Florida International vs UTEP Odds
| Florida International Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-3 -110 | 43.5 -110o / -110u | -150 |
| UTEP Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+3 -110 | 43.5 -110o / -110u | +125 |
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The Florida International Panthers welcome the University of Texas at El Paso Miners to Riccardo Silva Stadium in Miami, Florida, for a Week 7 Conference USA matchup.
UTEP enters this matchup with a rough 1-5 record with its lone win coming at home against Incarnate Word. That's led to an 0-2 record to start conference play following a Week 1 loss at Jacksonville State and a loss last week to Louisiana Tech at home.
FIU hasn’t had an easy path thus far either. The Panthers sit at 3-3 with an 0-3 start to conference play that saw losses at Louisiana Tech, at New Mexico State and at home against Liberty.
Both teams enter this game looking to get that first conference win under their belt, so let’s take a look at who holds the advantage in this Wednesday night bout between UTEP and FIU.
Florida International Panthers
The Panthers need a win in conference play badly after their 0-3 start.
FIU is coming off a bad loss at New Mexico State in which quarterback Keyone Jenkins threw two interceptions and no touchdowns.
The defense did not do its part either, giving up 34 points and allowing 5.9 yards per carry last week. The Panthers offense will look to clean up the turnovers, while the defense hopes to firm up its run defense in this matchup.
This Panthers offense just struggles to put up points, averaging 21 points per game while ranking 110th in Offensive Success Rate.
This team has just not hit its stride with Jenkins at the helm. After a relatively hot start to the season, the freshman from Miami has a 5:6 touchdown-to-interception ratio and has thrown three picks without a touchdown in his last two games. That kind of turnover margin will not help this struggling offense.
Jenkins has had similar struggles to UTEP’s Hardison. FIU will likely look to run the ball as well to help out its young quarterback and maintain possession while staying away from third-and-longs.
Defensively, this FIU team has been much better than the offense.
Defensive-minded head coach Mike MacIntyre has led this pass defense to rank 33rd in Success Rate against the air attack. This should help them absolutely shut down a UTEP passing game that has struggled.
Unfortunately for FIU, its rush defense ranks just 78th and struggles against heavy run teams. The Panthers will need to pick up some early-down stops against UTEP and force them into throws, so the FIU pass defense could play a key role in this game.
UTEP Miners
UTEP enters this game looking to climb the Conference USA standings after finishing 5-7 last season and 3-5 in conference play.
Head coach Dana Dimel leads this team again for his sixth season in El Paso, and he looks to get his team back on track.
However, this UTEP offense is just not getting it done this season. The Miners lack explosiveness offensively, ranking 87th nationally, and have not had much success on the ground or through the air, ranking 78th and 112th in Success Rate, respectively.
Dimel loves to run the football, as this team keeps it on the ground at the 48th-highest rate in the country. It's going to need some improved play out of the offensive line to help open up some big holes for starting running back Deion Hankins to run through.
With Gavin Hardison under center, the passing offense hasn't been great, thanks in large part to his 5:7 touchdown-to-interceptions ratio. Hardison's status is unknown due to injury, and with backups Kevin Hurley and Jake McNamara also getting hit by the injury bug, it could be fourth-stringer Cade McConnell who gets the start in this one.
With a background as a running backs coach, Dimel will look to get Hankins as many touches as he can to maintain possession and keep the ball away from FIU.
The Miner defense has not been much better than their offense, currently ranking 90th in Defensive Success Rate. Fortunately for this UTEP defense, it's been solid against the pass, coming in with a Success Rate ranking of 59th against the pass.
Now, this may be a bit skewed given the Miners are 1-5 and have been trailing most of their games, which has led to teams being a bit more run-heavy.
However, UTEP should still be able to slow the FIU pass offense, although it will need to play better at the line of scrimmage in order to halt the Panthers' run game.
Florida International vs UTEP
Betting Pick & Prediction
These teams have both struggled offensively, and they can hold their own defensively to keep themselves in games.
I expect a heavy dose of run offensively for both teams to protect their offenses from turnover-prone quarterbacks, which should chew up the clock and keep this game pretty low-scoring.
I'd take this game to go under 44 points and would play it to 43.
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