UTEP Miners vs Liberty Flames Prediction & Picks - NCAA

Prediction published on 10/8/25, 4:10 PM  by Travis Pulver | Modified on 10/15/25 at 8:09 AM in NCAA Picks

The Liberty Flames will go for their first conference win this weekend when they face the UTEP Miners at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX, on Wednesday, October 8, at 8 p.m. EST. Both teams have gotten off to rough starts this season at 1-4, but are 0-1 in conference play.

 Liberty started the season off on the right foot with a 28-7 win over Maine. However, they’ve struggled to get the offense going since then (No. 12 in scoring with 17.0 points per game), and they can’t seem to stop anyone’s rushing attack (No. 130 against the run, 225 yards per game allowed). But teams are only averaging 23.2 points per game against them, so the Flames must be doing something right on defense. As for the Miners, they lost their opener to Utah State (28-16) but followed that up with their first win of the season, 42-17 over UT Martin. But since then, they’ve dropped three in a row: 27-10 vs. Texas, 31-25 vs. UL Monroe, and 30-11 vs. Louisiana Tech. Their offense has been a little more productive on the scoreboard (20.8 points per game allowed), but they give up more on defense (26.6 points per game allowed).