Rice at UTEP

The UTEP Miners appear to have it all going as they come into their game with Rice with a 4-1 mark. Not so fast. They beat New Mexico State, a team that is 0-4 and has been outscored 184-47. They beat New Mexico who is 0-5 having been outscored by 263-61. Arkansas Pine-Bluff isn't even a Div-1 program, and Memphis is 1-4, having been outscored by 179-78. Add it all together and the four wins are to a Div-1AA team and three teams that have been outscored by 646-186. UTEP squeezed out a 3-point win vs. Memphis (failing to cover a double-digit spread), and didn't beat the New Mexico teams by nearly as much as everyone else. The bottom line is that this is a tainted 4-1 mark as the one loss was a blowout on behalf of Houston. Meanwhile, Rice is losing competitively to the likes of Texas, Baylor and a 5-0 Northwestern team, by 17 points in all three cases. The Owls are not accumulating wins on the scoreboard, but this isn't about that. It is about covering the spread, something the Owls are very productive at doing, serving-up a 21-8-1 ATS in their last 30 road games. The Miners have shown to be weak as a favorite where they are a dismal 6-21 ATS in their last 27. These teams are a lot closer than the records would indicate and I'm taking Rice in this one.