Rule of Tree Staff Predictions: Rice Owls at Stanford Cardinal

Matt Vassar: Expect Stanford’s offense to stay on the field almost the entire game, completely dominating time of possession. Rice’s defense averages 7.1 yards allowed per play, ranking them second-to-last (127th) in FBS, and even though Stanford’s passing offense has struggled all season long, Rice’s passing defense is dead last (128th) in FBS. The only real question is whether Rice scores any points at all. Stanford 42, Rice 10.

John Loop I do not intend to sound over-confident, but...it's Rice. They give up 37 points and 500 yards of total offense, on average. And with the Cardinal offensive and defensive play as of late, it's hard to imagine the season finale as anything but a cakewalk. Stanford 42, Rice 13.

TonyFernandesSports: This is not a baseball game where Rice may be favored. The Rice football program has had limited success over the years, and comes into this matchup woefully under-manned against a "clicking on all cylinders" Cardinal offense. Look for McCaffrey to roll with another 200 yard game on the ground with inclement weather on Saturday night. This is going to be ugly on the field, and should be a blowout last home game victory for the Cardinal; Stanford 49, Rice 14.

Nerdnation23: Stanford has not lost their regular season finale at home since 2005 which happened to be the same year Stanford lost to UC Davis. With all due respect to Rice, the Stanford team that showed up to Washington could beat this team. Stanford is projected to annihilate Rice but at least it's not scheduling community colleges like the SEC does. Stanford 45 Rice 14.

Charlie Foy: There's not much to predict this week because Stanford will undoubtedly destroy Rice. Stanford will win by at least three touchdowns. My guess: Stanford wins 42-7.

Nick Dempsey: If Rice were to somehow pull off the upset this would go down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of college football. It is probably not going to happen though. Rice cannot even beat their non-power 5 opponents not sure what challenge they will be able to offer Stanford. The Cardinal is really playing to improve, play fundamentally sound and just get better as a football team. Stanford 56 Rice 9.

CMolesky: While Stanford is the better team in a lot of ways, the biggest problem for Rice is they are a terrible road team. They have less then 2000 total yards of offense in road games and their defense cannot get pressure on the opponents quarterback or force turnovers. Final: 52-17

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