College football week 12 and the UTEP Miners will travel to Rice Stadium to take on the Rice Owls. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on Fox Sports 1. Current Vegas odds have the Owls listed as 7 point favorites, while the total is set at 52.5.  

Analysis: The UTEP Miners are off a solid 35-17 win over North Texas, which now has them bowl eligible with a 6-4 record. The Miners are 4-2 within Conference USA, but just 2-3 on the road overall for the year. UTEP is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 conference games, but just 1-7 ATS in their last 8 road games vs. a team with a winning home record and 1-10 ATS in their last 11 meetings. Offense is not a strong suit of this team, as they come in ranked 93rd in total offense, 121st in passing, 26th in rushing and 59th in scoring (30.3 ppg). The defense has been decent for this team as they come in ranked 44th in yards allowed, 38th vs the pass, 61st vs the run and 85th in points allowed (29.2 ppg).

The Rice Owls also come into this game with a 6-4 record on the year that includes a 3-1 record at home and a 4-2 record in Conference USA. This game will be for 2nd place in the West Division. The Owls are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a ATS loss, but are also 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games after accumulating less than 100 yards rushing in their previous game. The Owls have been an average offensive squad, ranking 70th in total yards, 84th in passing, 49th vs the run and 73rd in scoring (29.2 ppg). The defense has been average as well, ranking 53rd in total yards, 74th vs the pass, 50th vs the run and 72nd in points allowed (27.5 ppg).  

Pick: This line has come down some, but I still feel it is a bit too high. This UTEP squad has played very well this year, especially of late as they have won 4 of their last 5 games and with the win over North Texas last week they became bowl eligible. The Rice Owls are also bowl eligible, but do come off a crushing loss to Marshall in which they were outgained by 401 yards on the contest. The loss snapped a long 6 game win streak for the Owls and teams that usually have a streak broken like that duplicate the same result in their next game. Yes the Owls are home and 10-1 ATSA the last 11 in this series, but the Miners can pull the upset here in what sets up as a classic sandwich game as the Owls have a road game vs La Tech on deck. Do not be surprised if the Miners get the outright upset here. 

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