Baylor
vs.
Rice
Friday Night
College Football Pick
9/16/16
Rice gets another shot at Baylor, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot. The Bears won this Game 70-17 last year as quarterback Seth Russell led the way with 277 yards and six touchdowns on only 16 pass attempts. That’s one of the more ridiculous stat lines you’ll see from a quarterback.
Unfortunately for Russell, a lot of that damage was done with WR Corey Coleman, who’s now in the NFL. Either way, expect a similar outing for Baylor, but the spread will come down to how many points they can Scorein the second half when the backups come in. In their opener as a 55-point favorite, the Bears failed to cover mostly due to just seven points in the second half. That could always be the case in Games like these.
Nothing looked much different from Rice in their opener, falling to Western Kentucky 46-14. They lost to the Hilltoppers 49-10 last year, so almost right in line with that. The Owls are working in a new quarterback and just don’t have the offensive prowess to keep up with high-scoring teams such as WKU and Baylor.
Under center, Tyler Stehling is a senior, but his time has been limited throughout the years. He failed to throw a touchdown in the opener, but his mobility took center stage as he ran for 85 yards and a touchdown. But that was against Western Kentucky. Baylor’s defense is leaps and bounds better than WKU’s and that could be an issue for Stehling and Rice aiming to reach double-digit points. In the last matchup, Rice QB Driphus Jackson garnered -9 yards on 14 carries (sacks included). Basically, he had no room to run.
As for the Rice defense, there doesn’t look to be any hope for them in this Game, after getting torched by the Hilltoppers for 500-plus passing yards. Russell is in line for another nice Game for the Bears, similar to the 2015 Game, but maybe not to the same extent. Expect a huge first half once again for Baylor, which makes a first-half play on the Bears maybe the safer pick.
Once Baylor gets the lead and takes their foot off the gas, expect the duo of Shock Linwood and Terence Williams to dominate the ground Game before giving way to JaMycal Hasty and Wyatt SChrepfer in the backfield.
In the meeting last year, the Bears were surprisingly only a 33-point favorite. But now after a big opening win for Baylor and big loss for Rice, this one is a little bigger. Expect another 50-plus point outing for Baylor, if not more.
Our Pick – Baylor -33