Rice, A&M to renew football rivalry in 2013

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Rice and Texas A&M plan to renew their football rivalry in 2013, marking the first time the two schools have met since the breakup of the Southwest Conference.

The Owls and Aggies will play Aug. 31, 2013 in College Station in the season opener for both teams.

"Rice and Texas A&M have a deep tradition on the football field, and we are excited about the chance to renew this series next year," Rice athletic director Rick Greenspan said.

The agreement is for one year, but Greenspan said the two schools will explore adding future games against each other.

"It makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons," he said. "The proximity and there is a long history there. I'm a real believer that one of the worst things we can do is to lose a sense of tradition that's made college football so unique."

Rice and A&M first met in football in 1914 and a year later the two schools were part of the original group of eight institutions that formed the SWC.

Aggies 50-27-3 in series

The Aggies beat the Owls 17-10 in their last meeting Nov. 9, 1995 at Rice Stadium.

A&M joined Texas, Baylor and Texas Tech in a merger with the Big Eight schools to form the Big 12 the following season.

The Aggies, who join the Southeastern Conference in July, lead the series 50-27-3. Rice hasn't beaten A&M since 1980, a 10-6 victory in College Station.

A&M was previously scheduled to play at Florida International on the same date.

With five non-conference games in 2013, the Owls must do some additional shuffling. The Owls are scheduled to play Kansas at home, Houston at Reliant Stadium and road games against Wake Forest and UTSA.

Owls retool schedule

Greenspan said Rice's scheduling philosophy is to have one revenue-generating road game, the Bayou Bucket game, a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) home game and a fourth game - providing the Owls play an eight-game conference schedule - as a home-and-home series.

The Owls already have scheduled revenue games at Notre Dame (2014) and Texas (2015).

"We're trying to retool our schedule, as most people around the country are retooling," Greenspan said, "based on people that were in your conference that are now non-conference and folks that have gone from eight-game to nine-game league schedules."

joseph.duarte@chron.com twitter.com/chronicle_owls