The set-up: I'm not calling for an outright upset, but I do think that the 0-4 Rice Owls will fight tooth and nail and at the very least, comfortably sneak in through the back door down the stretch. Rice has fallen to four quality opponents though and I think it finally puts everything together here in front of the home town crowd. Note that these two teams have one mutual non-conference opponent this year, the Texas Longhorns.

The pick: And note that each team lost by the approximate same score, with Louisiana Tech falling 45-14 and Rice losing 48-13. The Bulldogs' defense allowed nearly 400 yards passing to FIU's QB last week. And that's good news for Owls' QB Tom Stewart, who has 414 passing yards, three TD's and on INT's. Rice has allowed 31 PPG so far, but again that number is skewed in my opinion due to the level of competition thus far. Additionally note that Louisiana Tech is just 1-3 ATS in its last four as a favorite in the 3.5 to ten points range, while Rice is 2-0 ATS in its last two off a home cover where the team lost as an underdog. I'm grabbing the points but wouldn't be shocked by the outright upset.

8* play on Rice.