UTEP Miners at Houston Cougars, Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX
Friday, September 10, 2010, 10:15 EST, TV: ESPN
Opening Line: Houston -16 1/2
Current Lines: Houston -20
Opening Total: 75
Current Total: 75
Current Money Line: Houston -1200/ UTEP +800
All UTEP Houston Game Betting Info Taken from Bookmaker Sportsbook.
I feel sorry for the anchors of the 1:00 am edition of Sportscenter. This game is set to start after 10:00 pm Eastern and will have a ton of points. It could last 4 hours or more. The total is 75 and Houston is perfectly capable of scoring 74 points by themselves. They dismantled lightweight Texas St 68-28 last week. UTEP is a higher quality opponent than Texas St, but like most teams in the offensive-minded Conference USA , the Miners have some defensive deficiencies. Houston’s defense isn’t great either. It adds up to a shootout with two teams that are pretty good on offense.
Coach Mike Price led the Miners to a 31-10 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff to open the season last week. Quarterback Trevor Vittatoe was average at best throwing for only 229 yards and an interception. However, the Miners gashed the Golden Lions for 234 yards, led by Joseph Barnyard with 94 and Vernon Frazier with 89 yards. Both had 2 touchdown runs. The Miners ball control offense might be the best way to even stay in the game against Houston this week. They can’t match Case Keenum and the Cougars point for point. But if Keenum is on the sideline for long periods of time then UTEP might have a chance. However the quick strike offense of the Cougars doesn’t always need a ton of time. The Miners played decently on defense against overmatched Arkansas Pine Bluff but still gave up almost 300 yards. They did get two interceptions and two sacks. They will have to be much better if they have any hopes of stopping the high-powered Cougar’s offense. Interestingly enough though the Miners had such a huge advantage in the rushing numbers, it didn’t show up in the time of possession. The Miners only had the ball for 32 minutes to the Golden Lions 28. This is mainly due to three long touchdown runs by Barnyard and Frazier.
As mentioned Houston’s offense begins with Heisman trophy candidate quarterback Case Keenum. Keenum threw for 274 yards and 5 touchdowns with two picks. Keenum was taken out of the game at halftime as the Cougars had the game well in hand leading 54-7. It is pretty amazing if you think about it, that had Coach Kevin Sumlin not called off the dogs, that the Cougars could have scored 100 points easily. The Cougars also rushed for 151 yards and three rushing TD’s. Of course most of that was in the second half when they were trying to run out the clock. The same could also be said for the Cougars defense which gave up 28 points, but 21 of those were in the second half when they were already so far ahead it didn’t matter. The Cougars’ defense forced 4 turnovers, including an interception returned for a touchdown. Houston kicker Matt Hogan did miss 2 of the 10 extra points he kicked and didn’t try any field goals, if you want to nitpick and try to find something wrong with what the Cougars did last week.
The game starts at 9:15 pm Central time so the late start time might be a factor. The weather will be pretty humid as there is a 20 percent chance of rain. Maybe rain will slow down the Cougars high octane attack, because I don’t think the Miners can.
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