UTEP Miners (1-5) vs. Sam Houston State Bearkats (0-6)
October 15, 2025 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Sam Houston State Bearkats -3.5; Over/Under:
(Get latest betting odds)
The UTEP Miners and the Sam Houston State Bearkats meet Wednesday in college football action from Shell Energy Stadium. Here’s a Sam Houston vs UTEP prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Sam Houston vs UTEP pick.
UTEP Miners Betting Preview
The Miners have a half dozen games in the books so far this year, and things haven’t been going so well thus far. UTEP has only one victory, a 42-17 result versus Tennessee-Martin back on September 6 in their second appearance of the season. Outside of that, the Miners fell to Utah State, Texas, Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana Tech in their first five outings. In the loss to the Bulldogs, the Miners defense gave up just 232 total yards and 16 first downs alongside four takeaways. Trouble is, UTEP coughed up five interceptions when they were on the offensive side of the ball. The result was a 30-11 defeat.
In their latest outing on October 8 versus Liberty, the Miners were trailing 19-0 by the end of the third quarter. UTEP managed to score eight unanswered points in the final frame but ultimately ended up with a 19-8 defeat. QB Skyler Locklear finished 9-of-17 for 90 yards and two interceptions, while also leading the rush with eight carries for 58 yards and a touchdown. Tops in receiving was Kenny Odom with three catches for 53 yards in the losing effort.
Sam Houston State Bearkats Betting Preview
Over on the Sam Houston side, their year has gone even worse. The Bearkats are winless through six games so far, kicking off with a 41-24 defeat versus Western Kentucky and a 38-21 result against UNLV. The next three were losses to Hawaii, Texas and New Mexico State in succession. Matched up against the Aggies, Sam Houston posted 313 yards on offense but also went just 3-of-13 on third-down tries and had three turnovers along the way to a 37-10 defeat in the end.
Back on Thursday, October 9 in their most recent outing versus Jacksonville State. The Bearkats nearly pulled off an upset win at home. Sam Houston was up 21-17 going into the final quarter but got outscored 12-6 the rest of the way in a tough loss 29-27. QB Hunter Watson finished 12-of-19 for 136 yards and three touchdowns. Tops in rushing was Alton McCaskill with 14 carries for 87 yards. Leading the way in receiving was Chris Reed, who had a nice day on three catches, 63 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the loss.
UTEP Miners @ Sam Houston State Bearkats Betting Trends: Week 8
Sam Houston State Bearkats Player Prop Facts
- Heading into Week 8, CJ Brown leads the Conference USA for forced fumbles (3) this season.
UTEP Miners Player Prop Facts
- Heading into Week 8, Udoka Ezeani leads the Conference USA for sacks (4.0) this season.
Matchup/League Facts
- Sam Houston State has suffered the most road losses by a margin of 10+ points of any FBS team this season (4).
- Sam Houston State has suffered the most road losses by a margin of 15+ points of any FBS team this season (4).
- UTEP ranks 135th among FBS teams for time of possession per game this season (24:35).
- UTEP ranks 131st among FBS teams for 1st downs this season (89).
Sam Houston vs UTEP Prediction
I’ll lean toward Sam Houston, but I’m probably avoiding this one. There’s not a lot to get excited about in a game featuring two teams with just one win between them. In any case, the Bearkats gave Jacksonville State a challenge in their last game despite putting up a tepid 286 offensive yards, 15 first downs and 4-of-12 on third-down tries. Sam Houston also held the ball for just 24:47 of game time. On defense the Bearkats had a real issue stopping the rush, coughing up 370 yards on the ground. The good news is that Sam Houston was solid on third-down stops with 4-of-15 converted. The 26 first downs allowed dampened the defensive effort, though. The Bearkats have scored at least 20 points in four of their six games so far; they’re just giving up quite a bit on the other side.
As for UTEP, they posted just 167 yards on offense in their latest loss to Liberty along with 3.2 yards per play, eight first downs and a 3-of-15 effort on third-down tries. The Miners have posted just 19 combined points over their last two games and they’ve been at 11 or below in three of the last four.
