Rice the new favorite?

With only three national seeds advancing to the College World Series, it was easy to tab them as favorites entering the event.

After three days, it's hard to not look at Rice and think the Owls are the favorites.

Sure they survived a rough opener, defeating Lousiville 15-10. The Owls then disembowled North Carolina, 14-4, on Sunday night. The offense that was a question mark last season in Omaha now looks like an exclamation point.

The only thing Rice must do now is forget about last season. It was at this point the Owls were steamrolled by destiny's darlings from the Pacific Northwest. As much of a pedigree as North Carolina has, the Heels are no Oregon State circa 2006.

And Louisville? Yes, the Cardinals are playing the role of Louisville Sluggers. At some point, though, the aluminum has to cool. The Cards have arms, but with a rested Rice staff the deck appears stacked against Louisville and UNC both.