New Mexico Bowl Betting Odds

Opening point spread odds - total lines at 5Dimes : BYU -11.5 / UTEP +11.5 O/U 50

Time: 2 PM EST Saturday December 18. 2010 on ESPN / ESPN3

UTEP (6-6) is a big betting underdog in this game and you can’t argue with that since they were only 3-5 in Conference USA play and they lost 5 of their last 6 games including their last 2. On the other side of the coin BYU (6-6) finished the season strong after a disastrous start winning 5 of their last 6 games. While the Miners rank a tad better on offense their defense only ranks 86th in the nation while BYU’s D ranks 33rd. The Cougars’ defense played well in the 2nd half of the season, as in their last 5 games they only gave up an average of 12 points per game.

In their last games of the season BYU lost a close one to 20th ranked Utah 17-16 and UTEP lost to Tulsa 31-28.

This season BYU have been a decent betting team going 7-5 ATS, including covering the spread in their last 4 games, while UTEP was only 5-7.

The Cougars’ offense had been on fire scoring at least 40 points in 3 games in a row before only scoring 16 in their season finale. In that 3 game winning streak QB Jake Heaps tossed 8 TD with 0 INT, but against the great Utah defense he did pass for 228 yards with 1 TD, but also threw a pick. He will likely have a good game in this New Mexico Bowl facing a UTEP pass defense that only ranks 73rd in the nation.

Where the Miners are really concerned has to be their run defense, which 90th in the nation. There concern is legit, as BYU has the nation’s 46th ranked rushing offense led by RB JJ Di Luigi. He and fellow Bryan Kariya struggled in the Utah loss, but along with Heaps they will be facing a Miners’ D that has given up an average of 560 yards in their last 2 games.

With the struggles of the UTEP defense their offense may have to bail them out. The Miners rank 60th in the nation in passing yards per game and 69th in rushing yards per game. QB Trevor Vittatoe (2,511 yards 19 TD) and RB Joseph Banyard (612 yards 8 TD) will have to play well and while Banyard had 155 rushing yards in the loss to Tulsa Vittatoe has 0 TD and 2 picks in his last 2 games. Banyard may be the key, as the BYU defense is much better defending the pass than the run. However, against a solid Utah rushing attack the Cougars only gave up 89 rushing yards.

In some other betting trends for this New Mexico Bowl:

UTEP is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games facing a team from the Mountain West Conference, 8-21 ATS in their last 29 games following a ATS win, and has an Under record of 4-1 in their last 5 games as an underdog.

BYU is 7-0 ATS in their last 7 games after allowing less than 100 yards rushing in their previous game, 2-5 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games, and has an Over record of 5-2 in their last 7 games as a favorite of 10.5 or more.

Our Selection : It's difficult to have any faith in the Minors who have lost 5 of their last 6 and their porous run defense. The linesmaker opened this game a little too high at BYU -13 but it has fallen to 11.5 at most books. While we're not going to make a play at that reduced number on the point spread we will bite on the under. The Cougars have not allowed an opponent to score over 20 points in 5 straight games. We feel that UTEP will struggle to hit double digits. Take Under 50 points at 5Dimes.


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