Fresno State has added two football games with old conference opponent Rice.
The teams will face each other in a home-and-home series in 2026 and 2027.
When they’ll play: Fresno State will host Rice at Valley Children’s Stadium on Sep. 26, 2026.
- The Bulldogs will make the return trip to Houston on Sep. 11, 2027.
Further: Along with the Rice matchup, Fresno State also announced that it added a home game against Cal Poly on Sep. 16, 2028.
- That means the program has its entire nonconference slate scheduled out through 2028, with partial schedules through 2032.
Flashback: Fresno State and Rice were members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) together from when Rice joined the conference in 1996 until the university left for Conference USA in 2004.
- The ‘Dogs lead the all-time series against Rice at 6-1, winning six in a row from 1999 to 2004.
- But Rice won the last matchup 30-6 in the 2014 Hawaii Bowl.
Here’s a look at Fresno State’s nonconference schedule for the next several years:
2024
August 31 – at Michigan (Big Ten)
Sep. 7 – Sacramento State (Big Sky)
Sept. 14 – New Mexico State (C-USA)
Nov. 30 – at UCLA (Big Ten)
2025
August 23 – at Kansas (Big 12)
August 30 – Georgia Southern (Sun Belt)
Sep. 6 – at Oregon State (Pac-12)
Sep. 13 – Southern University (SWAC)
2026
Sep. 5 – at USC (Big Ten)
Sep. 12 – Sacramento State (Big Sky)
Sep. 19 – at Washington State (Pac-12)
Sep. 26 – Rice (AAC)
2027
August 28 – Utah Tech (UAC)
Sep. 4 – at Washington (Big Ten)
Sep. 11 – at Rice (AAC)
Sep. 18 – Washington State (Pac-12)
2028
Sep. 2 – Stanford (ACC)
Sep. 9 – at USC (Big Ten)
Sep. 16 – Cal Poly (Big Sky)
Sep. 23 – at Georgia Southern (Sun Belt)
2029
Sep. 1 – at Stanford (ACC)
Sep. 15 – Texas Tech (Big 12)
2030
Sep. 7 – at Texas Tech (Big 12)
Sep. 14 – Kansas (Big 12)
2031
Sep. 13 – at Kansas (Big 12)
2032
Sep. 4 – UCLA (Big Ten)
Sep. 11 – at Texas Tech (Big 12)
