CFB Week 10 Friday

Kyle Kirms
Oct 30
3 min read

MEMPHIS @ RICE - 7 PM

Memphis with the huge win to stay in the AAC race. They scored a TD to take the lead with 1 minute left and South Florida missed a 52 yard FG to tie it.

That win was huge... cuz it's looking like 2 conference losses might knock you out here. We've got 7 teams in the running. This is the most exciting group of 5 conference this season. And we got North Texas vs Navy this week... Temple plays ECU... this conference is electric.

Memphis needs to avoid getting caught looking ahead. Cuz they've got this game against Rice sandwiched between 4 games against conference contenders.

This is a tricky game too... because Rice runs the option. So not only is it kind of a sandwich game... but it's against a tricky opponent to prepare for. The option gave Memphis problems last year also. Navy whooped Memphis' ass.

The good news is... Memphis has strong numbers against the run this year which is obviously all Rice does. Memphis also just got CB Chauncey Logan Jr. back last week. He hadn't played since Week 2.

Memphis defense has looked shaky in their last two games... but Rice doesn't have the same sort of explosive offense that UAB and South Florida have. Before that, Memphis had been pretty good defensively.

Rice did put up a big number on the scoreboard last week in a huge upset win... but the efficiency numbers don't look good at all. You have to keep in mind that 13 of their points came in OT. They had a 73 yard TD and a 75 yard TD. Good news for Rice though.. LG John Long is set to return from injury. He missed the last 2 games.

On the other side of the ball, we've actually got a decent matchup. This Rice defense has been pretty solid for most of the year.

They got lit up a couple times on the road, but this defense has been surprisingly decent in their home games and it's not like they played terrible opponents.

This Memphis offense has great numbers... but they've played a lot of games against bad defenses. They've looked a bit shaky offensively in their last two.

Bit worried about situational stops for Rice:

MEMPHIS 6TH IN REDZONE OFFENSE VS RICE 134TH IN REDZONE DEFENSE

MEMPHIS 38TH IN 3RD DOWN OFFENSE VS RICE 127TH IN 3RD DOWN DEFENSE

This is a tough one to lay two touchdowns on the road. We should see a slow paced game with a lot of running. Two teams that like to control the clock and sustain drives.

I wanna go Rice +14. I think the option is tough to prepare for. It's a short week coming off the biggest game of the year. I think we'll see a slower game. Gimme Rice +14.

NORTH CAROLINA @ SYRACUSE - 7:30 PM

North Carolina has given us back to back competitive football games.

But the offense is still a mess.

This is still one of the worst Power 4 offenses in the country. I'd put them 3rd behind Oklahoma State and West Virginia. The good news is Syracuse is not a particularly impressive defense.

Syracuse' defense had actually been playing a bit better heading into last week. They got smoked on the road against Georgia Tech but that's probably the best offense in the conference.

Syracuse likes to blitz... Gio Lopez has been awful against the blitz so far this year. Yes, they don't generate a ton of pressure but Gio Lopez has been one of the worst starting QBs in College Football from a clean pocket this year. I think Syracuse can play a good defensive game here.

On the other side, this is where the advantage swings back towards North Carolina because their defense looks really strong and the Syracuse offense hasn't done much since losing their QB.

North Carolina got lit up in that opener against TCU. They've been pretty rock solid defensively since and they seem to be getting better as the year progresses.

And this Syracuse offense isn't good. I know the efficiency numbers in their last game look ok but they're a bit padded. Syracuse had 98 yards of offense at halftime. They had a couple drives late in the game when they were down 3 scores that are skewing the numbers. This offense has not been good since losing Angeli.

I'm on the under but I got it at 48.5.

SAM HOUSTON @ LOUISIANA TECH - 8 PM

Hunter Watson is cleared to play but I still don't know if we can trust Sam Houston to move the ball in this one. We have seen LA Tech get thrown on a few times... so maybe the fact that Phil Longo wants to throw the ball... maybe there's a path.