SM
SAM'SMODELS
← BACK TO THE BOARD

Rice at East Carolina

Saturday, October 10 · 4:00 PM ET · Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium
Rice 1-4 15.9
AT
East Carolina 2-2 35.7

01 / THE NUMBER

The model makes this East Carolina -19.8. The market has it East Carolina -10, a gap of 9.8 points toward East Carolina.

Tested against closing lines on 1,148 games, this model tracks the market rather than beating it. A large gap is a question worth asking, not a signal to follow.

SPREAD
Vegas lineEast Carolina -10
ModelEast Carolina -19.8
Difference9.8

02 / PROJECTED SCORE

Rice15.9East Carolina35.7

03 / WHERE THE MARGIN COMES FROM

Elo / track record8.1Home field4.4Running game1.8Pass consistency1.6Passing game0.9Rush consistency0.9Rice ←→ East Carolina

Each bar is that input's contribution to the projected margin, in points, pointing toward the team it favours. They sum to 17.6 toward East Carolina, before calibration.

04 / HOW THEY RATE · percentile vs all FBS

Offence
PassingRushingPass cons.Rush cons.Pass ratePace
Defence
PassingRushingPass cons.Rush cons.Pass ratePace
Rice East Carolina
Percentile, 0–100Rice offEast Carolina off Rice defEast Carolina def
Passing12543671
Rushing18242377
Pass cons.1795862
Rush cons.18362858
Pass rate1536383
Pace9557685

Higher is better on both sides — defence is flipped so the shape reads the same way. Percentiles are taken from the opponent-adjusted ratings, so a number earned against a hard schedule ranks above the same number earned against a soft one.

05 / TEAM RATINGS

Per play, vs averageRice offEast Carolina off Rice defEast Carolina def
Pass EPA / dropback-0.064+0.148-0.033-0.123
Rush EPA / carry+0.007+0.025-0.013-0.159
Pass success rate-0.084+0.092-0.037-0.039
Rush success rate+0.005+0.035-0.025-0.061
Pass rate-0.272-0.011+0.002-0.013
Plays per game-2.6-1.3-5.3-6.0

Opponent adjusted and shrunk toward last season — after 5 and 4 games, a rating is still part last year. On defence, negative is good.

06 / ELO

RatingRiceEast CarolinaGap
Elo, years of results11841456 +272

Worth 8.1 points of this projection. Elo carries what three games of play-by-play can't: years of results, so a team that has been bad for a decade isn't rated average in September.

07 / SEASON SO FAR

Rice 1-4

vs Houston Christian31–3
at Notre Dame0–52
vs Western Michigan21–28
at Fresno State24–38
vs UTSA14–16

East Carolina 2-2

at Alabama10–48
vs App State24–27
at Old Dominion20–17
vs North Carolina Central42–9