Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas plays host to the 2008 Texas Bowl, which will feature two 9-3 teams in the Western Michigan Broncos and Rice Owls.
Our team of writers and handicappers break down the matchup and hand out a Texas Bowl Free Pick, which takes place Monday December 30 at 8:00PM ET.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sports Interaction have made Rice -3 point spread favorite. The over/under for this game has been set 74 total points.
Top Public Betting Trend: Rice is 5-1 against the spread in its last six games and 5-0 straight up in their last five contests. The total has also gone over in 19 of the Owls’ last 23 games.
Key Stat: Rice is averaging a whopping 41.6 points per game, as well as 327.8 passing and 144.4 rushing yards per contest in 2008.
Game Outlook: Even though the Broncos had a very successful season, no MAC team outside of Ball State has an offense as good as the Owls have. Rice destroyed opponents all season through the air and will likely do the same against a Western Michigan defense that is allowing 23.8 points per game. Western’s pass defense isn’t that bad, but as previously noted the Owls will be just too much offense for them. Rice is also 8-4 against the number this year, while the Broncos are 5-6. The over has also hit in 9 of the Owls’ 12 games this year, and in seven of Western’s 12 contests. Rice and the over are solid plays, especially considering the weather is going to be great in Texas come Monday night. For the rest of our College Football Bowl Free Pick, see below.
Our Free College Football Bowl Pick for the Texas Bowl matchup between the Western Michigan Broncos and Rice Owls game is
RICE OWLS -3
TheSpread.com Projected Final Score
Rice Owls 44
Western Michigan 35
We also predict that this game will GO OVER THE TOTAL (74 Sports Interaction.com) SET BY ODDSMAKERS