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South Florida at UTSA

Thursday, October 8 · 7:30 PM ET · Alamodome
South Florida 4-1 26.2
AT
UTSA 4-1 26.8

01 / THE NUMBER

The model makes this UTSA -0.6. The market has it UTSA -6.5, a gap of 5.9 points toward South Florida.

Tested against closing lines on 1,148 games, this model tracks the market rather than beating it. A large gap is a question worth asking, not a signal to follow.

SPREAD
Vegas lineUTSA -6.5
ModelUTSA -0.6
Difference5.9

02 / PROJECTED SCORE

South Florida26.2UTSA26.8

03 / WHERE THE MARGIN COMES FROM

Home field4.4Elo / track record3.5Rush consistency0.4Running game0.3Pass consistency0.2Passing game0.1South Florida ←→ UTSA

Each bar is that input's contribution to the projected margin, in points, pointing toward the team it favours. They sum to 0.0 toward UTSA, before calibration.

04 / HOW THEY RATE · percentile vs all FBS

Offence
PassingRushingPass cons.Rush cons.Pass ratePace
Defence
PassingRushingPass cons.Rush cons.Pass ratePace
South Florida UTSA
Percentile, 0–100South Florida offUTSA off South Florida defUTSA def
Passing32396455
Rushing57547463
Pass cons.41275066
Rush cons.69617961
Pass rate37411813
Pace42292858

Higher is better on both sides — defence is flipped so the shape reads the same way. Percentiles are taken from the opponent-adjusted ratings, so a number earned against a hard schedule ranks above the same number earned against a soft one.

05 / TEAM RATINGS

Per play, vs averageSouth Florida offUTSA off South Florida defUTSA def
Pass EPA / dropback+0.052+0.086-0.108-0.093
Rush EPA / carry+0.097+0.095-0.148-0.117
Pass success rate+0.039+0.009-0.028-0.041
Rush success rate+0.069+0.061-0.091-0.066
Pass rate-0.026-0.022+0.035+0.041
Plays per game-1.5-1.8-3.0-4.3

Opponent adjusted and shrunk toward last season — after 5 and 5 games, a rating is still part last year. On defence, negative is good.

06 / ELO

RatingSouth FloridaUTSAGap
Elo, years of results16231504 -119

Worth 3.5 points of this projection. Elo carries what three games of play-by-play can't: years of results, so a team that has been bad for a decade isn't rated average in September.

07 / SEASON SO FAR

South Florida 4-1

vs Florida International19–9
at Army28–24
vs Delaware State59–17
at Bowling Green14–6
vs Temple13–17

UTSA 4-1

vs UT Rio Grande Valley45–16
at Texas State31–26
at Texas6–30
vs Colorado State59–45
at Rice16–14