Inside Texas Answers: Texas versus Rice predictions

Following a loss to Arkansas, the Texas Longhorns are 1-1 on the young 2021 season. The next opponent for Steve Sarkisian’s program is the 0-2 Rice Owls, another former Southwest Conference mate.

The Inside Texas staff offers score predictions for when the Longhorns take on the Owls.

Gerry Hamilton – Texas, 41-18. Rice is not good. Texas is not very good either. Saturday’s dismal showing on both sides of the ball in Arkansas will not end up being a fluke performance, but the Owls are just what the doctor ordered. Texas skill players will enjoy productive days. The Texas defensive line will look better than they are.

Eric Nahlin – Texas, 52-10. While Texas went to substitutions too early in the previous weeks, especially in Fayetteville, that makes a lot of sense for this game. Despite the intention to play everyone I don’t get the feeling Rice is being overlooked and points should avalanche at some point. I expect the run game to get on track with more wide running and for Casey Thompson to play well in his first career start. Would love to see him make plays from the pocket as he *should* have time to survey the field. Hudson Card will surely be looking to pour it on whenever he gets in.

Justin Wells – Texas, 31-13. Rice hung with the Hogs in Fayetteville, then was thumped by Houston, so figuring out the Owls shouldn’t be difficult. Texas has too many athletes with the sting of being bit by the Razorbacks fresh on their minds. UT wins the line of scrimmage and doesn’t hold back. 

Scipio Tex – Texas, 45-10. Texas players have to show up with some athletic pride and the Longhorn staff needs to coach a lot better – particularly on the lines. Rice is very small in the back seven and that’s begging to be exploited after the catch and in the edge running game. Defensively, Texas will have ample opportunities to force turnovers from a shaky Owl offense. I’ll be watching pad levels and assignment discipline like a hawk. 

Hudson Standish – Texas, 56-13. I’ll stick with an MMA analogy since it worked out so well for me last week. Rice is your typical “can” fighter the promotion hands out after a humiliating loss so the cash cow can get right. If the Horns don’t get a finish in R1 (look dominant throughout) I might have my own Taylor Twellman moment.

Ian Boyd – Texas, 52-13. Texas could do a lot of things in this game and ultimately just overwhelm the Owls by giving the ball to athletes like Bijan Robinson and Jordan Whittington. What I’d like to see from the team is a commitment to running outside zone and, if not starting new players along the O-line, working some of the back-ups in to give them a chance to show what they can do. I also want to see the defensive tackles underneath the squatty Rice interior line, clogging up the power run game they aspire to execute.

Joe Cook – Texas, 52-17. We all know Texas is not humming on all cylinders right now, but Texas doesn’t need to be in order to defeat Rice. The Longhorns will most likely look good taking on the Owls, who I think will fail to do much on the scoreboard within the first three quarters. One thing to watch: when Texas faced “phone booth” teams like Rice and like Kansas State under Bill Snyder, they played them well because of how much the previous UT staffs emphasized toughness in the trenches. Rice has some spread sets but they can line up under center with 22 personnel and run iso. I’d like to see Texas show some of that similar toughness in the trenches this week on both sides of the football and draw my eyes away from the line of scrimmage for the next GIF Analysis.

Bobby Burton – Texas, 55-10. I underestimated Texas against Louisiana and overestimated the Horns versus Arkansas, so I’m 1-1 against the spread on the season. This is a game where Texas should be able to successfully showcase Bijan Robinson. I expect at least one other offensive player, other than Jordan Whittington, to also have a breakthrough game of sorts as the Horns try to figure out who they can really rely on before heading into conference play. Rice should do little on offense to worry the Horns. At the same time, I expect Texas to look like a work in progress on that side of the ball. Overall, the Horns should dominate for at least three quarters of this game. If they don’t, Texas is headed for a worse year than expected.