North Texas Mean Green (1-6) vs. Rice Owls (3-4)
October 30, 2021 2:00 pm EDT
The Line: Rice Owls -2.5 / North Texas Mean Green +2.5; Over/Under: 55
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The Rice Owls meet the North Texas Mean Green Saturday in C-USA week 9 college football action at Rice Stadium. The North Texas Mean Green need a win here to snap a six-game losing streak. The Rice Owls look for a win after winning three of their last four games.
The North Texas Mean Green have lost four of their last five road games. Austin Aune is completing 52.3 percent of his passes for 851 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions. Roderic Burns and Jason Pirtle have combined for 659 receiving yards and four touchdowns while Damon Ward Jr. has 11 receptions. The North Texas Mean Green ground game is averaging 219.4 yards per contest, and DeAndre Torrey leads the way with 853 yards and seven touchdowns. Defensively, North Texas is allowing 35 points and 421.1 yards per game. KD Davis leads the North Texas Mean Green with 59 tackles, Grayson Murphy has 3.5 sacks and Makyle Sanders has one interception.
The Rice Owls have won two of their last three home games. Jake Constantine is completing 74.2 percent of his passes for 564 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Jake Bailey and Cedric Patterson III have combined for 555 receiving yards and two touchdowns, while August Pitre III has 10 receptions. The Rice Owls ground game is averaging 148.1 yards per contest, and Jordan Myers leads the way with 284 yards and six touchdowns. Defensively, Rice is allowing 37.4 points and 439 yards per game. Antonio Montero leads the Rice Owls with 47 tackles, Josh Pearcy has 3.5 sacks and George Nyakwol has two interceptions.
The Mean Green are 4-12 ATS in their last 16 road games and 10-25 ATS in their last 35 games overall. The Owls are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 conference games and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall. The under is 15-6 in Mean Green last 21 road games. The over is 5-2 in Owls last 7 games overall. The under is 3-0-1 in the last 4 meetings.
On the surface, you shouldn’t be running to the window to back either of these teams, that aren’t good on either side of the ball and are known for piling up the losses. With that said, North Texas is riding a six-game losing streak and is terrible defensively. The Rice Owls have their fair of struggles, but a lot of their numbers are skewed by their first three games. Rice has quietly on three of its last four games and is fresh off a road win over UAB. We’re not being asked to lay much here. Give me Rice.
