The Stanford Cardinals and the Rice Owls are going to settle their differences Down Under, on August 26th, 2017 at 10:30 p.m. EST. The game will take place at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia. The non-conference match-up can be seen on the ESPN Network. Las Vegas has the Cardinal as a lofty -31 point favorite and the contest’s total at 50.5.
After getting completely assimilated by Stanford in their season finale, the Rice Owls now get to travel to Australia to relive their nightmare. Last year, Stanford whopped the Owls 41-17 to wrap up the 2016 regular season.
Last season, the Cardinal went 10-3 and beat the Tar Heels in the Sun Bowl. The Rice Owls finished off their campaign at 3-9 and watched the bowl games at home with you and me.
The Owls were beaten badly by Stanford in the season finale of last season. Therefore, they will look for a better showing this time around Down Under. Rice surrendered over 500 total yards in the game including 374 on the ground.
Stanford Cardinal
Star running back Christian McCaffrey is now playing with Cam Newton, but the Cardinal does get back starting signal-caller Keller Christ. He is coming off a knee injury and while he should go, he is still questionable. Last year, Christ completed 77 passes for over 900 yards with 10 touchdowns and two picks.
Bryce Love will be the new starting tailback for the Cardinal. Last season, love rumbled for 779 yards and averaged seven yards per carry. Against the Rice Owls, rushed for 111 yards. Once again Love will benefit from running behind yet another great Stanford offensive line.
Stanford also has some solid wide receivers back in the mix. JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Trenton Irwin will provide open spaces for Keller Christ to toss the ball to. Throughout the 2016 season, the two wideouts battled for the top receiver spot. Arcega-Whiteside notched 24 catches for 379 and five scores. Irwin reeled in 37 balls for 442 yards and one score. Neither were factors in the game against Rice.
The Stanford secondary is one of the better ones in the country. Against the Owls in week 13, they only allowed 15 receptions on 48 passes. Now, the Cardinal defensive front is the concern. Defensive end Joey Alfieri needs to step up his game. Last season, Alfieri recorded five sacks and should cause havoc in the Rice Owls’ backfield.
Rice Owls
The Rice Owls quarterback competition is an open one. As of now, it looks like Jackson Tyner should get the start. He also started the game against the Cardinal to close out the year. In that contest, he was only 10 for 37 with 68 yards.
Obviously, Rice will look to run the ball against Stanford. The Owls will turn to running back Sam Stewart. In 2016, Stewart rushed for 479 yards in only four games. Teammate Austin Walter will also pitch in. Walter gained almost 350 yards and four trips to paydirt. The Rice Owls’ offensive line was hit hard by injuries last season. Fortunately for Owl fans, all five starters are back.
Hoping to add balance to the Rice Owls attack, wideout Kylen Granson will try to make some plays. Granson shed his redshirt at midseason and finished second in receptions with 33 and yards 381. Also at 6’4″ and 205 pounds, redshirt freshman receiver Aaron Cephus gives the Owls’ a big-play target.
The Rice Owls brought Brian Stewart on board as their new defensive coordinator. Previously, Stewart was the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys and Houston. He has seven returning starters to work with.
Most notably, Emmanuel Ellerbee. Ellerbee is an All-Conference USA first-team linebacker. It is of the utmost importance that the Owls put up some kind of resistance to the Cardinal rushing attack.
Prediction
Sin City has this game picked to be another blowout. The -31 point line is evidence that that is the case. Nevertheless, the Rice Owls will do their best to not only cover the 31 points but be competitive. The game’s over/under is 50.5. This says to me that Vegas isn’t giving the Owls a chance to move the ball down the field at all. We shall see.
Honestly, I see this game being just like last season’s affair. Once again, the Cardinal will not be able to be stopped on the ground. However, I do think that the Rice Owls are good for at least 14-17 points.
The underdog covered the spread last season, and that was with Christian McCaffery and company. The Rice Owls will do the same thing again. For Stanford to cover by my prediction, they would need to score 48 points. I think that is a stretch with an uncertain starter and the loss of McCaffrey. The over seems playable to me but I personally am not playing it. Stanford 38-13 over Rice.
Trends
Cardinal are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 neutral site games.
Cardinal are 45-22-1 ATS in their last 68 games on grass.
Under is 4-1 in Cardinal last 5 games on grass.
Over is 4-1 in Cardinal last 5 neutral site games.
Under is 25-12 in Cardinal last 37 Saturday games.
Owls are 15-5-2 ATS in their last 22 non-conference games.
Owls are 5-2-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall.
Under is 6-1 in Owls last 7 neutral site games.
Over is 5-1 in Owls last 6 games overall.
The getmoresports.com NCAA College Football Throwdown Podcast will be returning to the air on August 24th. We will be highlighting the first five games on August 26th of the 2017 NCAA College Football season. That will be the first of three installments leading into the first week of the season. We also we will be covering our expectations for the Heisman Trophy front-runners as well as predictions for conference winners and team totals.
Our second NCAA College Football Throwdown is penciled in for August 29th. In that installment, we will be discussing all the games that will be played on August 31st and the 1st of September.
Our third segment will officially be airing on August 31st. In this edition of the NCAA College Football Throwdown, we will be covering all the relevant games for Sept 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
Keeping with tradition, EJ the Rainmaker and Erik the Hun will give their predictions for the contests. On top of that, we will be providing our dog play of the podcast as well as cash money plays for the week. Join us for all three opening episodes and improve your college football knowledge while increasing the size of your sports book betting account. Come join us and help everyone make it rain. #moneytreesgrow
