In 1962, President John F. Kennedy famously addressed Rice University about the United States’ ambitions to land on the moon. He appealed to his audience by asking why Rice’s football team plays Texas each year.

Rice Owls football fans have probably wondered the same thing since that speech, but the answer reflects JFK’s reasoning for the moon voyage: not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

With an enrollment of fewer than 7,000 students, the Owls are almost always facing competition from much larger universities. For fans, it can be both frustrating and exhilarating. For Texas sports bettors, it presents an opportunity to find value in another Lone Star State Division I college football program. Below, we take a look at the Rice Owls football team, its current odds and more.

How to bet on Rice football online

College football has a rabid following in Texas, which comes as no surprise considering the state is also a hotbed at the high school football level. For bettors looking to get in on the college football betting action but don’t know where to start, we’ve assembled a small guide on four popular bet types.

What is this week’s Rice football moneyline?  

Newcomers to sports betting gravitate toward the moneyline bet because of its simplicity. There’s still a lot of homework and research required, but there is less to figure out when compared to other bet types.

You’ll find moneyline bets in every Texas sportsbook (once legalized), including Caesars. The Las Vegas OG sportsbook has been doing this for a long time, which is why it offers some of the tightest lines available in the industry today. You’ll still find value in the right games, however, which is one of the reasons Caesars has remained popular, along with its Caesars Sportsbook app.

A moneyline bet oftentimes looks something like this:

• Rice Owls                     -110
• Houston Cougars     +145

You can identify which team is the favorite by finding the negative odds. In this fictional example, that’s Rice with the -110 odds. The underdog is identifiable thanks to positive odds.

Negative odds show you how much you need to wager in order to win $100. Positive odds, on the other hand, indicate how much you stand to win for every $100 you bet. If you were to bet $110 on Rice in the above example and they won, your payout would be $210, which is your original bet returned to you plus $100 in profits.

By contrast, a $100 bet on the Houston Cougars would result in a $245 payout, or $145 in winnings plus your $100 bet back.

What is the Rice football point spread?

The point spread bet typically offers up more value than the moneyline if only because it negates lopsided odds by assigning a number of points by which the favorite is expected to win. Experienced bettors tend to use this bet type because it creates more of a “fair” game and gives the underdog a chance to land on the winning side of the bet.

If the favorite fails to win by the assigned number of points or more, then bets on the underdog would pay out.

At DraftKings, college football point spreads are plentiful. Bettors can find most of the FBS schools available there, including those that hail from the Lone Star State. Competitive lines and college football promotions are sure to be common at DraftKings Texas Sportsbook.

You might come across a point spread bet at your sportsbook that looks like this:

• Rice Owls       -9.5 (-110)
• UAB Blazers  +9.5 (-110)

If the Owls are able to win this matchup by 10 points or more, then the payout will be $100 for every $110 wagered, which is the same odds for the Blazers as the underdog. UAB just needs to lose by fewer than nine points in the game to win the bet.

Keep in mind that you don’t need to bet that amount of money. You can go as low as you’d like and much higher. Just remember that any amount you bet will pay out based on the odds when you finalize your bet slip.

Rice football totals bets  

The totals bet is slightly different in that it doesn’t rely on which team wins the game. Instead, it is focused 100 percent on the combined final score. Your job is to determine if the two teams can combine to score over or under the oddsmakers’ total prediction, which is why this bet type is also known as the over/under.

At FanDuel online sportsbook, you’ll find over/under bets for most major college football games, as well as nearly every other popular sports league. The oddsmakers at FanDuel are just as skillful as those who reside in Las Vegas, which is one of the reasons the sportsbook has remained so popular across the country.

Here’s an example of a potential over/under bet:

• Over            48.5 (-110)
• Under         48.5 (-110)

For bettors who go with the under, they’ll need the two teams to combine for fewer than 48 points, such as a 24-20 game. For the over to hit, it needs to be 49 combined points or more.

On both sides of the bet, we have -110 odds. A winning $250 bet on either side would pay out $477.27, which includes $227.27 in profits.

What are the best Rice football prop bets?  

Props are side bets you make with your sportsbook. These bet types see quite a bit of action, especially around larger events like bowl games and the College Football Playoff.

