College football early Week 4 betting: Notes for Rice vs. Charlotte, Iowa vs. Rutgers, more

The vast majority of Week 4's college football action is on Saturday, as there's only three games to speak of between Thursday (Rice at Charlotte) and Friday (Tulsa at Oklahoma State, Iowa at Rutgers). If nothing else, that means college football bettors have less to worry about before they get to Saturday's packed slate. Interested in college football betting? You can benefit greatly from Bruce Marshall's insights, as he entered Week 3 15-6 (+847) in his last 21 college football ATS picks. Here's the information he's working with for Thursday and Friday's games.

Rice at Charlotte (9/18, 7:30 p.m. ET)

There are new coaches on both sides for these American Conference teams, though it looks like one might be a bit further along at the moment. That would not be Charlotte. It took the 49ers until the final two minutes to score the last touchdown in a 42-35 ping-pong match and give head coach Tim Albin his first win with the team. Albin's presence in the Queen City might seem a bit curious after coaching with some real success at previous stop Ohio, including a MAC title game win last December. The chance to re-start the clock with a program that should have some upside in its DNA and move to an exciting metropolitan locale lured Albin, who might have correctly reckoned he had taken Ohio as far as it could go. 

Albin knew he was inheriting a rebuild job, however, as Charlotte was bad in all aspects for predecessor Biff Poggi, who walked the plank just before last season ended. UNC transfer Connor Harrell has taken most of the snaps but needed to see Monmouth to post his first decent stat line of the season (three TDs) after he was unconvincing in heavy losses to Appalachian State and his former Tar Heels. The 49ers still have little running ability to speak of, averaging fewer than 100 rushing yards per game and just 2.8 yards per carry. Meanwhile, one of the worst rush defenses in the country last year (ranked 122nd) also needed to see Monmouth to look competent after getting pushed around in the first two games.

If that run defense is still lacking, that might mean problems for Charlotte against the new Rice option attack implemented by Scott Abell, who oversaw the nation's leading rush offense at the FCS level six of the past seven seasons at Davidson. With wins in two of three, including an eye-opening upset at UL-Lafayette in the opener, Abell's offense, while not quite posting Navy-like numbers, is nonetheless quite effective, gaining 243 yards per game on the ground. The pilot is QB Chase Jenkins, a holdover from the Mike Bloomgren regime who seems perfectly suited to run the Abell option. 

Rice took care of Prairie View last week, rolling up 347 rushing yards with Jenkins doing the most damage (124 yards). Though Rice didn't explode the scoreboard in its first two games, the Owls now at least have an identity again and can actually get halfway to bowl eligibility with a win on Thursday. As Rice seems to have a better grasp of what it wants to do, the short price looks like it might be very good value.  For what it's worth, home field hasn't meant much the past three years in this series, with the road team winning and covering each. More of the same, we suspect, on Thursday.

Tulsa at Oklahoma State (9/19, 7:30 p.m. ET)

How the mighty have fallen. That would be Oklahoma State -- a sudden drop from a consistent bowl qualification and occasional contention to doormat status, the Cowboys' fall has been one of the swiftest we can recall. It all might have hit a nadir on Sept. 6 at Oregon, when the Ducks showed no mercy in a 69-3 win, apparently angered by Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy making indirect mention of Phil Knight's riches that have propped up Oregon's program to the top levels. 

No matter how mad the Ducks might have been, that sort of score would never have occurred for almost the entirety of what is now a 22-season tenure in Stillwater for Gundy, whose teams were often a regular in the polls and fighting for Big 12 honors almost every year. That was before a nosedive a year ago, which included a nine-game losing streak to close the campaign. OK State allowed 50+ points in the last two games, including a 52-0 blowout administered by Deion Sanders' Colorado in the finale. That preceded a significant exodus into the portal and what is effectively now an expansion team of new faces in Stillwater. No matter the composition of the squad, entering this week OSU is just 1-10 SU and ATS in its last eleven, and has dropped seven straight spread decisions at once-intimidating Boone Pickens Stadium.

