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Posted at 10:00 AM EST

8:00 PM EST. As a 10½-point home favorite, the Road Runners of UTSA would lose outright to these Miners last season by a score of 52-49. Pundits and analysts have called this one a “revenge game” for Texas San-Antonio and we suppose it is, but so what. Revenge games can be a motivating factor but not when that team is favored by more than two converted TD’s. The lofty spread takes the bite out of the revenge oriented squad when they are expected to win by such a large amount. Now, one year later, the Road Runners are an even bigger favorite on the road and that’s due to an exodus of players on UTEP, including running back Aaron Jones, who was the most prolific rusher in school history. This may appear to be the ideal situation to swallow points with UTSA with respect to the vindication angle and the fact UTEP remains winless on the year but we don’t see it that way at all. The better angle here is that the dog is being totally disrespected.

We are not here to argue whether UTEP is a good team or not, as its track record speaks for itself. Our goal is find value in the numbers and look very closely at teams that the market is shying away from. The Miners of Texas El Paso are one such team. Furthermore, the Road Runners pulled off one of the great early season upsets when they disposed of Baylor to put themselves on the map while UTEP was losing to Rice in the same week. When looking at common opponents, give another big edge to the favorite, as they defeated Rice and lost by just two points to Southern Miss, a team the Miners lost to by 24 points last week. That’s all fodder but this is a huge number for an unproven favorite to offer a defensively oriented, clock-grinding underdog. No matter how you break it down, the Road Runners have developed some losing habits of their own and we're not completely convinced that this bunch is ready to win, let alone totally put away a team on the road.

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