Rice Owls Odds

Rice Owls Odds & Betting Guide — 2026-27 Season

Rice is working on an 11-season streak without a winning record, and the 2025 season didn't break it. Scott Abell arrived from FCS Davidson to install his option-based "gun choice" scheme and got off to a promising start, winning three of Rice's first four games. The Owls then lost four of their next five and finished 5-8 after a 41-10 Armed Forces Bowl loss to Texas State, a bowl bid they only received because of a strong Academic Progress Rate score. Most college football power ratings still have Rice near the bottom of the American Conference entering 2026, but there's a real reason to expect a better scheme fit this time around.

That reason is at quarterback. Chase Jenkins, last year's starter, was recruited under the previous coaching staff's pro-style offense and was asked to run Abell's option scheme anyway, still managing a school-record 69.2% completion rate before transferring to Kansas after the season. His replacement, Jacurri Brown, is the first quarterback Abell actually recruited to run this system. Brown spent time at Miami and UCF, throwing for 906 yards and running for 823 more across limited starts, and his mobility profile fits the option far more naturally than Jenkins's ever did.

Both coordinators return for year two, offensive coordinator Vince Munch and defensive coordinator Jon Kay, giving Rice a level of staff continuity it didn't have entering Abell's transition year. Running back Quinton Jackson, who rushed for 810 yards on 180 carries in 2025, returns as the early-down workhorse, and true freshman Dionne Sims arrives with a strong high school rushing profile to add depth. On defense, Rice loses its heart and soul in linebacker Andrew Awe, a former walk-on who racked up 200 career tackles, but adds edge rusher Kenyon Garner, a transfer who posted a startling 28 tackles for loss and 15 sacks last season, albeit at Division II Livingstone rather than the FBS level.

Rice & the American Conference

The American Conference didn't lose or gain a single member heading into 2026, one of the few major conferences that stayed completely intact through this realignment cycle. That means the teams standing between Rice and its first winning season since 2019 are the same ones that beat the Owls twice in 2025, plus a schedule that sends Rice on the road to East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, and Temple this year.

Non-conference play doesn't offer much relief either. Rice is projected as an underdog against Notre Dame, Fresno State, and Western Michigan before conference play even begins, meaning most of the swing games for reaching a winning record will need to come from home dates against Army, Tulane, Tulsa, and UTSA.

Rice 2026 futures odds

Rice's win total sits at 3.5, and the Owls are priced between +15000 and +20000 to win the futures board for the American Conference depending on the book, landing 12th out of 14 teams either way. That reflects both last year's finish and a schedule that doesn't do the Owls many favors.

If you'd rather trade Rice's outlook than bet a fixed number, Kalshi and Polymarket both list win-total and conference contracts that move with the news. You can find a Kalshi promo code and a Polymarket promo code on our promo pages, and our college football prediction market promos page tracks current offers.

The Rice angle: last year's 5-8 record came from a quarterback who wasn't built for the scheme he was running. This year's quarterback was recruited specifically for it, and both coordinators are back for a second season in the system. A market anchored on Rice's 2025 record risks missing that the underlying scheme fit is genuinely different now, even if the win total says otherwise.

Betting the Rice moneyline

The moneyline is a bet on the winner, no margin involved. To illustrate: if Rice were priced at +550 against Notre Dame and Notre Dame at -900, converting to implied probability puts Rice around 15.4% and Notre Dame around 90%, summing to roughly 105.4%. That extra few points is the sportsbook's built-in margin, not a signal about which side is more likely to win.

Worth a direct correction here: a short price on a heavy favorite isn't automatically "less value," and a long price on a big underdog isn't automatically "more value." Value depends on whether the number matches the true odds of the outcome, not on how the price looks. Uneven juice reflects where money is landing relative to the book's line, not which side is correct.

Compare current odds across books with an odds calculator before betting anything, particularly on a team with a new quarterback and a heavily overhauled receiving corps. If you're shopping new sportsbook accounts, the bet365 bonus code is one option worth checking, and our college football betting promos page tracks other current offers.

Betting Rice point spreads

The spread sets a margin rather than just a winner. Betting Rice to cover as an underdog means the Owls either win outright or lose by less than the number; betting them to cover as a favorite, which will be rare given the schedule, means they need to win by more than the number.

Rice's option offense tends to produce different spread behavior than a typical passing attack, leaning on ball control and time of possession rather than explosive plays. Track that against the ATS standings as Jacurri Brown gets more reps in the system.

Why Rice's pass rush is one to watch for spreads: Kenyon Garner's numbers at Division II Livingstone were extreme, but that level of competition doesn't automatically translate to FBS offensive lines. If his pass rush shows up against American Conference tackles, Rice's defense could be better than its win total suggests; if it doesn't, last year's defensive struggles are likely to repeat. Check our projections as that picture becomes clear early in the season.

If you're comparing odds formats across books or exchanges while tracking Rice through the season, the prediction markets odds converter is a quick way to translate between American, decimal, and share-price formats.

Betting the Rice total

The total, or over/under, is a bet on the combined score rather than the winner. Rice's option scheme under Abell is generally built to control the clock and limit possessions, which tends to push totals lower regardless of which quarterback is running it.

Check betting splits to see where public money is landing on Rice totals, since the public may be slower than the market to adjust for a scheme that's specifically designed to keep games low-scoring. Our expert picks break down specific total calls each week as Brown and the offense develop.

Rice player props

Player props are limited in college football, and availability varies by state. With Jacurri Brown a much better athletic fit for Rice's scheme than last year's starter, his rushing props may be more predictable early than his passing numbers, since the option is built around his legs first.

Where props aren't available or the market is too thin to trust, game-level markets like first-half winner or team total remain a way to get exposure to a Rice game without needing a settled read on how quickly the new quarterback and pass rush develop.