If things weren't already bad enough for Gundy, his starting QB, mobile redshirt freshman Hauss Hejny, suffered a broken foot in the opener and is likely lost until at least midseason. True freshman Zane Flores, who was slated to rotate with Hejny in the early stages of the season, is now Gundy's only option and he's yet to throw a TD pass in six quarters of action. That is, to Cowboy receivers --he tossed two of those to Ducks defenders. Sure, Tulsa isn't Oregon, and will likely be the last game in which OSU is favored this season. But can the the Cowboys be trusted to extend a margin beyond two TDs these days?

That might prove problematic, as the Golden Hurricane have looked a bit better than expected for new head coach Tre Lamb, a 35-year-old who had earlier turned around Gardner-Webb and East Tennessee State. There has already been ignominy losing at lowly New Mexico State, though Tulsa's effort last week vs. American contender Navy wasn't so bad. Several transfers from Johnson City also accompanied Lamb to Tulsa. Among them is QB Baylor Hayes, who saw limited action for Lamb's Bucs a year ago but looked quite competent vs. Navy as he completed 22-of-37 passes. Like for OSU, the transfer theme is everywhere on the Golden Hurricanes roster, which returned only one starter on both offense and defense. The effort vs. the Midshipmen, however, suggests Tulsa might be planting the seeds of something. That rates as positive news -- the sort we can't detect anywhere in Stillwater at the moment. 

We're not sure Tulsa is ready for an outright upset, but we have better things to do than lay this many points with an OSU side that has burning its backers badly for the past 12 months.

Iowa at Rutgers (9/19, 8 p.m. ET)

Almost annually, it seems, Greg Schiano's Rutgers pads its record in non-conference play, rarely challenging itself, providing hope that this might be the breakthrough year for the Scarlet Knights in the Big Ten. Though Rutgers hasn't gotten there yet, it has been good enough to get bowl bids the last two and three of the last four seasons for Schiano, feats that seemed impossible under predecessor Chris Ash, who now has his hands full trying to replace Al Golden as Notre Dame's DC. 

The Scarlet Knights, however, are displaying more pop than usual, scoring at a very healthy 43 PPG clip through three games (which none of Schiano's previous Rutgers teams have approached), with QB Athan Kaliakmanis already tallying seven TD passes with no picks through three weeks. Granted, 60 points were rung up vs. FCS team Norfolk State last week, but the offense was moving effectively in the first pair of games vs. two of the best from the MAC, Ohio U and Miami-Ohio. Sophomore RB Antwan Raymond (already 248 rushing yards) provides some of the balance as Kirk Ciarocca's attack scored nearly 40 PPG even before it faced the MEAC Spartans last week. There might still be a few questions about a defense that was somewhat exposed in the opener by a good Ohio side, though a heavy dose of portal adds might be starting to mesh for defensive coordinator Robb Smith.

Iowa might be a problem for Rutgers. That the Hawkeyes pulled clear to wins in 2022-23 without much of an offense to speak of (before not being on the schedule the last two seasons) has to worry to Schiano. 

There's a different concern among the Iowa City fans about long-serving head coach Kirk Ferentz, the only current FBS head coach whose tenure stretches to the previous century. There was hope that the offense might pick up with South Dakota State transfer QB Mark Gronowski, a true dual threat who had also rushed for nearly 1800 yards in his career as a Jackrabbit. Gronowski might as well have been playing for some of the recently stodgy Iowa offenses in the first two games, failing to pass for 100 yards vs. either Albany or Iowa State (which beat Iowa for the third straight time) before things opened up a bit more last week vs. UMass when he passed for 179 yards. 

As usual, Iowa will ride its nasty defense (allowing only 9.0 PPG thus far) and wait for the opponent to wilt under that pressure. Expect the Scarlet Knights' impressive offensive stats to get sidetracked once again by the Hawkeye defense, though if Ferentz and OC Tim Lester aren't going to open up the offense a bit more for Gronowski, any support for the Hawkeyes will lie in series trends, which note three wins for Iowa since 2019, pitching shutouts in two of those. History suggests the mid 40s total is too high as none of the four meetings the past decade have exceeded 37 points. The Under might be our first call, as we also might want to make Rutgers prove it can actually beat Iowa before we'd consider not backing the Hawkeyes... but we're not there quite yet in a vote for series history.