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Rice will be in front of their home fans on Saturday, but a look at the spread shows they might need that home-field advantage. They will take on the SMU Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Last Saturday, it was a hard-fought game, but Rice had to settle for a 30-28 defeat against Tulane. The close matchup was extra heartbreaking for Rice, who almost overcame a 20 point deficit.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Juma Otoviano, who rushed for 38 yards and two touchdowns. JT Daniels also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Meanwhile, SMU put the finishing touches on their fifth blowout victory of the season on Saturday. They really took it to Tulsa for the full four quarters, racking up a 69-10 victory at home. With that victory, SMU brought their scoring average up to 40.5 points per game.
SMU's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Camar Wheaton, who rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries, and Preston Stone, who threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes. The team also got some help courtesy of RJ Maryland, who picked up 95 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Rice's defeat dropped their record down to 4-4. As for SMU, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season.
While only SMU took care of their fans the last time they played, both teams pleased bettors by covering the spread. As for their next game, SMU is the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by 12 points. This contest will be their fifth straight as the favorites (so far over this stretch they are 3-1 against the spread).
Keep an eye on the end zone in Saturday's game as Rice and SMU haven't had much trouble getting there this season. The Owls command a daunting offense this season, having averaged 4.5 touchdowns per game. However, it's not like the Mustangs struggle in that department as they've been even better at 5.2 per game. With these two high-octane teams facing off on Saturday, fans should be in for an exciting offensive matchup.
