Game Time: 3:30 pm ET, Saturday, October 23st, 2021

Venue:  Protective Stadium, Birmingham, Alabama

Where to Watch:  ESPN +

DraftKings:  Spread: UAB -23; Over/Under:  44.5 points

Circa:  Spread: UAB -23; Over/Under:  45 points

Caesars:  Spread: UAB -23;  Over/Under:  45 points

 

Rice:  1-1 conf, 2-4 overall C-USA West

UAB: 3-0 conf, 5-2 overall C-USA West

It’s another easy matchup in C-USA college football action… This is really a contest between you and your favorite Sportsbook…. A low O/U point total, yet a real big point spread. Forget the Entertainment Purposes and let’s make some money off of this one.

 

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Recent Form

Rice has 2 wins and 4 losses in the college football season.  Three of the losses were embarrassing blow-outs.  They lost to the Texas Longhorns 58-0, the UTSA Roadrunners 45-0, and the Houston Cougars 44-7…. The 4th loss was a closer game with the Arkansas Razorbacks 38-17.b The two wins were against the Texas Southern Tigers 48-34 and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 24-19.  Rice is a bad team this year.  The two wins are against the slimmest pickings of opponents.

 

UAB’s games have been a mixed bag.  UAB players give full effort all the time, but in college football sometimes you wind up against a team that has too much talent to overcome.  UAB’s first loss was to Georgia, a blowout loss, 56-7.  The second loss was to the Liberty Flames 36-12.  Everything else has been cake.  The 5 wins are against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks 31-0, the North Texas Mean Green 40-6, the Tulane Green Wave 28-21, the Florida Atlantic Owls 31-14, and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 34-0.  UAB is rolling in C-USA and Rice shouldn’t give them any problems, but can UAB live up to the current betting odds?  Can they handle the point spread?  You have to score a lot of points to cover when you are a 23-point favorite.

 

Rice is ranked 121st on offense in the FBS having scored 14 touchdowns on 309.7 ypg. 

 

UAB is 91st in the FBS on offense.  They have scored 20 TDs on 364.3 ypg.

 

 

Rice is 107th in the FBS on defense.  They have given up 31 touchdowns and 438 yards per game.

UAB is 30th in the FBS on defense.  They have given up 19 touchdowns and 320 yards per game.

 

 

Our prediction for Saturday, October 23rd is….   UAB 38 - Rice 10

 

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Rice is 1-5 ATS this season.

UAB is 13-7 ATS as a favorite the last 3 seasons.

UAB is 10-4 ATS after playing a conference game the last 3 seasons.

UAB is 8-2 ATS when playing a team with a losing record the last 3 seasons.

 

 

Rice: QB Jake Constantine, RB Jordan Myers, TE Jack Bradley, WR Cedric Patterson III, WR August Pitre, WR Jake Bailey, LT Clay Servin, LG Cole Garcia, C Shea Baker, RG Braedon Nutter, RT Jovaun Woolford

UAB: QB Dylan Hopkins, RB Jermaine Brown Jr, TE Hayden Pittman, WR Shamario Rudolph, WR Trea Shropshire, WR Ryan Davis, LT Kadeem Telfort, LG Colby Ragland, C Andrew Smith Jr, RG Matthew Trehern, RT Sidney Wells

Rice:

Passing Yards:  Jake Constatine 564

Rushing Yards: Jordan Myers 264

Receiving Yards: Jake Bailey 245

Tackles:  Antonio Montero 44

Interception: George Nyakwol 2

UAB:

Passing Yards: Dylan Hopkins 973

Rushing Yards: DeWayne McBride 532

Receiving Yards: Gerrit Prince 357

Tackles: Noah Wilder 42

Interceptions:  Starling Thomas 2

COACHES:

Rice:  Mike Bloomgren is the Head Coach of Rice and has been for 4 seasons. He has a record of 9-27.  He still has a full bucket of enthusiasm though.

 

UAB: Bill Clark.  He got the job in 2014 and has posted a record of 45-24.  He has won the C-USA West championship 3 times from 2018-2020. Ultimately winning the Conference USA championship in 2018 and 2020.

 

Sunny.  78* for the high. Humidity 58% with 5 mph wind.