Week 9 Wednesday games feature Jacksonville State vs. FIU
Conference USA’s experiment to play on Tuesday and Wednesday seems to have worked out. The desired goal was to get some exposure for the conference and it has gotten a lot of that on the ESPN family of networks and CBS Sports Network over the last few weeks. Our Tuesday and Wednesday C-USA games come to an end this week, as we’ve got Jacksonville State vs. FIU and UTEP vs. Sam Houston State on October 25.
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As these teams get back to playing on Saturdays, your level of study into them could yield some decent betting opportunities with a whole lot of other games that are going to draw much higher interest and betting handles. For now, let’s look at Wednesday’s games.
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Odds as of 10/23, 4:.0 p.m. PT
Jacksonville State Gamecocks (-8, 44.5) at FIU Panthers
Jacksonville State scored the biggest win in program history last week with a 20-17 win at the buzzer over Western Kentucky. The 37 points don’t really tell the whole story in that game, as the teams combined for over 800 yards of offense. The Gamecocks were responsible for 484 of those yards themselves, as QB Zion Webb threw for 218 and rushed for 146 more in the victory.
Jacksonville State already has six wins in the first season as a FBS program and five of them are against FBS teams. The only losses are to Coastal Carolina and Liberty. FIU only has three wins against FBS competition, including an overtime win over winless Sam Houston State last week. With QB Keyone Jenkins out there for the full game last week against SHSU, the Panthers still only mustered 4.09 yards per play on offense. This is a very limited football team.
On the surface, eight points feels like a lot here for a road team, but that’s where my Power Ratings have the game and FIU has really not played well lately. It seemed like they were ramping things up with wins over North Texas and UConn in back-to-back games, but then they scored a combined 37 points in losses to Liberty, New Mexico State, and UTEP.
I’d lean towards Jacksonville State here because of their ability to run the ball and because they rank in the top 25 in yards per play against. FIU’s defense is well below that and this is the opposite of an explosive offense.
Lean: Jacksonville State -8
Other Wednesday Game
UTEP at Sam Houston State (-3.5, 36.5): Sam Houston State is 0-7 and laying more than a field goal in this game against UTEP. The Miners are 2-6 on the season, as Dana Dimel’s seat burns with the fire of 1,000 suns. UTEP’s head coach probably could’ve been fired earlier in the season, but he’s still there and the team is still struggling through the season.
After a one-week blip from Cade McConnell with 262 yards on 11 completions, he was 15-of-32 for 179 yards against New Mexico State, as the UTEP offense managed just seven points against the Aggies. That’s the type of performance that makes you more than a field goal dog to a winless team.
SHSU has lost in overtime twice and also lost a close one to Liberty, so they’ve been getting closer. I hope they get their first win here, but it won’t come with any investment from me. I have no idea what happens in this game, but the line tells quite a story for an 0-7 team to be -3.5 against anybody.
