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Fresh off a 34-6 beating they gave to winless Southern Miss, the SMU Mustangs are -3.5 point favorites for their game at Rice this Saturday.
With a 5-5 record this season, SMU would clinch bowl eligibility for the fourth consecutive season with a win, which would be the longest streak in school history. And with a game at 8-2 Tulsa in the last week of the season, the Mustangs can ill afford to waste the opportunity presented by the Owls.
Rice, in their sixth year under coach David Bailiff, has crawled their way towards respectability this season at 4-6, but none of their wins this season have come against teams with a winning record.
Both teams have fairly suspect defenses, but while the Owls will try to attack through a ground game ranked 28th in the country, the Mustangs prefer to air the ball out.
As a result, the odds-makers are projecting a fairly high-scoring game, with an over/under at 57 points.