The Rice Owls are the sports teams representing Houston's Rice University in college sports. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of the American Conference, Rice sponsors teams in eight men's and eight women's NCAA-sanctioned sports. Rice was a member of the Southwest Conference until its breakup in 1996. Rice then joined the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA, until joining the then-American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2023. The women's swimming team moved to the American in 2022 after CUSA dropped women's swimming & diving. Rice is the fifth-smallest school competing in NCAA Division I FBS football measured by undergraduate enrollment, just above the University of Tulsa's 2,756 and the three FBS United States service academies's approximate 4,500. Rice's rivals include the crosstown Houston Cougars.