Two of Conference USA's finest teams, Rice and North Texas, will lock horns tonight in a nationally televised Halloween contest. This evening's holiday showdown between the Owls and Mean Green is scheduled to kickoff at 7:30pm ET on FOX Sports 1. The latest Thursday College Football Picks from 5Dimes are favoring North Texas at -3 against the spread and -160 on the money line ($160 wins $100). The total in tonight's rivalry clash is set at 52.5 points.
Rice is presently tied with Tulane atop the CUSA West standings with a 6-2 overall record and a 4-0 conference mark, but lurking in the shadows are Dan McCarney's Mean Green.
North Texas is 5-3 with losses to Ohio, Georgia, and Tulane, but each of those came on the road. The Mean Green are 3-0 at home with wins over Idaho, Ball State, and Middle Tennessee and they ride a three game winning streak into tonight's contest, having downed the Blue Raiders, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, and Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
Obviously the most impressive of those victories is the one over Ball State, which is 8-1 on the season. However, a closer look at the box score from that game features some disturbing numbers. The Cardinals turned the ball over five times and held the ball for just 22:24, but they still managed to rack up 496 yards and they averaged 7.2 yards per pass and 8.2 yards per carry.
Rice would seemingly have enough talent to challenge the Mean Green in the same manner so long as they avoid turning the ball over.
The Owls also have a lot of momentum right now, having reeled off five straight wins over Florida Atlantic, Tulsa, UTSA, New Mexico State, and UTEP. Rice notched three of those wins away from home and it acquitted itself well in a road outing against Texas A&M and a neutral site battle with a high powered Houston squad.
Notable Trends: Rice is 2-0 both straight up and against the spread in its last two meetings with North Texas. The Owls are also 5-1 both straight up and against the spread in their last six games as a road dog with a spread between 0 and 3.5 points.
Thursday College Football Picks Rice vs North Texas:
Rice Owls +3 (-105), Over 52.5 (-110), +140 (Moneyline)
North Texas Mean Green -3 (-115), Under 52.5 (-110), -160 (Moneyline)
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