The Rice Owls finished last season with a record of 5-8 and a Conference USA record of 3-5 which led to a tie for 7^th place in the Conference and even though the Owls finished the regular season with a record of 5-7 they earned an appearance in the Lending Tree Bowl against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles which resulted in a 24-38 loss, however, that was the first bowl game the Rice Owls had been to since the 2014 college football season. 

This season, the Owls enter the year with an over/under win total of 4.5 wins which means Rice is projected to finish with a losing record for the 9^th consecutive year and based on Vegas odds is projected to be the 3^rd worst team in the AAC only ahead of the South Florida Bulls and Charlotte 49ers as Rice is +5000 to win the conference.

The Texas Longhorns finished last season with a record of 8-5 overall and a record of 6-3 in the Big 12 Conference which led to a 3^rd place finish in the Big 12 and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl against the Washington Huskies that resulted in a 20-27 loss and the Longhorns finishing ranked 25^th in both the AP and Coaches Polls. 

This season the Longhorns enter the season ranked 11^th in the AP Poll and 12^th in the Coaches Poll with an over/under win total of 9.5 wins and based on Vegas projections are projected to be the best team in their final year in the Big 12. Texas has the 9^th-best odds of winning the National Championship behind the Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes, LSU Tigers, USC Trojans, Clemson Tigers, and Florida State Seminoles.

BookMaker has the Texas Longhorns listed as 35-point favorites at home against the Rice Owls on Saturday for week 1 of the college football season. Texas has won the last ten games in the series and has won by an average score of 46.4 to 12.1 in the last ten and 49.33 to 13.67 in the last three while going 7-3 ATS in the last ten and 2-1 ATS in the last three games in the series. 

Rice finished with a record of 7-6 ATS overall, 3-3 ATS on the road, and 5-4 ATS as an underdog while Texas finished 8-5 ATS overall, 5-2 ATS at home, and 7-5 ATS as a favorite.

Texas is the more talented team and is projected to be one of the best teams in college football this season while Rice is projected to finish with a losing record. The Longhorns have been the dominant team in the series winning the last ten games while going 7-3 ATS in the last ten and 2-1 ATS in the last three games in the series. 

I look for a superior team in terms of talent to run away with the win in this game which is why I will be taking the Texas Longhorns -35 at home in week 1 of the college football season on BookMaker on Saturday afternoon.