Rice Owls vs Arkansas Razorbacks Prediction, 9/4/2021 College Football Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Rice Owls vs Arkansas Razorbacks

Date: Saturday, September 4, 2021

Location: Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, AR

TV: ESPN+

Odds/Point Spread: Razorbacks (-20)

Total/Over-Under: 50.5

Razorback Stadium is the location where the Arkansas Razorbacks (3-7 last year) will play the Rice Owls (2-3 last season) on Saturday. Arkansas opens this contest as 20-point favorites. The over/under is 50.5.

The Rice Owls finished the season with a 2-3 record. The last time they took the field, the Owls went up against the UAB Blazers and took a loss by a score of 21-16. Jovoni Johnson went 17/23 with 139 yds passing and 1 TD. He had a quarterback rating of 139.0 and finished the contest without throwing a pick. Khalan Griffin was the best rusher for the Owls with 14 carries for 34 yds (2.4 yards per carry). For the game, they ran 72 plays which converted into 232 yards. The Rice Owls rushed the ball a total of 39 times and tallied 66 yards, which is an average of 1.7 yds per attempt. When it came to stopping the run, the Owls gave up 137 yds on 34 tries, which is 4.0 yds per run allowed. Rice relinquished 9 pass completions on 18 tries for a total of 217 yards, and a completion percentage of 50.0%.

The Owls racked up 1,680 total yards for the prior campaign. They turned the football over 8 different times. Rice compiled 11 passing touchdowns and 1 touchdown. Rice tallied 108 1st downs as a team, and they were flagged for 17 penalties for 119 yds. As a unit they had an average of 120.8 yards rushing, which ranked them 112th in D-1. In terms of getting in the endzone, the Rice Owls were sitting at 23.4 points per game.

When talking about passing yards, the Owls allowed 1,004 yards which had them ranked 24th in the country. In their 5 games, they yielded 200.8 yards per game through the air as well as relinquishing a completion percentage of 59.7%. They surrendered 341.6 yards per game which had them sitting 34th in college football. They granted 5 touchdowns through the air in addition to 5 touchdowns on the ground. Opposing teams ran for an average of 4.1 yards per run and 140.8 yards on the ground per game last season. Overall, they conceded 704 yards via the running game in 5 games. The Owls were ranked 24th in college football in terms of their opponents scoring, giving up 18.8 PPG.

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The Razorbacks wrapped up their season with a 3-7 record. When they last stepped on the field, the Razorbacks took a loss by a final score of 52-3 when they played the Alabama Crimson Tide. Feleipe Franks ended the contest with 90 yds on 8/10 passing while his quarterback rate was 155.6. He didn't toss any interceptions and his average yards per pass attempt was 9.0. Trelon Smith ran the football 19 times for 69 yards, ending the contest with 3.6 yds per carry for Arkansas. The Razorbacks finished the contest with a total of 188 yds while they ran 60 plays (3.1 yards per play). Arkansas ended up running for 1.9 yds per carry, finishing with a total of 80 yards on 43 carries. Arkansas relinquished 38 run attempts for 216 yards (5.7 yds per rush). The Razorbacks secondary gave up a completion percentage of 81.8%, surrendering 227 yds on 27 for 33 through the air.

The Arkansas Razorbacks maintained an average of 391.5 yards per outing which had them sitting 67th in Division 1. They gave away 6 picks while letting opponents recover 7 fumbles and they recorded 207 1st downs. They had an average of 151.3 run yards per game and toted the ball for 1,513 yards overall. The Arkansas offense accrued 457 yards of penalties on 64 infractions, which was good for 38th in D-1 in terms of helping out the opposition. Last year, the Razorbacks threw for 2,402 passing yards as well as an average of 240.2 passing yards per game, putting them at 52nd in the nation. When looking at the points being put on the board, the Razorbacks had a ranking of 86th in college football averaging 25.7 points per game.

The Razorbacks allowed 34.9 points per game, which had them sitting 110th in Division 1. In total, they conceded 349 points in total. Arkansas allowed the opposition a total of 1,921 rushing yards (192.1 yards/game) as well as 21 touchdowns rushing last season. They surrendered 18 touchdowns through the air and 259.6 yards per game, ranking them 117th in the nation. The Razorbacks defense was on the field for 799 plays, which had them ranked 128th in the nation. Their defense tallied 5 fumbles recovered and 13 interceptions over the course of the prior season.

Who will win tonight's Owls/Razorbacks college football game against the spread?

Guy's Pick: Take the Razorbacks -20

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