UTEP Miners vs. Houston Cougars Odds & Prediction: September 10th 2010

CUSA West NCAAF action gets down and dirty from Robertson Stadium for ESPN’s Friday night telecast between the UTEP Miners and Houston Cougars.

UTEP Miners vs. Houston Cougars
Game Date/Time: Friday, September 10th, 10:15 ET
Game Location: Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX
TV/Radio Broadcast: ESPN, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV

NCAA Football Odds: UTEP Miners (+20) -110 vs. Houston Cougars (-20) -110: Over/Under 73.5

Before we get into the football betting advice for tonight’s game, let’s take a brief look back into the history of these respective division rivals.

These teams have met a total of five times dating back to the 2005 season. Houston holds a 3-2 SU advantage, but the Miners hold the pointspread bragging rights with three victories.

One of them shockingly came last season when UTEP took it to the Cougars by a 58-41 count. Now, the fact that it held serve at home didn’t come as a surprise considering the Miners last losing season at home came back in 2003; they’re 22-14 SU in the Sun Bowl since.

What was incredibly shocking was the fact that they went off the board as 14-point home underdogs, yet managed to cruise to the 17-point victory. On top of that, Houston came into the game ranked 12th in the country, and had just secured a huge outright win at home against Texas Tech. Whether coach Sumlin’s squad suffered a major letdown is up for debate.

However, he can’t deny the fact that the rushing effort of one Donald Buckram was the main reason for the shocking defeat. Then a junior, Buckram rushed for an obscene 262 yards on 32 attempts (8.2 YPC) and hit pay dirt four separate times.

Though Houston racked up a gaudy 664 yards of overall offense with QB Case Keenum accounting for better than 80 percent of them through the air (536 yards passing), Houston’s defense simply had no answer for Buckram and it was the reason for their shocking demise. UTEP’s victory was the first over a ranked opponent since 1997.

NCAA Football Insider Tip: Both oddsmakers and the betting public believe the Cougars are going to exact revenge in a big way in this spot evidenced by the sports betting line immediately getting bet up to its current position after opening at (-16.5). And I gotta say, I agree with them.

Houston’s offense looked brilliant in limited action against FCS opponent Texas State last week racking up 54 points before the break. Most importantly, the defense only surrendered seven during that same time period – Reserves played out the rest of the game.

UTEP has historically played better in its own house; evidenced by last year’s win. However, they really struggled with FCS rep Arkansas Pine Bluff last week leading just 14-10 at the break before going on to win 31-10.

It only hurts the visitor’s chances even more with the star of last year’s game, RB Buckram, listed as questionable after sitting last week out with an injured knee.

The Miners are a poor 4-14 SU & 9-9 ATS their L/18 road games, while Houston is yet to lose at home the L/2 seasons while posting an 8-1 ATS tally in lined games. I just don’t foresee UTEP being able to keep up in this spot, so my best football betting advice for this match-up is to lay the points with Houston or just stay away from the game altogether.

My NCAA Football Predictions: Houston Cougars (-20) -110

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