I was looking for someone to pick the ND - Rice game besides myself.
When the news came out about the ND suspensions, I was able to get ND at -20.5.
I like ND in this game. I think the Rice QB is going to have a very difficult time. He was projected as a WR coming out of HS because, though he has a strong arm, he is erratic, which has been the case in his limited snaps on the college level, completing 5 of 16. He is very athletic, but so are ND's top 2 QBs, and they are much better passers. So the ND defense has been well-prepped coming into this game to face Rice. And the Rice QB has not been able to practice against the speed and athleticism of ND's defense. Tough position for his first collegiate start. ND's new defensive coordinator loves to blitz and will be sending rushers at this guy from all directions. I think the one chance the Rice QB will have is to break off a long run or long pass against the ND defense, but I don't expect that to be enough.
When ND is on offense, I think the Irish have way too many weapons for Rice to contain. ND has much speed at WR and Corey Robinson (David Robinson's son) is very tall and catches everything - another match-up nightmare. ND's RBs may be the best in 2 decades for the Irish.
Many ND fans believe ND's back-up QB is better than their starter, and he made his disappointment known when he did not win the starting job (hard to do when the starter was 11-1 in 2012, losing only to 'Bama). If ND jumps out ahead and he gets into the game - he'll have much to prove and it should not slow-down the ND offense.
You might normally expect Rice to have a motivational edge in this game, but I think the recent academic suspensions will eliminate that. Also, their QB (Golson) should be very motivated coming off an a 1-year academic suspension. Another carrot for the Irish is that there is a lot of competition at key positions (like RB and WR), and everyone needs to worry about locking down their starting position.
Add it all up, and I expect ND to win very comfortably with ND over 40 and Rice no more than 17.