Rice Owls (3-2) vs. Florida Atlantic Owls (2-4)
The Rice Owls head to FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, in Week 7 of the 2022 college football season to take on the Florida Atlantic Owls. These two Conference USA foes meet for the first time since 2016 when Florida Atlantic beat Rice 42-25 as a 3.5-point road favorite.
Rice opened as a 5.5-point road underdog, but at the time of writing, the visitors were listed as 3.5-point dogs. Florida Atlantic is a -170 moneyline fave with a total of 56.5 points at the moment.
The Rice Owls had an extra week to rest and prepare for a tough conference matchup against Florida Atlantic. They are coming off a big 28-24 victory to UAB in Week 5, stunning the Blazers as 10.5-point home dogs. The Owls started conference play on a high note while improving to 3-2 straight up and 4-1 ATS on the season.
Rice erased a ten-point halftime deficit in Week 5. The Owls racked up just 209 total yards while holding the Blazers to 360, but Rice won the turnover battle 2-1, while Treshawn Chamberlain returned a fumble to give Rice a four-point lead midway through the third quarter. Ari Broussard had 15 carries for 32 yards and a couple of touchdowns, and TJ McMahon completed 11 of his 17 passing attempts for 104 yards and a TD.
“If you look at the second half, if we can learn to play that way for 60 minutes, I don’t know who can beat the Rice Owls right now but the Rice Owls,” Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren said. “We just gotta play our game.”
There's Ready. And then there's GAMEDAY Ready??'????#GoOwls?? x #RFND pic.twitter.com/gqEUwmaE3O
— Rice Football (@RiceFootball) October 11, 2022
The Owls are scoring 30.8 points per game (tied-63rd in the country) on 230.6 passing yards (81st) and 139.6 rushing yards (89th). TJ McMahon has thrown for 1,080 yards, nine touchdowns, and seven interceptions so far this season, while Ari Broussard leads the way with 75 totes for 192 yards and eight touchdowns. Cameron Montgomery is another interesting piece of the Owls’ offense, as he’s averaging 7.8 yards per carry.
On the other side of the ball, the Owls are yielding 31.0 points per contest (tied-102nd) mostly thanks to a lopsided 66-14 defeat at the N o. 14 USC Trojans in Week 1. Rice ranks 42nd in the nation in passing yards allowed (204.4) and 76th in rushing yards allowed per game (147.4).