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The Conference USA championship game is here and it’s a rematch of last week’s game between the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and the UAB Blazers. While that’s sure to be an exciting finale to the season, we get some bonus C-USA football on Saturday as well with the Marshall Thundering Herd facing Virginia Tech with VT trying to clinch bowl eligibility at the last second.
Game of the Week
UAB at Middle Tennessee (MTSU -1.5, 1:30 ET on CBS Sports Network)
The champs of the West, UAB make the drive to Murfreesboro to try and halt a Blue Raider team led by a surging Brent Stockstill. MTSU’s senior quarterback is 83 of 102 through the air the last three weeks with nine touchdowns and one interception. That play helped them win last week’s matchup against UAB 27-3. The Blue Raider defense also stepped up and allowed only 89 yards from the Blazer offense.
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If Spencer Brown returns from injury in this game, that will give UAB a much needed boost on the offensive side of the ball. The sophomore has 993 yards this season with 15 touchdowns. When he’s on the field, UAB plays with so much more confidence. Only getting one carry last week was big part of the reason the Blazer scored a season-low three points.
This one is tough because on the one hand you have MTSU who are getting hot at the right time, and on the other is a UAB team who have looked phenomenal for most of the year, but have sputtered a bit the last three weeks. Ultimately though, it’s hard for me to think that this UAB team will allow themselves to sink to the type of performance they had last week once again. They just need to control the ball as much as possible and keep Stockstill off of the field.
UAB 27, MTSU 21
The Rest of C-USA...
Marshall at Virginia Tech (VT -3.5, Noon ET on ACC Network)
The Thundering Herd have an excellent chance to ruin the Hokies’ weekend with this game. While VT’s offense is relatively solid, the defense has allowed over 31 points per game and 435 yards per game. Winners of four of their last five, Marshall are riding some great play by quarterback Isaiah Green as well as running back Brenden Knox, who is filling in for Tyler King and Keion Davis. An upset here just makes sense.
Marshall 34, Virginia Tech 28