Rice Football Prediction: Game-By-Game Predictions for the Owls in 2020

Don't let last year's three wins, a marginal improvement from 2018, fool you; Rice was not a horrible football team in 2019. The offense was horrible, but in totality, the Owls took a huge step forward and were not as horrible as three wins would suggest. And they'll take another step forward in 2020…at least on defense.

Third-year head coach Mike Bloomgren and his offensive coordinator Jerry Mack have struggled to install an effective run-heavy system, ranking among the nation's worst offense in their two seasons. The explosive numbers will never be there—and with a dramatically improved defense proving they could win low-scoring games—but 4.5 yards per play and 0.274 points per play won't work in a league with several explosive offenses. And with three starters gone from an already subpar offensive line with the nation's 117th-ranked sack rate, and no clear answer at quarterback, it will be another year of plodding with little long-term optimism.

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Defensively, they return 96 percent of their production, tops in college football. Linebackers Blaze Alldredge (above) and Antonio Montero headline 10 returning starters from a unit that kept Baylor in check and didn't allow more than 28 points in any of their final five games. 

Ranked 111th in the HERO Sports Preseason College Football Rankings, Rice has another tricky non-conference schedule but with Army at home and Houston still rebuilding under Dana Holgorsen, they could win a non-conference game for the first time since 2018.