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Bring on the option: Notre Dame football to host Rice in 2026

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•07/03/25•

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Luke mccaffrey
Former Rice wide receiver Luke McCaffrey, who now plays for the Washington Commanders. (Tim Heitman-Imagn Images)

Notre Dame will host Rice on Sept. 12, 2026, the Irish announced Thursday morning, which means more option football is coming to South Bend.

Rice finished 4-8 in 2024. On Oct. 27, one day after losing to UConn and falling to 2-6, the Owls fired head coach Mike Bloomgren. They replaced him with Scott Abell, who was previously the head coach at Davidson, an FCS program.

Under Abell, Rice will join fellow American Athletic Conference teams Army and Navy in running the triple option. Abell’s system helped Davidson finish first in rushing offense in the FCS last season. Notre Dame will, once again, face two option teams in the same year — much like 2024, when it defeated both Army and Navy.

According to the SB Nation website Underdog Dynasty, which covers Rice, Abell’s offense is a “spread option” scheme — much closer to Navy’s modernized attack than Army’s three yards and a cloud of dust strategy. A feature by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football confirmed this; Rice’s option will operate out of the shotgun formation like Navy’s did in 2024.

Abell finished 47-28 in seven seasons at Davidson. Previously, he went 39-24 in six seasons at Washington & Lee, a Division III institution.

Notre Dame has faced Rice five times throughout the schools’ history, winning all five matchups. The first, a 55-2 Irish victory, took place in 1915. Most recently, then-Irish head coach Brian Kelly’s squad defeated the Owls 48-17 in 2014.

A member of the AAC since moving from Conference-USA in 2023, Rice has not finished over .500 since 2014. The Owls’ combined record since then is 35-81. They produced only three NFL Draft picks in that time frame, and only one since 2015: wide receiver Luke McCaffrey, a third-round pick of the Washington Commanders.

Rice made bowl games in both 2023 and 2022 — the First Responder Bowl and the LendingTree Bowl, respectively — losing both. The Owls’ last bowl win was the 2014 Hawaii Bowl, and its last double-digit-win season was the year before that in 2013.

The Owls are the 11th known Notre Dame opponent for the 2026 season, although the rivalry with USC is still up in the air beyond the current agreement, which ends in 2025. The Trojans prefer a one-year extension — played on their home field — while the Irish prefer a long-term agreement.

Notre Dame must schedule either one or two more games for the 2026 season, pending whether the USC game occurs.

Notre Dame football 2026 schedule: What we know so far

  • Sept. 6: Wisconsin*
  • Sept. 12: Rice
  • Sept. 19: Michigan State
  • Sept. 26: at Purdue
  • Oct. 3: at North Carolina
  • Oct. 31: at Navy**
  • Nov. 28: at USC***
  • TBA: Florida State
  • TBA: Miami
  • TBA: SMU
  • TBA: at Syracuse

* at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc.
** at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
*** If Notre Dame and USC extend their rivalry beyond 2025

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