. Both of these teams have been living on the margins for years; this is a game about who's finally found a way out.
