UTSA Roadrunners Vs. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Odds, Betting Preview, And Prediction

Now that the Roadrunners are ranked, at No. 24, for the first time, they want all to know—it’s UTSA, not Texas-San Antonio. It splashed onto the national scene in impressive fashion with last week’s 45-0 blitzing of Rice.

Now the Runners must buck history to show they belong among the game’s élite. They played a provisional schedule in 2011, beginning for good the following season. And they are only 3-7 against the line in their past 10 as a road favorite.

UTSA Roadrunners (7-0)

These Roadrunners are rolling, as evidenced by their top-20 national scoring average of 36 points. Their 0.452 points per play output is top-30, as is their usual 450 yards of offense.

Fifth-year senior quarterback Frank Harris completes 69.2% of his attempts and has rung up 1,600 yards for 14 TDs, with three interceptions and two fumbles.

Zakhari Franklin (11.3 average on 40 receptions, 4 TDs), De’Corian Clark (15.5–27–5), and Joshua Cephus (11.3–46–5) are his favorite targets, but the Tech defense had better be aware of Harris’s ability as a receiver.

He has caught a touchdown pass from Cephus this season, in second-year coach Jeff Traylor’s trickery schemes.

The Runners, of course, are a running team, keeping it on the ground 57% of the time. They average a top-40 192 yards, while Tech yields a middle-of-the-road 152 yards per game.

Sincere McCormick is the 5-foot-9, 200-pound tailback who is eighth in the country with 778 rushing yards. We relish when UTSA games flash on our radar as a selection of the week, just to be able to type his name.

He is a bull, having carried the ball 168 times. He averages 4.6 yards and has scored six times. On a recent TD scamper, Traylor savored replaying, over and over, shots of the jubilant UTSA sideline and the Runners’ offensive linemen, all hooting and hollering behind Sincere as he dashed into the end zone.

UTSA at Louisiana Tech Full Sportsbook Odds

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (2-4)

Typically, this is a tough spot for the Roadrunners, who are 0-5 in Ruston.

This, though, is a tough sandwich spot for the Bulldogs, their lone home game in a five-game run. They lost at ranked North Carolina State and, last week were knocked around in a 19-3 defeat at UTEP. Next, they go to Old Dominion and UAB.

The Miners’ game was a particular low as Super Senior quarterback Austin Kendall (formerly of Oklahoma and West Virginia) had three passes picked off by UTEP defenders. On the season, he’s thrown 10 TD passes, had eight intercepted and fumbled once.

(Note that Trevor Harmanson, UTSA’s 6-3, a 230-pound inside linebacker from Dickinson, Texas, picked off a pass last week against Rice and ran it in 40 yards for a touchdown.)

One of the worst performances, offensively, Tech has had in a long time, coach Skip Holtz told the Monroe News-Star of the UTEP game. “ … a poor [offensive] effort, and poor coaching on my part … we’ve got to do better as an offensive staff of putting our players in a position to win.”

Super Senior Marcus Williams Jr., a 5-10, 210-pound tailback, averages 4.3 yards on 84 carries, and fourth-year junior slot receiver Smoke Harris (5-6, 184) averages nearly 10 yards on his 30 receptions.

Sports Betting Recommendation

This will be a strangely difficult game for Louisiana Tech, which has owned UTSA. That has completely changed, and don’t be surprised if Skip Holtz turns to fourth-year junior Aaron Allen at quarterback.

UTSA protects Frank Harris extremely well and is well-disciplined, with a top-20 turnover edge that plays into the hands of Tech, in the bottom quarter of the country in giveaways.

We see the Roadrunners, especially Super Senior linebacker Clarence Hicks, being able to get to whomever Holtz employs behind his center. Do the Dogs use three quarterbacks in this one?

We sport two models that have the Roadrunners winning by 28 and 8 points, so giving less than a touchdown in this spot is advantageous.