We’ve got an interesting Thursday Night Football matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints on tap this evening, but today’s college football slate also looks enticing. Let’s dig into today’s Rice-Tulsa odds as we make our predictions and pick the best college football Week 8 bet! As always, make sure to check out OddsShopper’s bet shopping pages to ensure you get the best deal on the market.
Rice-Tulsa Pick & Betting Prediction | College Football Week 8
Rice-Tulsa Betting Odds
Odds via bet365
Rice: +135 | Tulsa: -155
Rice +3: -110 | Tulsa -3: -110
Over 58: -110 | Under 58: -110
Expert: Isaiah Sirois
Time: Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. ET
Rice-Tulsa Pick & Prediction
The Rice Owls will visit the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Thursday night. Despite most of the midweek card being underwhelming, Thursday’s games are both solid — the spread for each game sits at or around a field goal. Both Rice and Tulsa enter this game with 3-3 overall records and 1-1 conference records. The spread of three implies that the only real edge Tulsa has over Rice is the home-field advantage, but I disagree — Tulsa outranks Rice in several key metrics, and I’m backing the Golden Hurricane to score a home win in this spot — but make sure to read to the end to understand the full play.
Tulsa leads Rice in several metrics on both sides of the ball. For starters, Tulsa leads in the Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI), 96th to 109th. Tulsa’s offense ranks 93rd while Rice’s ranks 99th; Tulsa’s defense ranks 78th while Rice’s ranks 112th. Tulsa ranks only 97th in yards per play (4.9), behind 48th-ranked Rice (5.7), but that obscures the fact Tulsa has faced two top-six teams, Oklahoma and Washington. Rice has played Texas, but after that annual beatdown, the Owls haven’t played anyone threatening — and they even lost to UConn.
Rice runs a -heavy offense, and the raw data isn’t great for Tulsa’s ing defense, but let’s not forget that the Golden Hurricane have faced Michael Penix Jr. and Dillon Gabriel. Yes, it’s concerning that Tulsa ranks 96th in yards allowed per attempt (8.1), but they rank a far less concerning — even encouraging — sixth in the metric over the last three games (5.1). Rice ranks fourth in ing play percentage (64.2%) with quarterback JT Daniels, who ranks 29th in ing efficiency (157.4), so if Tulsa’s secondary can maintain that performance, the Owls are in trouble.
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Tulsa will also benefit from home-field advantage. Daniels is far outperforming his career average in ing efficiency (157.4 to 139.6) and seriously struggles on the road. His ing efficiency grade dips to 127.6 in hostile environments, and his interception rate jumps from 2.1% to 3.1%. Although Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren is 13-11 ATS as a road underdog, he has gone only 3-21 SU in those games. I’m not backing Tulsa to cover, but I’m teasing both them and James Madison down to +3.5 for a teaser with odds of -112 at FanDuel.
Rice-Tulsa Week 8 Pick: Tulsa +3.5/James Madison +3.5 -112 at FanDuel
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