Free College Football Picks – UTEP Seeks To Win Sixth Game

The UTEP Miners are closing in on bowl eligibility, and they’ll try to notch win number six in 2010 as they take on the Tulane Green Wave in El Paso. Here is a preview along with some free college football picks.

Tulane Green Wave @ UTEP Miners 
Saturday, October 23rd – 9:05 PM ET 
Sun Bowl, El Paso, TX 
College Football Odds: Tulane +10, UTEP -10 

Total: 54.5

Saturday evening probably won’t be the best night for the Tulane Green Wave. There are some weeks that set up really well for a given team, and others that spell bad things for a gridiron group. In week eight of the 2010 college football season, the word “trouble” exists for the visiting team from New Orleans, which will head to a West Texas town that’s not likely to be very hospitable. 

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Free College Football Picks: What Tulane Has To Do To Win

If there is a bright spot for the Green Wave, it is that sophomore Ryan Griffin seems to be on the way to becoming a legitimate starting quarterback in pass-happy Conference USA.  Griffin has thrown five touchdown passes and only one pick in Tulane’s last two games.  Unfortunately, Griffin’s emergence has coincided with a decline in productions from freshman running back Orleans Darkwa.  The Green Wave will need both Griffin and Darkwa to bring their very best Saturday night if they’re going to hang with the Miners.

Tulane’s defense also needs to stand up and be counted. UTEP Miners has put up nearly 29 points and 402 yards per game this season, while the Green Wave gives up nearly 33 points and 370 yards per game.  Tulane has been outscored 93- 47 in its last two games, losing to Army and Tulsa. If coach Bob Toledo’s defense can become stingy in the red zone and turn a number of Miner touchdown drives into field goal drives, the margin of this game will substantially shrink.

Free College Football Picks: What UTEP Has To Do To Win

The Miners shrivel when forced to leave their home in the heart of the Desert Southwest, but when they play at the Sun Bowl – especially at night – they’re always a tough team to handle for anyone in Conference USA, even in a down year. Last year’s UTEP team ended with a 4-8 record, but it still pounded Houston, 58-41, on home soil. You need to be potent on offense or noticeably physical on defense to take control of UTEP in El Paso. Tulane Green Wave possesses neither quality… at least not with the abundance needed to thrive in a night fight against an assemblage of Miners that stands one win away from notching its sixth win and, hence, a non-losing season for the first time since 2005.

Because UTEP is the superior team in this game, the big key is for Miner quarterback Trevor Vittatoe to play a contained, disciplined game. Vittatoe threw three interceptions last week in a brutal 21-6 loss at Alabama-Birmingham. As stated above, UTEP is a horrible road team, but the Miners generally thrive at home. Vittatoe just needs to manage the game and make basic, no-frills plays. If coach Mike Price’s signal caller can do just that – nothing more – the Miners will be fine this week.

NCAA Handicapping: Outlook & Free College Football Picks

Vittatoe will throw only one interception on a night when Tulane needs three to have a remote chance and four to have a good chance of winning. UTEP should win comfortably and cover the number. 

Free College Football Picks: UTEP -10