Week 3: Rice vs Louisiana 9/17/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Rice Owls and Louisiana Ragin Cajuns do battle Saturday in week 3 college football action from Rice Stadium.

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns will look to build on their 49-21 win over Eastern Michigan last time out. Chandler Fields has thrown for 314 yards and 5 touchdowns on 56.1% passing while Ken Wooldridge has 237 passing yards with 2 touchdowns on 79.2% passing. Terrence Williams leads the Cajuns in rushing with 91 rushing yards while John Stephens Jr. and Michael Jefferson each have 100+ receiving yards so far this season. On defense, K.C. Ossai and Kam Pedescleaux each have 12 total tackles with Marcus Wiser logging a pair of sacks.

The Rice Owls will try to bounce back after a 52-10 win over McNeese State last time out. TJ McMahon has thrown for 339 yards with 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on 59.1% passing while Cameron Montgomery’s rushed for 100 yards to lead the Owls on the ground. Bradley Rozner leads Rice in receiving with 107 receiving yards while Luke McCaffrey has a team-high 9 catches for 97 yards. On defense, Myron Morrison has a team-high 9 total tackles with 7 solo tackles while Ikenna Enechukwu has 2.5 sacks to lead the Owls in that department.

Louisiana is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games while the under is 3-1-1 in their last 5 games against C-USA. Rice is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games overall and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 non-conference games while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 games overall.

I get the case to be made for either way here and I didn’t love how Louisiana looked in their debut, the reality is that they still found a way to win both of their games comfortably. Rice got shellacked by USC, and frankly I don’t like what Rice is bringing to the table. Billy Napier may be gone to Florida from Louisiana, but he left the cupboards full. Give me the better team laying the points and that’s Louisiana.