College football on Saturday night and we will see the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs travel to Houston, Texas to take on the Rice Owls. The game has a start time of 7:00 pm (Eastern) and be will televised on CBSSN. Vegas odds have Rice listed as 15.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 52.
Analysis: The Bulldogs picked up their second consecutive win and third victory in four games last week as they completed a 36-13 rout of Southern Miss in Ruston. Skip Holtz's team improved to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in league action with the win. The Bulldogs offense has started to look better of late as they have gained at least 400 yards of total offense in three of their last four outings. Although Louisiana Tech has shown progression by scoring 23 points or more in its three most recent victories, it has averaged only 13.6 ppg in its five losses to FBS teams. Holtz's team has put itself in position for a late run to the postseason with above-average play on the defensive side of the ball. Louisiana Tech is fourth in the conference in points allowed (23.2 ppg) despite being four slots lower in total defense (393.1 ypg).
David Bailiff's Rice squad became bowl eligible by producing a five-game winning streak that consisted of decisions over Florida Atlantic, Tulsa, Texas-San Antonio, New Mexico State and UTEP. Rice could not sustain that momentum as they lost to North Texas on Halloween prior to last week's bye. Quarterback Taylor McHargue has struggled as a passer this year, completing only 52% of his throws for 1,579 yards, 12 TDs and eight picks, but he has done well as a runner with 358 yards and 5 Tds. Running back Charles Ross missed two games, but he is still averaging a league-best 114.0 yards per game in seven outings to go with 6 Tds. The Rice defense has been very good against the pass this year, allowing just 20.7 ypg through the Air to rank 15th in the nation. They are 82nd vs the run, but overall Rice allows just 378.9 ypg (43rd) and 23.7 ppg (46th).
Pick: I think the Bulldogs have a shot at keeping this one close. Their defense is playing very well right now, while their offense is waking up. Rice did beat up on some weak teams during their last 6 games, but they did struggle in a win over UTSA and they did lose vs North Texas, which are the best two teams they have played in that stretch. This one will be decided by a TD or less.
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