In the Dave Campbell article below it talks like the Miners could win two more games. What is kind of funny is that it started the article saying that no one would have predicted that the Miners would be 6 and 1. They had no idea and now they know the Miners can win two more, maybe? My question is why two, why not win out? Seriously, and I know that some of you will just think that the old guy has flat out lost it, but why not? I'm not saying that they will, but what are others seeing that I'm not that makes them think the Miners are going to lose three to five of their last five games? Now, the Miners are 6-1 and have won impressively some of their games. It could be that others believe that the Miners are going to play much tougher teams and others perhaps believe that the competition in previous games has been weaker than what is ahead. That is my thinking and I admit that I may have missed something. I'm just wondering how they decided the Miners were going to lose games based on the first seven games.
Team Records
6-1*(5-1)
10-31
Next 5
18-14
*I pulled BC.
I'm not crazy. I know that UTSA and UAB are in the remaining games.
Total Offense
33 UTSA 446.3
41 Fla. Atlantic 438.3
47 FIU 433.8
56 North Texas 415.0
76 UTEP 387.3
121 Rice 309.7
Total Defense
15 UTEP 297.4
30 UAB 320.0
33 UTSA 323.9
62 Fla. Atlantic 376.2
103 North Texas 433.5
107 Rice 438.0
Time of Possession
8 UTEP 33
13 UAB 32
23 Rice 31
30 UTSA 31
71 North Texas 29
98 Fla. Atlantic 28
128 FIU 26
Scoring Off
13 UTSA 38.6
61 Fla. Atlantic 29.3
72 FIU 27.8
86 UAB 26.1
93 UTEP 24.9
106 North Texas 22.5
126 Rice 16
Scoring Def
21 UAB 19
22 UTSA 19.14
25 UTEP 19.29
54 Fla. Atlantic 23
115 North Texas 35
122 FIU 36.83
126 Rice 39.67
There are some numbers for you to peruse. I don't see any numbers that just stick out to me as red flags that indicate that winning or losing any of the remaining games is pretty mush guaranteed. One game at a time. But each one is certainly within the realm of possibility. I said it in a previous post, and I will say it again. The Miners are built with a certain mindset. The Miners really do want to be the bigger bully. A huge part of any fight, all the way to wars, is psychological. Normally, when the Miners travel to Florida they were looking for a nice spot to take a nap before the game-during the game. When the Miners went into the locker room at the half of the LA Tech game they were feeling like King Kong. Then King Kong came out for the second half! The Miners are fired up, pumped up, and spoiling for a fight. I wish they didn't have to wait this week. But, they will be ready when they travel this time. They want some. It feels so good!
Before the Tech game we were averaging holding opponents(not playing on blue turf) to an average of 11 points below what the odds makers predicted. The Miners beat Tech by 16 points. But the thing is that Tech had opened as a 7.5 point favorites and predicting they would score 32 or 33. That was almost exactly what they were averaging per game. The odds makers were figuring we would score our 25 points that we were averaging. On this game, we held Tech to 30 points less than the odds makers thought we would.
Look at FAU and they average 29 points a game, and we still average 25. Take the eleven points away from FAU and they score just 18. Look at our scoring defense. We give up an average of 19 points per game. That gives you points to give them for travel east and FAU home field if you want. Miners win 24 20. Take the under, again.
