Rice Owls 2019 College Football Preview

College Football Predictions – Rice Owls 2019 College Football Preview

2018 Recap

Record – 2-11

ATS – 7-6

It was a rough ride for the Rice Owls in year one of the Stanford-style reboot as they only managed to win a pair of games. One was a tense opener vs something called Prairie View A&M, and the second taste from the VICTORY CHALICE came in the final week of the regular season when they took care of Old Dominion.

There’s some talent on board in 2019, but the team is still fairly young. What are realistic expectations for this season?

2019 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating

West Division – #7

Conference USA – #14

Rice Owls 2019 Outlook

OFFENSE

It was a struggle once again last year as the Owls failed to reach the 20 PPG mark (18.9) for the second consecutive season. It’s not designed to be a flashy offense but things need to get better. Hope is on the horizon. It’s unclear who will start under center in week one, but the most intriguing option is Harvard grad transfer Tom Stewart. There’s also a pair of men in the QB room that got some game action last season. Let’s see how things play out during fall camp.

The Owls have to try and get that running game going in order to give the quarterback a fighting chance to effectively MATRICULATE the ball down the field in the passing game. It’s not going to be easy to achieve that goal given the departure of their top-two leading rushers from a season ago. Juma Otoviano has interesting potential and maybe Harvard grad transfer Charlie Booker can make an impact? The best news about the Owls’ offense is that they boast one of the better 1-2 WR combos in Conference USA. Austin Trammell and Aaron Cephus combined for almost 1,200 yards and 8 TDs in 2018 and the totals would have been much higher if they had adequate QB play. The offensive line returns just a pair of starters but is buoyed by Stanford grad transfer Brian Chaffin who looks to get the nod as their starting center.

Our CONFERENCE USA OFFENSIVE PROJECTION INSIDERS are calling for an increase in production to 20+ PPG this year but they will still be one of the weaker offenses in the conference.

DEFENSE

The Owls were pretty rotten on defense last year and gave up 6.9 yards-per-play which was by far the worst in C-USA. They weren’t on the field as long as many other stop units in the conference thanks to the offense’s slow pace of play. This year six starters return to the mix and things don’t look too rosy on paper. The DL only returns one starter and they don’t appear to have adequate size to hold up against decent-sized offensive lines. The secondary returns a pair of starters but they are very young overall, and recall that the Owls allowed a nasty 28-8 TD to INT ratio a season ago whilst yielding 63% completions. The lack of PENETRATION and pressure on the quarterback didn’t help (17 sacks, last C-USA) but we don’t see much changing in that regard. We will end on a good note. The LB group looks solid and returns the entire starting trio.

It feels like another long year ahead. If the offense can stay on the field a bit longer and play at their preferred slow tempo it will benefit the defense. Let’s hope.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The special teams was a bright spot last year but there are a lot of changes in the wind. They need to replace their solid PK,P combo but at least Austin Trammell returns to the return units (27.4 KR avg LY). It will be interesting to see if the Owls can reload effectively in the kicking game.

Schedule Analysis

Overall – It doesn’t look pretty. They start with four nasty non-conference games (at Army, Wake Forest, Texas, Baylor) and get a rude introduction to SWEET C-USA ACTION when they tackle Louisiana Tech and UAB.

Potential ATS Trouble Spot – Wake Forest (September 6)

This match-up comes after the Army game (chop-blocked for three hours and leave the field covered in bruises) and before the tilt with Texas. They won’t beat the Longhorns but will have that game circled on the calendar for a max effort.

Season Win Total

Over 2.5 +160

Under 2.5 -185

MEGALOCKS says:

Lean to the under but not crazy about the extra juice. Assuming they beat UTEP in the season finale, it’s still hard to find two more wins.

MEGAmazing Tidbits

Rice last appeared in a bowl game in 2014 and kicked Fresno St’s teeth in by a score of 30-6.

Sammy the Owl is the official mascot of the the Rice Owls and is an elected position of the Rice University Student Body.

MEGALOCKS ATS Outlook: Negative

We think the Owls are headed on the right track, but it’s just hard to see much hope on the short-term horizon. The most reasonable expectations appear to be to get better as the season rolls along and pull a big upset or two along the way. Then strive for a bowl game in 2020.

Rice has met market expectations from an ATS perspective booking a mark of 61-59-5 over the past ten years. It’s hard to not have a slightly negative opinion on their point-spread covering potential, but we must concede that they went 7-6 vs Vegas last year despite only winning a pair of games.

In any event, go Rice!

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WEBSITE

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News

http://www.chron.com/sports/rice/

http://www.ricefootball.net/

http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/242/rice-owls

http://bleacherreport.com/rice-football

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/teams/rice-owls