Thursday Night Football Picks: South Florida Vs Pittsburgh, Houston Vs UTEP

Two road favorites… Yikes. Well, it’s how I see ‘em, so be it!

Houston Cougars (-15) @ UTEP Miners

Despite UTEP’s decent defense so far this season,  I just don’t think they have enough ground and pound to stick with Houston. Against the Cougars, they need to run some clock – because  a shootout is basically an auto win for the Cougs. The Miners haven’t been good on the ground and while Houston’s defense hasn’t been too excited about stopping the run, the match-up just doesn’t look good for the Miners. Houston has an efficient quarterback and a coach that loves throwing high numbers up on the scoreboard – expect lots of points out of the Cougars.

South Florida Bulls (-2.5) @ Pittsburgh Panthers

The Panthers played real well defensively against Notre Dame, but they ended up losing anyway. Speaking of Notre Dame, the Irish lost to South Florida in Week 1. The Bulls haven’t played anybody else tough and have dominated bad opponents since then. I know that beating up on subpar opponents is exactly what South Florida should be doing, so that’s really not a reason to go against Pitt, the fact that the Bulls are really good is. Thursday games are tough, favorites often get ousted, but I like South Florida’s chances to get up early and finish off the home team Panthers by at least a touchdown.