Wake Forest vs. Rice fearless prediction and game preview.
Wake Forest vs. Rice Broadcast
Date: Friday, September 6
Game Time: 8:00 ET
Venue: Rice Stadium, Houston, TX
Network: CBS Sports Network
– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions
Wake Forest (1-0) vs. Rice (0-1) Game Preview
Why Rice Will Win
Do the Owls have a defense this year?
The team is depleted of talent, it doesn’t have a whole lot of reliable playmakers, and the offense is still a major question, but it’s a smart – it’s Rice – group that seemed to have figured something out. At least, it wasn’t awful against the high-powered Army offense.
The defense was able to keep the Knights to just 231 yards on the ground, and the offense managed to not screw up and not give up plenty of easy chances. The punting of Adam Nunez helped a bit in the field position, but the D not giving up the big run was the key – the tackling was solid.
Against Wake Forest, the power running game has to start working – a big dash or two from Nahshon Ellerbe and Aston Walter is a must – but …
Why Wake Forest Will Win
Army’s defense is just okay, and Rice had one big play. There’s no passing game to rely on, and 54 of the 243 yards of total offense came on one run. It’s going to take a whole lot more than that to deal with the Wake Forest O.
The Demon Deacons might not have had much happening on the defensive side in the 38-35 win over Utah State, but the offense was unstoppable. Cade Carney ran for 105 yards, Jamie Newman threw for over 400 yards and three scores, and they rolled up 579 yards.
It might just take two drives to put Rice away.
There’s just no offensive punch to these Owls. They’ll try to control the clock and the tempo with the ground game, and it’ll work for a drive or two, but there won’t be any passing attack for the Demon Deacons to worry about.
What’s Going To Happen
Rice will run for well over 200 yards, and it won’t be nearly enough. The Demon Deacons will need about a quarter to kick it all in, and then they’ll go on a nice scoring run and the Owls won’t have any ability mount any sort of response until it’s way too late. Rice will score early, and it’ll score late, but the middle two quarters are going to be an issue.
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Wake Forest vs. Rice Prediction, Line
Wake Forest 38, Rice 17
Line: Wake Forest -17.5, o/u: 57.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5
Must See Rating: 2
5: Hustlers
1: Where’d You Go Bernadette
NEXT: Each Team’s Schedule, Predictions So Far
Each Team’s Schedule, Predictions So Far
2019 Rice Football Schedule
2019 Record: 0-1
2019 Preseason Prediction: 0-12
2019 Preseason C-USA Prediction: 0-8
2018 Record: 2-11
Aug. 30 at Army L 14-7
Sept. 7 Wake Forest L
Sept. 14 Texas L
Sept. 21 Baylor L
Sept. 28 Louisiana Tech L
Oct.5 at UAB L
Oct. 12 OPEN DATE
Oct. 19 at UTSA L
Oct. 26 Southern Miss L
Nov. 2 Marshall L
Nov. 9 OPEN DATE
Nov. 16 at Middle Tennessee L
Nov. 23 North Texas L
Nov. 30 at UTEP L
2019 Wake Forest Football Schedule
2019 Record: 1-0
2019 Preseason Prediction: 6-6
2019 Preseason ACC Prediction: 2-6
2018 Record: 7-6
Aug. 30 Utah State W 38-35
Sept. 7 at Rice W
Sept. 12 North Carolina W
Sept. 21 Elon W
Sept. 28 at Boston College L
Oct. 5 OPEN DATE
Oct. 12 Louisville W
Oct. 19 Florida State L
Oct. 26 OPEN DATE
Nov. 2 NC State L
Nov. 9 at Virginia Tech L
Nov. 16 at Clemson L
Nov. 23 Duke W
Nov. 30 at Syracuse L
