When Rice and Louisiana meet there is typically red beans or andouille sausage involved. But this time around it will be the Rice Owls and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns facing off in college football on Saturday night. Both teams will look for a win to start their 2025 season with Louisiana heavily favored at home. Before this non-conference matchup in college football, continue reading to get my Rice vs Louisiana prediction.
Our Rice vs Louisiana Pick
- Pick: Rice +11.5
- Confidence: ★★★★☆
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Game Snapshot
- Matchup: Rice Owls vs Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
- Date & Time: Saturday, August 30, 2025, 8:00 PM ET
- Venue: Cajun Field, Lafayette, LA
- Broadcast: ESPN+
Rice vs Louisiana Odds
| Spread | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana −11.5 | Rice +340 / Louisiana −450 | 46.5 |
Key Storylines
Louisiana enters with high expectations going into the 2025 season. They are projected to win the Sun Belt West with multiple players earning preseason all-conference recognition. The Ragin’ Cajuns won the West Division last season before losing the Sun Belt title game against Marshall. Louisiana will look to get a win after dropping their final two games last year.
Rice is transitioning under new head coach Scott Abell. Abell is bringing a run-heavy spread option attack from his success at Davidson. This is an interesting offense in that it puts a ceiling on how effective a team can be in the long run. But it can make them difficult to defend in a small sample size such as this one-off non-conference game.
Quarterback Play
EJ Warner transferred out of Rice after last season and that has led to Chase Jenkins being named the starter. Jenkins will have to adjust to both occupying the starting role and learning an entirely new offense. Louisiana has named Walker Howard their starting quarterback. Howard is from Lafayette and will look to capitalize on his local tie to the school by succeeding as their quarterback. He threw a total of 10 passes in three years across LSU and Ole Miss.
Betting Trends & H2H
These teams have played a total of six times all-time. They have each won three of those meetings. Rice won the most recent of those meetings in 2022. That was the first meeting between the two programs since 2022 and Rice will look for a second straight win in this series to take the all-time lead from the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Rice vs Louisiana Model Projection
Score Projection: Rice 20 – Louisiana 28
Win Probability: Rice 27% – Louisiana 73%
Final Thoughts
Louisiana should be able to win at home against Rice and Walker Howard should have a strong start to his tenure as his hometown team’s starting quarterback. But I do think that Rice will be able to cover the spread as a double-digit underdog. The new option offense for the Owls should chew clock and reduce the number of possessions in this game to help them keep this game respectable.