Each sportsbook puts a different priority on prop bets. Some go with the full variety of serious and stat-based bets, while others are more exotic and sometimes a bit absurd.

BetMGM may not have as many prop bets as some of its competition, but the sportsbook tends to offer competitive lines and prop bet opportunities for most major games. You’ll also be able to find prop bets through BetMGM’s live betting feature, which is available on the BetMGM online sportsbook and BetMGM betting app.

Here’s just one example of what a prop bet might look like:

Will the Rice Owls have over/under 20 points in the first half? 

• Over (+155) or Under (+120)

Prop bets can be over/unders (as seen above), or they can concern game events, like which team will punt first or whether there will be a safety in a game. There will always be a variety of props at your legal Texas sportsbooks, but you should shop around.

Who is the Rice football coach?

Despite having been in the college football ranks since 1912, there have only been 19 head football coaches at Rice University. Below, we take a look at the current staff before running down the program’s full coaching history.

• Head coach: Mike Bloomgren
• Defensive coordinator: Brian Smith
• Offensive coordinator: Marques Tuiasosopo
• Special teams coordinator: Chris Monfiletto
• Strength and conditioning coach: Hans Straub

Here is a list of the head coaches throughout the history of the Rice Owls:

• Mike Bloomgren (2018-current)
• David Bailiff (2007-2017)
• Todd Graham (2006)
• Ken Hatfield (1994-2005)
• Fred Goldsmith (1989-1993)
• Jerry Berndt (1986-1988)
• Watson Brown (1984-1985)
• Ray Alborn (1978-1983)
• Homer Rice (1976-1977)
• Al Conover (1972-1975)
• Bill Peterson (1971)
• Bo Hagan (1967-1970)
• Jess Neely (1940-1966)
• Jimmy Kitts (1934-1939)
• Jack Meagher (1929-1933)
• Claude Rothgeb (1928)
• John Heisman (1924-1927)
• Philip Arbuckle (1919-1923)
• John E. Anderson (1918)
• Philip Arbuckle (1912-1917)

Where do the Rice Owls play their home games?

How to watch and listen to Rice Owls football games

To watch all the action, you can catch some games at:

• Pac-12 Network
• ESPN
• ESPN3
• CBS Sports

For streaming services, you can find some games at:

• ESPN+
• fuboTV
• Sling TV
• DirecTV Stream
• AT&T TV
• YouTube TV

If you’d rather listen to the games, tune your dial to:

• KTRU 96.1 FM
• KRIC 950 AM
• KFNC 97.5 FM

You can also stream the games over the internet via:

• TuneIn App
• iHeartRadio
• riceowls.com

A brief history of the Rice Owls football team

The Rice Owls were once a powerhouse football program, but their rivals’ exponential growth has made things far more difficult in modern times. Below, we’ve compiled a quick rundown of the most important years in Rice University football history.

• 2013: Rice University wins the Conference USA title, its first conference championship since 1994.
• 2008: The Owls defeat Western Michigan 38-14 to win the Texas Bowl, their first bowl victory since 1953. (Find Texas Bowl odds)
• 2005: The Owls join Conference USA.
• 1996: Rice joins the Western Athletic Conference.
• 1974: Rice Stadium plays host to the NFL Super Bowl VIII in which the Miami Dolphins defeated the Minnesota Vikings.
• 1962: President John F. Kennedy gives a speech at Rice Stadium to promote the United States’ mission to reach the moon.
• 1954: Dickey Maegle runs down the sideline in the Cotton Bowl but is tackled by Alabama’s Tommy Lewis, who came off the sideline with no helmet to make the hit. The Owls would go on to win 28-6.
• 1950: Rice Stadium opens and becomes the home for Owls football games.
• 1937: The Owls play in their first-ever bowl game, defeating Colorado 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl Classic. (Find Cotton Bowl odds)
• 1934: Bill Wallace, a back, becomes the school’s first All-American player.
• 1934: Rice wins the Southwest Conference, which they would do again in 1937, 1946, 1949, 1953, 1957 and 1994.
• 1915: The Owls join the Southwest Conference as a charter member.
• 1912: Rice University fields its first football team.