Rice vs. Notre Dame Odds
SOUTH BEND, IN (The Spread) – No. 17 Notre Dame hopes a few weeks of distractions don’t lead to a loss when it hosts Rice on Saturday at 3:30PM ET on NBC.
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Notre Dame is coming off a 9-4 record in 2013 but recently handed down indefinite suspensions to four players for academic fraud. Rice is coming off a 10-4 record in 2013, which included a Conference USA Championship. These two last met in 1988, with Notre Dame getting a 54-11 victory.
Trends show that Rice is 4-0 against the spread in its last four games on grass and 7-2 ATS in its last 9 non-conference games. Rice has also hit the over in its last four games in August, but Notre Dame has hit the under in 25 of its last 35 home games.
According to oddsmakers from BetDSI, Notre Dame is the clear favorite at home, as the Fighting Irish have odds of -20.5 points against Rice. The over/under total for Saturday’s game has been set at 51 points (View Matchup). The opening odds for this game had Notre Dame favored by 26 points, but the spread quickly dropped following the suspensions, bottoming out at 20.5 points. The over/under total opened at 52 points and climbed to 52.5 before dropping to 51.
Notre Dame will be without Ishaq Williams (DL), DaVaris Daniels (WR), KeiVarae Russell (CB) and Kendall Moore (LB) while Notre Dame conducts an investigation into potential academic fraud. Three of them were penciled in to start for the Irish this year and Daniels was the leading receiver coming back from 2013. Still, Notre Dame has some hope behind Everett Golson, who returns after having a strong freshman season in 2012. The suspension really hurt the defense, who have just four returning starters right now.
Rice has plenty of confidence coming into this game after a Conference USA title from last year. The Owls bring back six starters on offense from a unit that averaged 29.6 points and 405.6 yards per game. The Owls will be working in a new quarterback and running back, but have a playmaker in receiver Jordan Taylor, who caught 55 passes for 848 yards and eight scores in 2013. Defensively, Rice held opponents to 24.4 points and 364.1 yards per game last season. Seven starters are back from that group, and the Owls are expecting the front seven to lead the way.
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In terms of Injuries, Notre Dame has no injury news, but will be without the key players who were suspended. Rice tight end Connor Cella is out for this game with a rib injury while receiver Jordan Taylor is probable with a foot injury.
The Public Bets for this game are backing Rice, as the Owls are getting 51% of the wagers with odds of +20.5 points against Notre Dame on Saturday.
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