After an opportune bye week last weekend, No. 5 Baylor should be nice and rested when it hosts Rice on Saturday in Waco. These two teams have played each other 79 times over their histories, with Baylor owning a 47-30-2 all-time record against the Owls, as well as a six-game winning streak.
How to watch Rice vs. Baylor on TV or online, plus 3 things to know
Hope you like points if you’re going to watch this one.
As you might infer from the large point spread on this game, as well as any casual football viewing in the past five years, it’s not expected to be terribly close. Rice has made some strides, but they’re not nearly on the same level as Baylor. The biggest drama heading into this game is the finger-wagging at Baylor assistant Jeff Lebby, who will be suspended for half their game against Oklahoma after being on the sidelines when OU played Tulsa last week. Tulsa is coached by former Baylor offensive coordinator Phil Montgomery.
So what’s going to happen this week? Points, probably. Lots of them.
How to watch, stream and listen
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Net affiliates (Brendan Burke, Ben Leber, Christian Steckel)
Online streaming: Fox Sports Go
Spread: Baylor is favored by 34.5-points.
Make friends: Get to SB Nation’s team blog chats for this game at Our Daily Bears for Baylor fans and Underdog Dynasty for Rice fans.
Three big things to know
1. More of the same for Baylor? The Bears are once again one of the nation’s best offenses, compiling 754 yards of total offense in their first two games. Now, granted, those games were against SMU and Lamar, but Rice’s defense is 112th in Defensive S&P+, so it’s hard to expect anything but lots of points and lots of yards from Baylor.
2. But can their defense pull their weight? Remember the talk last year about how Baylor’s defense had turned the corner? Well, this year, they went back around that corner again. The Bears are 89th in Defensive S&P+, but that’s only through two games, and they were missing a couple starters in their opener against SMU.
3. The Owls can score too. Through three games, Rice is averaging over 40 points per game. Baylor struggled with Lamar and was even tied 21-21 at one point before pulling away, so maybe Rice can do that and more.
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