Angle Plays for Colorado-UTEP

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The angle plays are 6-2 on the bowl season after the beating the Beavers laid on the Mackeral Snappers last night.

Here's a few angles on the Houston Bowl with Colorado-UTEP

Colorado has the #56 offense and #54 defense

UTEP has the #68 offense and #58 defense

Colorado has faced the tougher schedule #20 to UTEP #106

Colorado is 1-4 in bowls ATS under Barnett

The Buffs are 2-4 ATS against bowl squads this season

Mike Price is 3-2 ATS in bowl games

Colorado was 4-2 ATS away from home this year.

UTEP was 3-2 ATS away from home

Colorado was favored in 3 games this year going 1-2 ATS

UTEP was 3-1 ATS as a dog

Colorado is #3 on special teams and UTEP #19

UTEP outyardaged foes by an average of #47 ypg this season

Colorado was outgained by an average of #99 ypg

Colorado has the better defensive and offensive lines, but not by much

Colorado has the better RB with their good all-purpose back Purify

UTEP has the better QB with QB Jordan Palmer (Carson Palmer's brother) and ranked #25 in pass effeciency.

Coaching advantage goes to Mike Price. His record speaks for itself. Barnett was the undeserving coach of the year in the Big 12. The award should have gone to coach Fran of Texas A&M.

The intangibles goes to UTEP who is playing in WAC country down in Houston. So the crowd should be solidly behind them. Unlike the Iowa St. fans who cream in their jeans if they get to travel anywhere after Christmas, Colorado fans would stay home even if the game was played next door. And Mike Price's bowl record is much better than Barnett's.

PREDICTION: This bowl should be called the Disgrace Bowl with all of the off-field problems these two coaches have faced the last couple years. Being a Big-12 fan I've watched Colorado play all year. And I can tell you they could have just as easily been 3-9 as 7-5. They've been about as lucky as you can get in many games this year. Their only close game with a good Big 12 foe came against Texas A&M, who moved the ball at will on the Buffs, but did just about everything they could do to lose a game and still won it in OT. Their wins down the stretch came against a very beatup Kansas team. A K-St. team who lost half of their defense in the game before with Mizzou and Nebraska who well... hasn't had any defense all season. The real Colorado team is the one who lost at home to OSU 42-7, Texas 31-7 and got spanked by OU in the Big 12 championship 42-3. UTEP on the other hand has a solid 8-3 record and have played 4 bowl teams including a good win on the road against a tough Fresno team. So this UTEP team has shown they can play with some of the better teams. Especially with a good size offensive line who paves the way for their outstanding pass game. The fans should be solidly behind them in Houston, which is WAC member Rice's home town. With the Buffs superior athelets this isn't a strong play. But the intangibles win out and I'm looking for Mike Price to get another bowl win in his stripclub going cap. My small wager goes to UTEP +3