Stanford vs Rice: Preview, predictions, TV channel
After a long hiatus, college football is back as Stanford football takes on the Rice Owls in their opening game “Down Under” in Sydney, Australia.
The 2017 season for Stanford and Rice will begin the same way the 2016 regular season ended—a matchup against one another. Only this time it will be played on a different continent.
Prior to their most recent meeting, the teams hadn’t met since 1964. Rice currently holds a slim three games to two margin in the all-time series over Stanford. They’ll need to work hard in order to ensure their series lead does not get tied up.
The Cardinal enter the 2017 season ranked No. 14 in both the AP and Coaches poll and will face a Rice team that is coming off their worse season since 2009, mustering just three wins a year ago and seven double-digit losses.
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The game will be played in Sydney, Australia. That makes it two years in a row that teams will kick off their college football season in the outback. California and Hawaii successful did so last season. It will be early kick off locally, but it is set to be played during the primetime hours in America, making it one of the last games of the first college football Saturday.
Game Info
Date: Saturday, August 26
Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
Location: Sydney, New South Wales (Australia)
Venue: Allianz Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Keys to Victory
For the Owls, it will be critical to limit the Cardinal to as few of possessions as possible. That means taking care of the ball and getting third down stops will be huge. The Cardinal jumped out to a 13-0 first quarter lead in their meeting last season, scoring points on three of their first four possessions. Being a young, inexperienced team, a big lead early could be detrimental to the Owls’ chances to stay in the game and could dwindle any confidence they had.
The Cardinal prided themselves on their big-play ability last season, but will now have to move forward without Christian McCaffrey, their catalyst from a year ago. McCaffrey rushed for over 200 yards against Rice last season and was virtually unstoppable against the Owls’ defense. Stanford will need to establish a running game early to help take the load off senior quarterback Keller Chryst. If both sides of the offense are flowing, there will be no stopping the Cardinal.
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Prediction
The 2017 version of Stanford versus Rice will begin the same way the 2016 edition did: A fast start for the Cardinal. Despite losing one of the best players in the country, Stanford returns a lot of veteran presence, specifically at the skilled positions and will be a handful for the Owls’ defense to slow down.
Chryst and company get out to a sizable first half lead and go on cruise control the rest of the way.
Final Score: Stanford 45, Rice 16