Vaughn Dalzell explains why he’s rooting for the home team in the battle between the UTEP Miners and the Florida International Panthers.
UTEP at FIU (-3): O/U 44.5
UTEP defeated FIU 40-6 last season, but how has things changed this season? UTEP was a -2 favorite to win the championship, but after Sharpe and the public learned of UTEP’s QB situation, FIU is now a -3 favorite to win the home title.
The Miners have fallen to No. 4 QB due to a series of injuries in the past two games. Cade McConnell will be making his first start. McConnell went 4-of-11 for 48 yards against Louisiana Tech, but that came on the final drive of a blowout loss.
UTEP has one win and that was against Incarnate Word. The Miners have lost all five games against FBS opponents, including their last four.
FIU had an impressive three-game winning streak against Maine, North Texas and UW, but lost its last two games to Liberty and New Mexico State.
These are two of the worst 25 teams in all of college football, and both rank below 100 in many categories. However, the Miners rank 119th in third-down defense (46.8%), 116th in rushing defense (191.5 ypg) and 110th in passing offense (187.7 ypg).
UTEP’s numbers shouldn’t improve on the road, as they have a fourth-string QB, and we should expect an ugly game. I like when the home team faces a fourth-string quarterback making his first career start.
FIU is looking to avenge last year’s 40-6 loss to UTEP. I played his FIU at -118 odds on ML, but it would be -135 at BetMGM. Shop around for the best odds.
choose:FIU ML (1u)
*Odds provided by BetMGM
Season record: 32-18-1 (64%) +13.52u
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