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New Mexico vs. UTEP Saturday Sept 17

#130 ASA PLAY ON New Mexico +2.5 over UTEP, Saturday at 8 PM ET

UTEP steps into this one with a 1-2 record and their lone win came last week 20-13 vs New Mexico State.  The Miners were outgained in that game and beaten at the line of scrummage allowing 4.7 YPC to the Aggies while gaining just 3.5 YPC.  UTEP was also +1 turnovers in the win yet NM State had the ball deep in Miner territory late with a chance to tie but fumbled on the 13 yard line.  That’s an NMSU team that has a grand total of 5 wins vs FBS teams since the start of the 2018 season.  Not an impressive effort by UTEP.  Now they are favored on the road for just the 4th time since the start of the 2016 season.  Definitely a role they are not used to.  The Miners in fact, are just 6-11 ATS the last 17 times they’ve been a road chalk.  New Mexico is 1-1 on the season and they have an extra day to prepare for this one after losing 31-14 to Boise State last Friday night.  While the offense struggled vs a very good Boise defense, we were impressed with the Lobo stop unit as they held the Broncos to 318 total yards.  In this match up last year NM held a 10 point lead at half @ UTEP and the Miners battled back for a 7 point win scoring their final TD with under 3:00 minutes remaining.  We like New Mexico to win the line of scrimmage here which will give the advantage to the underdog.  Speaking of underdog, the puppy has covered 5 of the 6 meetings in this series.  UTEP has been overvalued by the oddsmakers with an 0-3 ATS record thus far losing those games by a combined 30 points to the number.  They continued to be overvalued here as a road favorite.  We like New Mexico to win this game at home.