LSU vs. Rice Spread Prediction
The LSU Tigers essentially get another bye tonight in Baton Rouge when they host the 1-10 Rice Owls at 7:30 p.m. ET. Is it worth laying over 40 points with LSU tonight or is the underdog a better value?
Game Snapshot
395 Rice Owls at 396 LSU Tigers
7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, November 17, 2018
Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Tigers are 42.5-point favorites to beat the Owls. The total, meanwhile, sits at 52.5 points. As of this writing, 58% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Owls.
Rice Owls
Rice redshirt senior QB Shawn Stankavage completed 18-of-32 passes for 216 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions in Saturday’s 28-13 loss to Louisiana Tech. Stankavage was reportedly expected to miss the rest of the season after sustaining a foot injury back in mid-October, but he has made it back way ahead of expectations. Not only is it awesome that Stankavage’s career doesn’t end with an injury, but it also allowed Rice to redshirt quarterback Wiley Green. The Rice Owls’ offense struggled per usual, however, highlighted by Stankavage’s three interceptions. We think LSU will open as a slight favorite over Rice next week.
LSU Tigers
LSU redshirt sophomore CB Greedy Williams was named the top “lockdown” cornerback in college football by ESPN’s Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. The two draft analysts were asked to build the best defensive backfield they could, and Williams (6’3/184) isn’t the only LSU player on the list, with Grant Delpit being named the best deep-ball safety. Williams came into the year with plenty of hype, and he’s lived up to it for the stingy LSU defense. “Williams struggled a little bit a week ago against Alabama, but he doesn’t have much bad tape,” they write. “He has an extremely high ceiling and is a potential top-five pick.”
Betting Trends
Rice
The Owls are 5-2 against the spread in their last seven road games but 2-6 against the number in their last eight non-conference matchups.
LSU
The Tigers are 4-1 against the spread in their last five games versus Conference USA opponents but are just 1-5-1 against the number in their last seven non-conference games.
Prediction
Outside of a field goal on maybe their opening drive after preparing those plays all week in practice, I don’t see how Rice scores tonight. The Owls average 19 points per game and that’s mostly against Conference USA opponents. They’re 122nd in the nation in total yards per game, 106th in both rushing and passing yards per game, respectively, and 124th in scoring. On the other side, they’re 117th in the nation in points allowed. This is one of the worst teams in college football and even though this is a game that LSU couldn’t care less about, the Tigers could sleepwalk to 50 points tonight.
College Football Prediction: LSU Tigers -42.5