Baylor Writeup

Baylor will continue to put up the points in 2016. Despite all of the negative attention on the team, Baylor will have an offense that can explode at any moment. Back at the helm is quarterback Seth Russell who is the clear-cut starter on this Bear’s team. There are a lot of teams juggling between quarterbacks, but Russell is the main guy at Baylor. He has thrown for 6 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on the year, with another touchdown on the ground. Russell was one of the better quarterbacks in college football a year ago, passing for 29 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. Baylor has a run game to complement him, so they are not a one-dimensional unit.

Rice on the other hand would like to find a component quarterback. The play from under center has been horrid at best, along with the entire offense. Starter Tyler Stehling has passed for 3 interceptions and only 1 touchdown. This wasn’t against elite competition either, this being Western Kentucky and Army. Over the first two weeks, they scored 14 points in each, while allowing 38.5 points per game.

The Owls should find issues moving the ball on Baylor. If SMU, who actually have a pretty nice offense, couldn’t manage to do anything, Rice is going to be in for a world of hurt. Also I don’t think Baylor was too happy with how they started last week. They didn’t wake up until the second-half opened. I expect Baylor to come out guns a blazing, jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead and pretty well sealing the fate for Rice on Friday night. Baylor should be able to control the line of scrimmage and game throughout. This is a lot of points, but I think the odds makers are 4 or 5 points too short of what the correct line should be. Baylor rolls Rice tonight in a big way.

Baylor-30.5