The Picks Are In: UAB
Last week Middle Tennessee State dove head first into conference play, taking on the mighty UTSA Road Runners who are the defending Conference USA Champions. The Blue Raiders took one to the chin, but the season is long from over.
At this moment of publication, the Blazers are tabbed to be a 9.5 point favorite over the Blue Raiders.
Now is the time for the staff picks!
Matthew Dossett (2-3 on the season):
Make no bones about it, if Middle Tennessee State wants to be in the hunt for the conference championship game, Saturday's afternoon game should be labeled as a "must win" ballgame.
Like MTSU, the UAB Blazers are 0-1 in league play and are licking their wounds after losing their conference opener last Saturday on the road at Rice.
The UAB Blazers are 2-2 overall, but it is worth throwing out there that both of their wins were in the confines of their home stadium.
The spread for this game is hovering around -10 in favor of the Blazers. At first glance this seems about right to me.
UAB's starting signal caller is Junior Dylan Hopkins. Hopkins is a pocket passer who will not be called on a ton to run the ball.
Hopkins is fairly efficient dishing the rock. He has thrown for 661 yards, completing 68.5 percent of his passes.
The bell cow tailback for the Blazers is DeWayne McBride. Mcbride is a home run threat who has a long run of 59 yards on the season. He is averaging a hair below seven yards per carry. He has 521 yards rushing to go with six touchdown rushes.
I expect MT to bring a well-balanced offensive attack to the table, putting up plenty of points on the scoreboard. The only problem is I expect UAB to rack up the points as well. Despite Hopkins being pegged as game manager, I think he posts some gaudy statistics.
Look for these teams to go tit-for-tat well into the 4th quarter. In the end the Blazers get the victory. On a side note, the over/under is 52.5. Look for this game to smash that.
UAB 40
MTSU 31
Braden McPherson (3-2 overall)
Middle Tennessee opened up conference play with a 45-30 loss to a very talented UTSA squad last week.
Now sitting at with a a record of 3-2 (0-1) heading into their first C-USA road contest matching up with UAB.The Blazers come into this game sitting at 2-2 (0-1). They opened up conference play with a 24-21 loss on the road against Rice. With early season victories against Alabama A&M and Georgia Southern, the blazers come into this weekends contest against Middle Tennessee looking for their third win of the 2022 campaign.
Will the Blue Raiders be able to bounce back from last week’s loss or will the setbacks continue to pile on in the beginning stages of conference play? Only time will tell.
UAB 38
MTSU 24
Rickey Fuquay. (2-3 overall)
Middle Tennessee got into an early 10-point deficit and couldn't recover en route to a 45 to 30 setback against Texas-San Antonio.
The Blue Raiders continue Conference USA play and travel to Birmingham, Ala., to face off against the UAB Blazers on Homecoming.The Blazers come into matchup statistically with the best defense in C-USA. They allow 17.5 PPG, 161.8 YPG (passing), 151.3 YPG (rushing) and 313.0 YPG (total).
MT comes into this matchup leading the C-USA in sacks with 19. The key in this matchup will be can the Blue Raiders move the ball consistently and score against the No. 1 defense in the C-USA.These two defenses will go toe-to-toe against each other; however the Blazers will come up with that key stop to seal the deal.
UAB 17
MTSU 10