The Marshall Thundering Herd and Rice Owls will battle for the Conference USA Championship tomorrow afternoon when they square off at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas. Saturday's meeting between Marshall and Rice is scheduled to get underway at 12:00pm ET on ESPN2. Saturday College Football Odds have the Thundering Herd listed as a -6.5 against the spread road favorite; the Over/Under is set at 61 points.
Marshall was a popular choice to win the Conference USA's East Division this season, and it did just that last weekend's with a dominating win over a good East Carolina team.
Marshall buried the Pirates 59-28 at Edwards Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia to improve to 9-3 overall and 7-1 in conference play. The Herd, as the score would indicate, had a special offensive day, converting 10-of-14 on third down while amassing 539 total yards.
Marshall also ran for 267 yards at five yards per clip and it averaged 9.7 yards per pass on 28 pass attempts.
The victory was the Thundering Herd's fifth in a row and it also marked the third time in their last five games that they scored 56 or more points.
While Marshall was, as mentioned, one of the favorite to win the East, most pundits had Tulsa as the favorite in the West Division.
The Golden Hurricane were, obviously, a huge disappointment, finishing the season with just three wins, but their collapse helped open the door for Rice to take the division.
The Owls season got off on the wrong foot as they lost non-conference games to Texas A&M and Houston, but they barreled through their league brethren, posting a 7-1 conference record.
Rice finished its regular season slate on a three game winning streak; it knocked off Louisiana Tech, UAB, and Tulane after suffering a 16-28 road loss at North Texas on Halloween.
Series Notes and Notable Trends: Marshall is 3-1 in its last four meetings with Rice, but is 1-2-1 opposite the number in those same for games. The Thundering Herd are 1-8-1 against the spread in their last 10 games as a road favorite with a total of 54.5 or more points. Rice, however, is 6-1 against the spread and 4-3 straight up in its last seven games as an underdog with a total of 54.5 or more points.
Marshall Thundering Herd vs Rice Owls College Football Odds:
Marshall Thundering Herd -6.5 (-115), Over 61 (-110), -250 (Moneyline)
Rice Owls +6.5 (-105), Under 61 (-110), +210 (Moneyline)
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