The University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers head to Tampa to face the South Florida Bulls in Saturday’s early slate. The Bulls were projected to finish near the top of the American, but it is the Blazers who are further up the standings at the moment. UAB is 2-1 in conference play, with their lone loss coming to Memphis. USF is 1-2, and they have dropped two straight conference matchups (UTSA, Temple). The Bulls should have a talent advantage to go with home field, but this spread is dicey to me. The game total is one of the lower totals on the slate, which always makes me want to test it. I’ll take the game total under 42.5.
South Florida has been ugly all season. Their defense has been strong, but their offense has been lackluster. The yardage totals are low, and nearly every game is a low-scoring grind. UAB has been similar, as their offense has struggled to generate a lot of positive yards most games. In fact, UAB has been one of the most extreme “under” teams on the year, playing 1-6 to the under. South Florida is 3-4 to the under themselves. Usually when teams like that get together, we are looking at a 17-13 kind of game. That’s what I expect here.
UAB vs South Florida prediction: Under 42.5 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable to 40.5.
