Evanston is more urban than Houston and it’s way more convenient to get around without a car. So the city vs suburb comparison is not really informative.
Northwestern B school (Kellogg) has been known world-wide for a long time; Rice is not in the same tier.
Northwestern just beat Pittsburgh, which was a decent team that beat Clemson (national champ) and Penn St (BIG champ) during the regular season. While they get beat by better teams, they also beat some good teams…