Rice vs Southern Miss 10/2/21 College Football Picks, Odds, Predictions

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the Rice Owls square off Saturday night in C-USA college football action from Rice Stadium.

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles will try to rebound from a 63-14 dismantling at the hands of Alabama last time out. Ty Keyes has thrown for 338 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 INTs on 50% passing while Trey Lowe has a touchdown, 2 picks and 232 yards on 54.8% passing. Frank Gore Jr. leads USM’s ground game with 281 rushing yards while Grayson Gunter leads the Golden Eagles with 97 receiving yards. On defense, Malik Shorts leads the Golden Eagles with 27 total tackles while Josh Carr Jr. has 3.5 sacks this season.

The Rice Owls will be out to build on a 48-34 win over Texas Southern in their last game. Jake Constantine has thrown for 351 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 78.9% passing while Luke McCaffrey and Wiley Green each have 180+ passing yards this season. Jordan Myers lads the Owls in rushing with 224 yards while Khalan Griffin has 216 rushing yards this season. Cedric Patterson III, Hake Bailey and the aforementioned Myers each have 100+ receiving yards this season. On defense, Antonio Montero leads the Owls with 33 total tackles while Ikenna Enechukwu has a pair of sacks.

Southern Miss is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 conference games and 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games as an underdog while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games against a team with a losing record. Rice is 6-2 ATS in their last 8 conference games and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 home games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall.

This may be one of the worst games on the card as these are two C-USA teams I want nothing to do with. With that said, I’ll side with Rice because they’re at home and have some semblance of what they’re doing while Southern Miss can’t do much of anything right and I don’t trust their quarterback situation. Give me the Owls at home here.