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On Thursday, the Texas Longhorns confirmed the Wednesday report that the Horns will face off against the Rice Owls in three upcoming non-conference games. The Horns will travel to Houston to play the Rice Owls at NRG Stadium in 2019 and then host the Owls in Austin in two subsequent years, according to FBSchedules.com.
Rice will receive $1 million for playing the game at the home of the Houston Texans on September 14, 2019. In the first two weeks of that season, Texas will host Louisiana Tech and LSU, with the school announcing the addition of the Bulldogs on Thursday. The 2019 game against the Bulldogs will be the first match up between the two schools.
The two follow-up games against Rice will happen in 2021 and 2023 at a cost of $2.5 million to the Longhorns. The other non-conference games scheduled in those two seasons are a road trip to Arkansas in 2021 and a road trip to Ohio State in 2023, respectively.
The last matchup between the Owls and Longhorns in Houston came in 2010, an unsatisfying 34-17 victory that in many ways presaged the struggles to follow in a season where Texas went 5-7 and missed a bowl game. The Horns hold a 72-21-1 advantage in the lopsided series that last featured a 42-28 win in September 2015.
Texas currently has the non-conference schedule set in 2017 and 2019, with one game needed in 2018, and two games needed in 2020 to secure the opponents for the next five seasons.