By – Kevin Vallego
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The Rice Owls (2-1) pay a visit to Tampa, Florida and Raymond James Stadium on Saturday to play against the South Florida Bulls (1-2). Rice defeated Texas Southern 59-7 last weekend to improve to 2-1 after opening with a loss to Texas of 37-10 followed by a 43-41 victory over Houston. South Florida was defeated by Alabama 17-3 last Saturday but the Bulls played very well and were tied at the half 3-3. South Florida opened its season with a 41-24 loss to Western Kentucky followed by a 38-24 victory over Florida A&M before losing to Alabama. Rice does not have any players listed on his injury report, while South Florida quarterback Gerry Bohanon is out.
Rice needs to make more stops on defense
Rice is allowing an average of 28.3 points per game which is 97th in the country. The Owls are allowing an average of 138.7 yards rushing and 221.3 yards passing for a total of 360.0 yards per game which is 73rd in the nation. Safety Plae Wyatt is the leading tackler for Rice with 17, while the leader in quarterback sacks is defensive end Coleman Coco with 2.5. Rice has 7.0 quarterback sacks and quarterback Tre’shone Devones has the only interception for the Owls.
Rice is scoring an average of 37.3 points per game which is 37th in the nation. The Owls are averaging 109.0 yards rushing and 268.0 yards passing for a total of 377.0 yards of total offense per game, which is 80th in the nation. Rice quarterback JT Daniels has 805 yards passing with eight touchdowns and three interceptions. Dean Connors has rushed for a team best 137 yards and has one touchdown, while true freshman Daelaen Alexander has rushed for five touchdowns. Luke McCaffrey has 11 receptions for 171 yards and four touchdowns to lead all receivers.
South Florida needs to tighten up its defense
South Florida played well versus Alabama allowing just 17 points but on the season the Bulls are allowing an average of 27.3 points per game which is 91st in the country. South Florida is allowing an average of 117.0 yards rushing and 272.3 yards passing per game for a total of 389.3 yards per game which is 101st. Linebacker Jhalyn Shuler is the leading tackler with 21, while the leader in quarterback sacks is defensive back Daquan Evans with 3.0. South Florida has 9.0 quarterback sacks and three interceptions.
South Florida’s offense is scoring an average of 21.7 points per game which is 106th in the nation. The Bulls are averaging 225.7 yards rushing which is 12th best and 162.3 yards passing which is 119th, for a total of 388.0 yards per game of total offense which is 72nd. South Florida’s offense is led by quarterback Byrum Brown who has thrown for 450 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions. Brown is also the leading rusher for South Florida with 275 yards and four touchdowns, while Nay’Quan Wright has 210 yards rushing. Sean Atkins has caught 16 passes for 142 yards to lead all receivers.
Rice lost its season opener to Texas, but bounced back with two consecutive victories over Houston and Texas Southern. Rice looks strong on offense, scoring an average of 37.3 points per game with a solid passing game that averages 268.0 yards per game. The defense for Rice is a bit suspect allowing an average of 28.3 points per game but faces an opponent in South Florida that is scoring an average of just 21.7 points per game while allowing an average of 27.3 points per game. Although Rice scored just 10 points against Texas, the Owls put up 43 points on the board against Houston and 59 points against Texas Southern. In the Houston victory, Rice gained 470 yards of total offense and against Texas Southern gained 485 yards of total offense. Rice quarterback JT Daniels has been hard to stop with 805 yards passing and eight touchdowns
Prediction: Rice Owls
Written By Kevin Vallego , “Kevin V.”
Kevin grew up in a sports-only household. Every afternoon was set to watching any sport that was on T.V. After years of watching sports he got introduced to the betting world, and soon stats, trends, and odds were Kevin’s best friends. Now, almost 2 decades later, His life revolves around sports, writing about them, and betting on them. We are glad to have Kevin on our Winners & Whiners & StatSalt teams and you should be happy that we have him as well.