The San Jose State Spartans and the UTEP Miners meet Saturday in college football action from the Sun Bowl in El Paso. Here’s a UTEP vs San Jose State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UTEP vs San Jose State pick.
San Jose State Spartans Betting Preview
San Jose State has had a choppy run so far this year, and it’s resulted in a .500 record in the books. The Spartans kicked things off with a loss on the road versus USC, then powered out a win over Eastern Michigan 27-21. Another win over Cal Poly came next, then a loss to Fresno State. Since then it’s been a win over Hawaii and a loss to Wyoming for a 3-3 start.
Back on October 9 versus Wyoming, the Spartans were able to notch a touchdown in the first half and went into the break with a 7-6 lead. San Jose State built up a 13-6 lead from there but gave up a TD for overtime. In the end SJSU walked away with a tough loss 16-13. QB Luke Weaver went 26-of-38 for 251 yards and a pick while Jabari Bates had 16 carries for 69 yards and a TD.
UTEP Miners Betting Preview
Over on the UTEP side, they haven’t had a lot of luck this year. The Miners opened with a blowout loss to Oklahoma then beat Texas Southern 51-10. Since then it’s been a string of four straight losses for the Miners, as they’ve dropped to Michigan, Oregon State, New Mexico and Nevada. That gives the team a rough 1-5 record so far this year.
Matched up against Nevada last weekend the Miners were trailing but still within striking distance 13-7 by the end of the first half. UTEP gave up 10 points in the third and never got any closer in an eventual loss 30-13. QB Raymond Moore was 16-of-26 for 132 yards and two scores while also leading the rush with 15 totes for 65 yards in the losing effort.
UTEP Miners Player Prop Facts
- Heading into Week 7, Raymond Moore III ranks 15th amongst qualified players for Yards Per Carry (7.5) this season.
San Jose State Spartans Player Prop Facts
- Heading into Week 7, Jabari Bates ranks 4th amongst FBS players for rushing attempts (120) this season.
Matchup/League Facts
- UTEP has suffered the equal-most road losses by a margin of 25+ points of any FBS team this season (3).
- UTEP has suffered the equal-most road losses by a margin of 30+ points of any FBS team this season (3).
- San Jose State ranks 138th among FBS teams for Q1 points per game this season (0.5).
- San Jose State ranks T6th among FBS teams for Q1 opponent points per game this season (1.7).
UTEP vs San Jose State Prediction
I’ll lean toward UTEP but I’m not touching it. The Miners were pretty rough on offense in the Nevada loss, posting just nine first downs and a 1-of-14 success rate on third downs. On defense UTEP gave up 21 first downs and 376 total yards but did fairly well on thirds (4-of-13) themselves. The Miners have scored just 27 points combined over the last three weeks while giving up 30 or more in each.
As for San Jose State, they couldn’t get past Wyoming in their most recent appearance but did well on defense. That unit had a couple of takeaways alongside just 114 pass yards and 3-of-15 on third downs allowed. Still, the Spartans gave up 231 rushing yards and could only go 4-of-12 on third downs themselves. This weekend will be another tricky one.