I like Stanford for the first half at -17.5. Stanford is hard to lay big points with because they focus on the running game and Shaw is conservative, but Rice's run defense was horrible last year, and Stanford should come out aggressive in this environment in Australia. Rice is starting a redshirt freshmen and I expect Rice to start slow. Stanford is bringing back 4 of 5 offensive linemen and the only significant replacement are along the defensive front.
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Stanford QB Keller Chryst is the guy that makes this team go. Once he took over the starting job in week 8 last season, Stanford went 5-0 averaging 39.6 points per game vs Pac 12 competition. He had 9 TDs with 1 INT. He was injured in the bowl game and missed some time in the off season. By all accounts, he is healthy and ready to start the season. Stanford loses their all world RB McCaffery and is being over looked. RB Bryce Love will take the reins and the drop off will not be as far as many expect. This offense gets 8 starters back including 4 OL. The defense also returns 8 starters. The offense scored 26.3 last season but is projected at 31.1 this season. The defense only allows 20 points per game. They allowed over 17pts only 4 times last season and 0 times to non-conference foes. The 2017 team plays USC next so they will stay pretty vanilla, but they can dictate the score. Stanford was 23rd in S&P margin in 2016 with an improved group for 2017.
Rice was 3-9 a season ago. They had 0 quality wins. They beat Prairie View A&M, Charlotte and UTEP. None of those teams are any good at all. There are 128 teams ranked in S&P ratings. Rice is 121 and Charlotte 125 with UTEP 122. Prairie View, not a Div 1 school! Now that we have established Rice as a poor team, they do return 7 starters on offense and 8 starters on defense. The team will be better, but it will matter more when playing teams more on the same scale as they are. Their major issue is QB. They have a transfer from Idaho who has talent but never played for Rice and is ranked 13th out of 13 CUSA schools. The RBs are 11th and the Rec 9th. The strength is OL which is 3rd in the conf. Rice allowed 37.3 points per game in 2016. That will improve with the starters returning. It will show up when they play their next game vs UTEP. It will not show that much against Stanford.Comment -
Good luck on on rice for the full gameComment -
I like first half over better. I could see it being 21-7 or 24-7 at half.Comment -
Boo it was 26.5 when I first looked at it.Comment -
Yes Rice has a lot of work to do... but this game is on the other side of the moon, lol. So no home crowd to help sustain drives. STAN probably gave those extra snaps(during spring) preparing for their next game vs USC. As RICE has given EVER extra snap for this game. Plus when does STAN pull their 1st string players if they are beating up on RICE early. Let alone I have seen this yr after yr... game 1 or 2 of the season, where teams like Rice with TeamTotals set at 10.5 score 14 to 17 pts. Back door covers are easy when your getting +30.5.
I have been gambling for +15yrs. If you like STAN, then you would probably be better off betting the TT o41. But way more value on +30.5 on the side. Especially since this would/should be a small play... BoL this season to every1.Comment -
Yeah, I'd much rather have my play than Stanford team total over 41. Shaw is one of the most conservative coaches in college football, with USC next week he's not going to be aggressive with playing calling late in a game where Stanford has a big lead. I am also betting Stanford first half, so pulling starters doesn't matter. I don't really see game planning as that important when the talent gap between these teams is significant, everyone knows what Stanford is going to try and do, either you can stop it or you can't.Comment -
csu and it aint gonna be close. get it live if you have to. returning everybody on offense.. should be explosive this year
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Fade this rice aroni team uhh i mean rice teamComment -
Take the 30Comment -
what has happened to rice? was nice little mid-major success story until last year?Comment -
Good callComment -
Nice bet! Kudos 🍔🍔🍔
Like anything today?Comment -
Glad they routed Rice. I took a friends 3 teamer and booked it my self. That was the last leg of it. Didn't have to sweat it. Good pick!
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