Houston Cougars’ quarterback Conner Weigman (1) looks to throw the ball during the first half of an NCAA college football game against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Houston, Texas. Oscar Herrera / The Cougar
Saturday night won’t just be another installment of the Bayou Bucket Classic. It could be the last, at least for the foreseeable future.
When it was announced that Houston and Rice would cancel the final two Bayou Bucket meetings in 2026 and 2027, it raised the question of whether the two programs would ever face each other again.
The Houston Chronicle reported that athletic directors for both schools are exploring future games for the Bayou Bucket, but Eddie Nuñez said continuation wouldn’t arrive until at least 2030.
The teams could not continue to match up due to scheduling conflicts that are mainly due to the different trajectories of the two programs, since Houston joined a Power 4 conference.
For now, the Bayou Bucket trophy is still an opportunity for Houston to gain momentum heading into its first Big 12 matchup of the season, and for Rice to hold bragging rights against its crosstown rival, which resides just 3.6 miles away.
One of the players who could help Houston retain the Bayou Bucket has captured the trophy before, for the opposing side.
First and only? Chance at history
Houston native and senior running back Dean Connors, who spent his previous three seasons with Rice before transferring in the fall, knows all about the Bayou Bucket Classic.
He’s been on the losing end twice in 2022 and 2024 but was a key contributor in Rice’s 43-41 double overtime upset over Houston in 2023, ending a streak of seven consecutive Cougar victories in the rivalry.
Connors rushed for 48 yards, caught seven passes for 82 yards and was used as a kick returner for the only time in 2023, returning one for 15 yards.
He also has a chance to become the first Cougar to hold the Bayou Bucket as both an Owl and a Cougar. Despite sharing close bonds with some of his Rice teammates all of it goes out of the window on Saturday in Connors’ eyes.
“For that 60 minutes, I’ve got to play them like I don’t know them,” he said.
He’d be doing it as one of the frontmen on the Cougars’ offense, sharing carries with sophomore J’Marion Burnette, who rushed for 40 yards on 10 carries against Stephen F. Austin in the season opener.
Connors added 50 rushing yards on 15 carries and recognizes there’s still room for improvement as he and the Cougars head into week two.
“I thought I could have played better. There are things you want back, but that’s all about week one,” Connors said. “The best teams take the biggest jumps from week one to week two, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Rice’s offense
For Houston to take the jump in week two that Connors and the rest of the team aim for, it’d have to begin with containing Rice’s “Gun Choice” spread offense, which is skewed towards keeping the ball on the ground, at least it was in week one.
The system was brought over from coach Scott Abell, who was appointed head coach in November of last year.
Abell spent 2018-24 at Davidson, running a similar offensive scheme, which has led to coach Willie Fritz studying plenty of its tape.
“Coach Abel’s got a fantastic system, and they’ve run for a lot of yards over the years at Davidson,” Fritz said.
Rice ran the ball 55 times in its 14-12 win over Louisiana in week one, including its pair of sophomore running backs Quinton Jackson and Daelen Alexander, who combined for 37 carries and 193 yards.
Sophomore quarterback Chase Jenkins only threw the ball nine times during the contest, going 7-for-9 for 45 passing yards.
Fritz has experience running similar types of spread offenses, dating back to his time with Sam Houston State from 2010-13 and Georgia Southern from 2014-15.
“They did a really nice job on Saturday against Louisiana,” Fritz said. “Something that we’re working on, worked a little bit on it during preseason camp and had an opportunity to work on it a lot today.”
“Getting ahead of the eight ball” on offense
Despite junior quarterback Conner Weigman throwing three passing touchdowns, 159 passing yards and Houston going 3-for-3 in the red zone in week one against SFA, Fritz knows his offensive unit as a whole has room for improvement.
“We put ourselves behind the eight ball a few times where we had opportunities to score points,” Fritz said. “And we either had a minus play or we had a bust.”
Houston had three plays near midfield that resulted in punts, and had five three-and-outs, including the first two drives of the game.
Fritz graded the offensive line’s performance a “C-“ after Thursday’s matchup against SFA, and noted pre-snap penalties and limiting pressure on the interior as mistakes that can be addressed.
He had praise for the running back room and their overall performance against SFA in week one, including Connors, Burnette, senior Stacy Sneed and freshman DJ Butler. The quartet ran for a combined 149 yards on 37 carries.
Still, Fritz made it clear that production only goes so far without consistency, which no position group on the offense exempt.
“I talked to a couple of the guys today and told them, ‘you want to play more, don’t bust during practice, then don’t bust on Saturday at the game,’” Fritz said.
Houston will make the 3.6 mile drive to Rice Stadium for Saturday’s 6 p.m. matchup, in the 47th all-time meeting between the two schools.
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