Rice Owls at Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Rice Owls visit Notre Dame Fighting Irish in NCAA Football on Saturday, September 12, 2026. Our model projects RICE 7 – ND 47, a 40-point edge to Notre Dame Fighting Irish. DraftKings currently has ND -44.5 with a total of 54.5.

The only inputs are final scores and schedule dates from the current and prior season, opponent-adjusted, plus the live DraftKings spread and total. 13 completed home-side and 14 completed away-side games are on file, worth 1.60 weighted games on the thinner side after recency decay and a discount on prior-season results. Because that history is graded insufficient, the projected score is blended 85% toward the DraftKings number of -44.5 / 54.5, which sat 34.572 points from what the completed scores alone implied.

This is a model projection, not an official tracked recommendation. The model rates it unrated, so no side is published and it is not eligible for a tracked pick or a Covered Select. Reasons on file: 1.60 weighted games is below the 3-game minimum for a rated projection; score anchored 85% to the DraftKings number (-44.5 / 54.5); unrated: the history behind this projection is insufficient, so the score is a market-anchored projection rather than a recommendation.