As reflected by its 5-7 record, Rice is the weakest bowl team. The Owls have an excuse: They are down to a fourth-string QB. Their 30 turnovers are tied for the most in FBS, and they have dropped four in a row outright. Southern Miss RB Frank Gore Jr. could channel his old man and wear out Rice's sieve-like rushing defense. The Golden Eagles are no great shakes offensively, but their rugged defense likely will keep Rice in the teens. Among their victims this season is Cotton Bowl-bound Tulane.

LendingTree Bowl from Mobile, Ala. Look, strange results can and will happen in bowl games with so much time since the last game and opt outs, transfers, lack of motivation, etc. That said, Rice is probably the worst team in the postseason at 5-7 and with a whopping 30 giveaways. It only got a bid because there weren't enough eligible teams nationally, and Rice had the best Academic Progress Rate of any five-win team so it got to go bowling, The Owls will be starting former scout-team QB AJ Padgett, a true freshman, under center. USM figures to rattle Padgett as it had 39 sacks, tied for first in the Sun Belt. Southern Miss should absolutely win, but cover the number? This ML is relatively manageable, so I'm not going to worry about it.