Rice, A&M agree to home-and-home football series

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Rice is renewing an old rivalry.

The Owls added another marquee opponent to its future schedule with a home-and-home series in 2014 and 2019 with Texas A&M, the school announced Friday.

The Owls will travel to College Station on Sept. 13, 2014, enhancing an already attractive non-conference schedule that includes the season opener at Notre Dame.

Texas A&M will return to Houston for a game at Reliant Stadium in 2019. It will mark the first time the Aggies and Owls have played in Houston since 1995, the final season of the Southwest Conference.

Financial terms of the agreement were not available. A lack of available road dates for A&M is the reason for the five-year gap between games.

Rice and A&M played in the season opener this season at Kyle Field.

"There was a common desire to not have the game in August be a singular addition to that legacy and we began preliminary discussions on future games even before we played this year," Rice athletic director Joe Karlgaard said. "We are thrilled to add these two additional games to the series."

The Owls and Texas A&M have agreed to a home-and-home series.

The Owls and Texas A&M have agreed to a home-and-home series. Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Rice, A&M agree to home-and-home football series 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

With the addition of A&M, the Owls have completed their non-conference schedule for next season with games at Notre Dame (Aug. 30) and Army (Oct. 11) and a home game with New Mexico State (Sept. 6).

That means the annual Bayou Bucket game against the University of Houston will be interrupted for the first time since 1998.

"Both schools have known that once we were no longer members of the same conference, playing every year would be extremely difficult," said Rice senior executive athletic director Rick Mello, who oversees schedule negotiations. "The Bayou Bucket has endured previous interruptions without losing any of its significance to both schools. We will explore future dates when we can resume the series with Houston."

The Owls and Aggies have been longtime rivals, meeting in football for the first time in 1914. They met annually from 1920 until the break up of the SWC in 1995. The schools resumed the series this season, with A&M winning 52-31 in College Station.

A&M leads the all-time series 51-27-3.