NCAA Football
2011-09-24 - Rice Owls at Baylor Bears
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NCAA Football Week 4
Saturday 24 September 2011 - Kick Off 7pm ET
Midnight (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Baylor Bears (2-0) really put themselves in the national spotlight with an opening week win over TCU, but the focus is clearly on Robert Griffin III, one of the leading contenders for the Heisman Trophy this season. The task is for the Rice Owls (1-1) to slow him down this week.
The key to the whole Baylor team is how well Griffin III plays, and he has been brilliant so far in their opening 2 games of the year. Griffin has 8 TD passes with zero Interceptions and it is telling that he has as many TD passes as he has incompletions.
Griffin also provides balance with his ability to pull the ball down and run with the ball where is averaging 6.4 yards per carry. The QB is ably backed up by Terrance Ganaway who has 2 rushing TDs himself and is averaging 6.1 yards per carry in the opening 2 games of the season.
Many are still unsure what to expect from the Baylor Defense that had performed so well for so long against TCU in Week 1 before being decimated in the final 15 minutes and almost blew that win. They were much better against an overmatched Stephen F. Austin school last week.
The Rice Owls had a bye week last week but should be confident after beating Purdue in Week 2 with a last minute blocked FG. However, they were comfortably beaten at Texas in the opening game of the season.
The Owls Offense has Taylor McHargue at QB who bounced back from a really disappointing effort at Texas by throwing for 230 yards against Purdue with 2 TD passes to his name. They have averaged just 288 yards of total Offense in their opening 2 games of the season.
The Defense has also struggled against the run by allowing Texas and Purdue to combine for over 200 yards on the ground as well as 3 TDs. Scott Solomon will need to have another big game for this unit if they are to cause a surprise- the DE has 2 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss on the season, leading the way for the Owls.
Tyler Stephenson (CB) is a doubt for Baylor after an injury suffered in Week 1 and he was sat out in Week 3.
Rice are still likely to be missing Trey Briggs (LB) who recorded 47 tackles and 9 starts last season. Briggs was hoping to be back for Week 2 after tearing an ACL last season, but he missed the win over Purdue and remains doubtful.
Head to Head
Baylor beat Rice 30-13 on the road last season and have won the last 5 meetings between the schools going back to 1993.
The Bears have also won all of those games against the spread and they beat the Owls 42-17 the last time they played in Texas.
Baylor are 1-0 against the spread this season, Rice are 1-1.
Other Interesting Notes
Baylor are 4-1 against the spread in their last 5 games as the favourite.
However, they are 1-4 against the spread in their last 5 games following a straight up win of 20 points or more.
Rice are 8-19 against the spread in their last 27 games against non-Conference opponents.
They are 2-9 against the spread in their last 11 games against Big 12 opponents.
The Owls have lost their last 4 games against the spread when considered the road underdog of 10.5 points or more.
Prediction
Baylor should have far too much for Rice in this game, who may be forgiven for looking ahead to their first Conference game next week.
Robert Griffin III's abilities will give Rice plenty of problems and I expect the Owls to eventually be overmatched by a powerful Offense.
I am looking for Baylor to make another statement of their intentions for the season before their first Conference game next week at Kansas State.
The Pick :
Baylor Bears 38-16 Rice Owls
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the Baylor Bears -20.5 Points @ 1.95
