Rice @ Houston preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 21, 2013 ) Houston 31, Rice 26

Houston will put the nation's longest active home win streak on the line when the Cougars host crosstown-rival Rice on Saturday night. The Cougars have won 15 straight at home while the Owls are playing their third straight game away from home, although this one is only a five-mile trip.

Houston first-year coach Major Applewhite and Rice coach David Bailiff both praised the play of Houston sophomore defensive tackle Ed Oliver in last week's win at Arizona. "He truly is the most disruptive defensive lineman I've seen in college football," Bailiff told the media Tuesday. "He dominates football games. And if he's not making the play, he's disrupted the play somehow. And he doesn't take plays off." Oliver was named the American Athletic Conference's Defensive Player of the Week after 11 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble in the Cougars' opener. Rice has its own defensive standout in senior linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee, who has 19 stops in two games after being named the Conference USA's preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN3. LINE: Houston -22.5.

ABOUT RICE (1-1): Running back Sam Stewart has team highs in rushing yards (160) and receiving yards (75) for a squad averaging 19 points and 339 yards. Freshman Sam Glaesmann is 17-of-36 for 200 yards with one interception in his first two starts, although his one touchdown pass was a 52-yarder to Aaron Cephus in last weekend's win over UTEP. Ellerbee, defensive end Blain Padgett (eight tackles, 1.5 sacks) and the Owls held the Miners to 26 rushing yards after they gave up 287 to Stanford in the opener.

ABOUT HOUSTON (1-0): Junior quarterback Kyle Allen, in his first action in 21 months after transferring from Texas A&M, threw for 225 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown against Arizona in his debut. Dillon Birden (14 carries, 83 yards, TD) and Duke Catalon (18 carries, 79 yards) split the work in the backfield, while Linell Bonner (nine catches, 59 yards, TD) and Steven Dunbar (six catches, 72 yards) were Allen's top targets. Those two will be counted on even more this weekend as D'Eriq King (knee) is questionable for Saturday, while Ellis Jefferson (concussion, knee) has already been ruled out and is expected to miss at least three weeks.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Houston-Rice and UCLA-USC are the only scheduled games this year to feature two FBS schools from the same city.

2. Houston enters the weekend tied with TCU (31) for most wins by a Texas FBS school since the start of 2014.

3. Applewhite was the offensive coordinator and QB coach at Rice in 2006 - the youngest coordinator at the FBS level that year - before stops at Alabama (2007), Texas (2008-13) and Houston (offensive coordinator 2015-16).

PREDICTION: Houston 38, Rice 17