La Tech nearly won at Miss St as 19.5 point under dogs and were +19 in total yards and they nearly beat a very good Houston team 34-35 this team has a lot of talent and speed, probably the most speed in the WAC next is Fresno State a team that Utah State just got done struggling big time against and this LA Tech team is better.
In last year's match up LA Tech was +233 yards and had 6.1 yards per carry in that game, and I don't see much changing. LA Tech is off a bye and Lennon Creer is going to be carrying the ball like he did last year 18 carries 120 yards. But more than the speed on offense and the talent at RB I like La Tech's ability on defense much much more.
First of all they have faced some talented teams and they are holding opponents to 29.13 % on 3rd downs this year. This stat is real and they'll get off the field plenty of times on Saturday afternoon vs. Utah State which is a run first team as they are ranked 101st passing the ball and that goes right to LA Tech's strength of stopping hte run as they are ranked 24th. IN October they have held opponents to just 2.67 yards per carry and 3.2 for the season. Utah State has had huge issues sustaining drives mainly because of the running game and I think that will give LA Tech the advantage they need here.
Love Houston here even with all the points and their defense is starting to play extremely well. When backing a team like this you want to make sure their defense can get off the field on 3rd down to get the potent offense back on. Marshall is one of the worst in the country converting just 30% on 3rd downs and Houston 37% on defense so 1/3 of the time they are going to get off the field that's bad news for Marshall that is anemic on offense facing the #1 offense on Saturday.
Marshall hasn't been horrible and they arguably have the best defensive talent in the country in Vin Curry already 9.5 sacks, but Keenum does not get sacked just 7 times this year. Houston has 17 sacks themselves which should be a huge advantage for them on that side of the ball when they face inexperienced QB's as Marshall is not sure who will start or play the most. Houston has had an extra week of preparation and Marshall is not scaring anyone with their passing game averaging 176 yards through the air going up against Houston you have to be able to move the ball through the air and they can't.
Houston has the balanced offense and should put 40 or 50 points up on Marshall that just lacks the defense to stay at it for a full 4 quarters. They feature a 3 headed RB attack that can rip yards of with Beal, Hayes, and Simms. Marshall won't be able to keep Houston from moving the chains they are converting 56% of their 3rd downs this year.
