Texas Bowl

The head coaches from Rice and Western Michigan were in agreement Wednesday on one important point when they met the Houston media for the first time: the third annual Texas Bowl is where they wanted to be in the postseason.

Owls coach David Bailiff and WMU coach Bill Cubit were at Reliant Stadium Wednesday to kickoff media activities for the Dec. 30 bowl. Both agreed on the challenge presented by their opponent, each of whom will bring a 9-3 record into the game.

“This is the bowl Rice wanted and we are so thrilled to be here and have an opponent like Western Michigan,” said Bailiff, who was named Conference USA’s coach of the year Wednesday. “We wanted somebody that was a good football team, and that is exactly what we got.”

“This was our choice by far by our kids,” said Cubit. “It’s really an honor to come down here to such a great city and play such a great team like Rice.”

Both squads boast of one of the top passing attacks in the country; Rice is fifth and WMU ranks 10th. The Owls are led senior quarterback Chase Clement and receivers Jarett Dillard and James Casey, while the Broncos are led by junior QB Tim Hiller and senior receiver Jamarko Simmons.

“The first thing that jumps off at you is that they have a top 10 passing offense in the country, and then you put some video on and you also see that they can line up in ‘22’ personnel — two tights, two tight ends — and come downhill at you, so they’re very multiple offensively,” said Bailiff. “Defensively, they play very hard.”

Rice’s personnel is also familiar to Cubit. “I was on the All-American coaches selection committee, and the first name that came out of our region was Dillard from Rice, and all of a sudden we realized that this was our opponent and now we’ve got to go face him and everybody else there that they’ve got,” he said.

Tickets for the game, which start at just $15, may be purchased online at TicketMaster.com, on the phone at 832-667-2390 or in person at the Reliant Stadium box office inside Budweiser Plaza. Game tickets will also grant fans admittance to TexFest, a Texas-sized pregame party featuring a number of well-known local and national Texas music artists as well as team spirit walks when the teams arrive.

For more information, please contact Texas Bowl media relations director Zac Emmons at 832-667-2220 or via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).