Saturday afternoon CFB action as the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners rumble with the New Mexico Lobos in the New Mexico Bowl at University Stadium in Albuquerque. The Roadrunners went 6-6 and will be playing in their first ever bowl game, while the 8-4 Lobos have gone just 3-7-1 in bowl history. This contest has a start time of 2:00 pm EST.
Vegas odds have the Lobos listed as 7 point favorites, while the total has been set at 61.5. The game has a start time of 2:00 pm EST and will be televised on ESPN.
Breaking Down The UTSA Roadrunners
The UTSA Roadrunners are in just their 6th year of existence at the FBS level and this is their first bowl game that they will be playing in. They never got here under Larry Coker, but first year coach Frank Wilson was able to turn the trick for them. They went just 6-6 on the year and lost two of their final three games, but still got into a bowl thanks to beating Charlotte 33-14 in their final game of the season. The Roadrunners have been led this year by QB Dalton Sturm, who threw for 2052 yards with 18 TDs and just 15 INTs. Not great numbers, but he didn’t make a ton of mistakes either. The offense for the Roadrunners was not great overall as they come in ranked 97th in total offense, 76th in passing, 91st in rushing and 63rd in scoring, putting up 29.9 ppg. On the defensive side of the ball, they have been a bit better as they come in ranked 58th in total yards allowed, 81st vs the pass, 52nd vs the run and 69th in points allowed, giving up 28.3 ppg. Their run defense has been decent this year, but the triple option of the Lobos is the best in the nation, so they they will really have to be on their toes for this one.
Breaking Down The New Mexico Lobos
Bob Divie couldn’t get the job done at Notre Dame, but he has done a very solid team in building this Lobos team and after going just 11-26 in his first 3 years here, they have now gone 15-10 the last two years and after falling last year in this game, their next step is to win a bowl game for the first time since 2007. This year they were 8-4 and finished in a tied atop the MWC West Division. The Lobos have been led by their powerful ground attack, which comes in ranked 1st in the nation, grinding out 360.9 ypg on the ground. This is not an easy offense to stop at all and no one has been able to this year so far. Leading the ground game has been Teriyon Gipson, who has run for 1209 yards and Tyrone Owens, who has run for 1084 yards and 7 TDs. That is a strong 1-2 punch and the Roadrunners will have their hands full with this offense. Overall, the Lobos are 27th in total offense, 127th in passing and 21st in scoring, putting up 37.8 ppg. On the defenses side of the ball they have been average at best as they come in ranked 56th in total yards allowed, 71st vs the pass, 61st vs the run and 95th in points allowed at 32.4 ppg.; They will give up points, but their offense has been able to put up more.
Trends: The Roadrunners have gone 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games on grass and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games after allowing less than 275 total yards in their previous game, but just 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games after accumulating more than 280 yards passing in their previous game and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a straight up win. The Over is 6-2 in their last 8 games after accumulating more than 450 total yards in their previous game, while the Under is 5-1 in their last 6 games after accumulating more than 280 yards passing in their previous game.
The Lobos have gone 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games after allowing more than 200 yards rushing in their previous game and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games after accumulating less than 170 yards passing in their previous game, but just 7-15 ATS in their last 22 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 vs. CUSA. The Over is 12-2 in their last 14 games after accumulating more than 200 yards rushing in their previous game, while the Under is 8-2 in their last 10 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points.
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