This line has jumped to +7 points and I'm going to jump on the value here as Rice has been very solid all year long and Marshall comes off a win at home against East Carolina that was just a bit deceiving because East Carolina played their worst game turning the ball over 3 times and allowing Marshall to convert on 10 of their 14 3rd downs. Marshall on the road is not the same team and they will have a tougher time on the road here with Rice allowing just 28.95 % on third down. This is a veteran Rice team with a ton of upper classmen. Rice is also +8 in turnover margin at home compared with Marshall who is -7 on the road.
Rice will lean on Charles Ross at RB to run the ball and Marshall has shown signs at times this year of trouble stopping the run. as 5 teams rushed for 184+ yards on them. Even East Carolina who ranked 85th in rushing ypc had 5.14 ypc last week. Rice is very efficient converting on 71% of their red zone attempts into TD's while Marshall in 6 road games has allowed 30 attempts and 63% attempts. Compare that with Rice who has allowed only 9 red zone attempts at home this season. They have only allowed 8 total TD's at home this season and Marshall's passing offense will be tested. Only Houston has thrown for over 300 yards and only Johny Manziel has completed over 58.3% of his passes against this under rated Rice defense.
