In the first part of my predictions, I picked the Miners to be at 6-0 after the first six games of the season. As I said, many were less optimistic than I, and some questioned my sanity. You expect that when you predict more wins than losses for the Miners football team.
At 6 wins and 0 losses, the Miners confidence will begin to grow, and they will need it when they travel to Birmingham to play the Blazers. These two teams will be a pretty even match. UAB has a pretty decent offense of their own, and they always feel like they can out-muscle the Miners. The Miners’ offensive line, and Donald Buckram will put a stop to that. The Miners’ offensive strength, and the confidence the Miners come into this game with will put another “W” in the Miners’ win column.
Tulane comes to El Paso, and this one will be fun for a Sun Bowl full of crazy Miners fans. It will be apparent that this team is special, and El Pasoans will want to be a part of this one.
Spirits will be dampened, and Miners fans will be brought back to reality when the Miners travel east to play Marshall. I think this is a game the Miners will lose. I think Marshall plays defense well enough to keep us from having our way, and the long trip east will take its toll. As much as anything, I just feel like were have to lose a couple of games, and this might just be one of them.
We get back on track against SMU. Our fans, our Sun Bowl, and our running game, will be the difference in this one.
Arkansas puts us in our place.
But, we regroup, and travel to Tulsa for our last game of the regular season. Our offense, especially the running game, keeps our defense from being worn down, and in a terrific game, a game of good old fashioned, hard-nosed football, the Miners come home with the close win.
Here’s my complete prediction for C-USA as I gave on June 20th.
East
So. Miss. 10-2 8-0
UCF 9-3 6-2
Marshall 8-4 6-2
ECU 5-7 5-3
Memphis 3-9 2-6
UAB 3-9 1-7
West
UTEP 10-2 7-1
Houston 7-5 5-3
SMU 5-7 4-4
Tulsa 5-7 3-5
Tulane 3-9 1-7
Rice 1-11 0-8
I will post my predictions for each C-USA team game by game in upcoming posts.