Rice Owls vs UTSA Roadrunners Game Preview and Prediction - 10/16/2021

Game Time: 6:00 pm ET, Saturday, October 16, 2021

Venue:  Alamodome, San Antonio, TX

Where to Watch:  ESPN+

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  Rice +18.5, UTSA -18.5; Over/Under:  53.5 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  Rice +18.5, UTSA -18.5; Over/Under:  53.5 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Rice +18.5, UTSA -18.5; Over/Under:  54 points

 

Rice Owls:  2-3 (5th place, C-USA West)

UTSA Roadrunners:  6-0 (1st place, C-USA West)

 

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Rice Owls:  won at home on Oct. 2 against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles 24-19.

UTSA Roadrunners:  won on the road on Oct. 9 against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 52-46.

 

 

 

Rice is coming into this NCAA football game with a 2-3 record overall and they are 0-2 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. This will be their 2nd conference matchup of the year and they are already off to a good start with a 1-0 record in their conference games this season. Their win came against Southern Miss in their last game. They won that game 24-19 in a game that they were leading for most of the time. They had a bye last week so they have an extra week to prepare for this game as well, coming into it on a 2 game winning streak. Jake Constantine had a good game as he completed 16/22 passes for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns. Cedric Patterson III led the team in rushing with 38 yards and 1 touchdown on 1 carry while Jordan Myers led the team in carries with 10 for 20 rushing yards. They did not really have much of a run game going for them in that one. Jake Bailey led the receivers with 83 yards and 1 touchdown while Jack Bradley had 47 yards receiving on 5 receptions. Overall, it was a pretty quiet day for the receiving corps. George Nyakwol led the defense in that game with 5 solo tackles, 4 assisted ones, 1 sack and 1 interception. Elijah Garcia led the defense in sacks with 2 while Trey Schuman and Ikenna Enechukwu both had 1 sack each as well. Nyakwol along with Naeem Smith, Myles McCord, and Kirk Lockhart all came away with 1 interception each in that game which was overall, a great day for the defense. They have scored 96 points in their first 5 games averaging 19.2 PPG and they have allowed their opponents to score 193 points against them allowing 38.6 PPG. Their offense is averaging 349.8 YPG while their defense is allowing 445 YPG.

 

 

The University of Texas San Antonio is coming into this college football game with a 6-0 record overall and they are 3-0 in their home games this season where they will be in this game. This will be the 3rd conference matchup on their schedule this year and they are already off to a great start with a 2-0 record in their conference games this season. Their 2 wins came against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and against WKU in their last game. They won that game 52-46 in a game that was close the whole time but they maintained a slight lead for the entire length of the game. Frank Harris had a great game at the quarterback position as he completed 28/38 passes for 349 yards, 6 touchdowns and 1 interception. Sincere McCormick led the team in rushing with 120 yards on 23 carries but he was pretty much their whole running game in that one. De'Corian Clark had a very nice day as he led the receivers with 160 yards and 3 touchdowns on 7 receptions. Joshua Cephus also had a good game with 83 receiving yards and 1 touchdown on 8 receptions while Zakhari Franklin had 8 receptions as well for 50 yards. Both Harris and Cephus caught a TD pass and threw a TD pass in that game. Rashad Wisdom led the defense in that game with 11 solo tackles and 2 assisted ones. Dadrian Taylor also played well with 6 solo tackles and 2 assisted ones while Antonio Parks was right behind with 6 solo tackles and 1 assisted one. Brandon Matterson and Trumane Bell both combined for the only sack in that game by them while Clarence Hicks came away with the only interception for the defense in that one. They have scored 225 points in their first 6 games averaging 37.5 PPG and they have allowed their opponents to score 134 points against them allowing 22.3 PPG. Their offense is averaging 453.5 YPG while their defense is allowing 360.2 YPG.

 

UTSA is coming into this game as an 18.5 point favorite with the total set at 53.5 points with the current betting odds according to Draftkings Sportsbook. UTSA has been great this year with their undefeated record, they are finding ways to win close games and in blowouts scoring a lot of points in the process. Rice played a great game on defense in their last one but that was against a struggling USM team and that was really the only game this year where they did not allow more than 20 points on defense. UTSA will be able to move the ball here and score a lot of points on Rice but Rice will also score some as UTSA definitely has some holes in their defense as well. This will be a high scoring game as both teams score some points with a lot more coming from UTSA. The best bet to place in this game is on the over as there will be a lot of points scored in this game.

 

Rice UTSA Prediction:  Our NCAAF Pick for Saturday, October 16, 2021 (6:00 pm ET start time) is UTSA 42 Rice 17.

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Rice Owls: 120-88 O/U in all games. 42-30 O/U when the total is between 49.5 and 56. 87-64 O/U as an underdog. 52-33 O/U as a road underdog. 63-37 O/U in road games. 77-62 O/U against conference opponents.

UTSA Roadrunners: 18-25 ATS as a favorite. 11-19 ATS as a home favorite. 23-31 ATS in home games. 34-36 ATS against conference opponents.

 

 

Rice Owls:  B. Rozner (WR) Ques Sat - Undisclosed injury. A. Pitre III (WR) Ques Sat - Undisclosed injury. W. Green (QB) Ques Sat - Undisclosed injury.

UTSA Roadrunners:  B. Brady (RB) Ques Sat - Undisclosed injury. K. Davis (C) Out indefinitely - Undisclosed injury.

 

 

Rice Owls: Jordan Myers is one player to watch in this contest. He leads his team in rushing yards and in touchdowns scored this season. He is coming off of a game where he did not play well at all and did not even lead the team in rushing in that game. He will be looking to change that in this game so look for him to get a lot of touches and try to set the tone early in this game with their running.

 

UTSA Roadrunners: Sincere McCormick is one player to watch here. He leads his team in rushing yards and in touchdowns scored. He is coming off of a game where he had over 100 rushing yards and he will be looking to continue that here. His team has a very good offense this season and he is part of the reason why so look for him to get some big runs in this game and find the end zone.

 

 

“The five sacks and four interceptions were things that really changed the game. I think the defense did a great job putting them behind the sticks and punishing [Southern Miss] when they had the ball. We are all very proud of our defense for finishing the fourth quarter the way that they did.” - Mike Bloomgren on his team’s defensive play in their win over Southern MIss.

 

 

"Last night, we witnessed history, so find a friend, make a plan and #PackTheDome for Homecoming," - the UTSA twitter account after their team started the season 6-0 coming into this next game.

 

 

 

WR Patterson III, Cedric 

WR Mason, Andrew 

WR Bailey, Jake 

TE Bradley, Jack 

QB Constantine, Jake 

RB Myers, Jordan 

FB Suckley, Brendan 

 

WR Bradley, Tre'Von 

WR Franklin, Zakhari 

WR Cephus, Joshua 

TE Watson, Leroy 

QB Harris, Frank 

RB McCormick, Sincere 

 

Passing: J. Constantine (543)

Rushing: J. Myers (244)

Receiving: J. Bailey (232)

Touchdowns: J. Myers (5)

Sacks: E. Garcia (3)

Tackles: N. Smith (17)

 

Passing: F. Harris (1475)

Rushing: S. McCormick (661)

Receiving: J. Cephus (457)

Touchdowns: S. McCormick (6)

Sacks: T. Bell II (3.5)

Tackles: R. Wisdom (27)

 

Coaches:

Rice Owls: Mike Bloomgren (4th season)

UTSA Roadrunners: Jeff Traylor (2nd season)

 

76 degrees F mostly sunny, 41% humidity, 0% chance of rain, up to 14 mph wind speeds NE.