UTEP is coming into this game off of a bad season where they finished with a 5-7 record and missed out on a bowl game. They were not very good in their conference games either as they finished 3-5 and now they are going up against a Jacksonville State team that is coming up from the FCS but will be at home for this 1st conference game of the season. Jacksonville State was a very good team in the FCS last season as they finished 9-2 overall but they have also had a lot of success in FCS playoffs as a dominant team. They have a new coach in Rich Rodriguez who is in his 2nd season coaching the team now and he has plenty of experience coaching at the division 1 level. This team has really bought in to what he is preaching and they are going to be fired up in this 1st FBS game, especially since they will be at home for it where they have an active streak of 11 straight wins in season openers. Fans are going to come out strong for this game as well, especially since Alabama does not have a pro sports team so this is all they have and their fans will be stoked to be playing their 1st season in FBS. UTEP also struggled a lot to stop the run last season which is Jacksonville State's bread and butter and even though UTEP has a bit of a size advantage over Jacksonville State, JSU has so much speed on their side that UTEP will not be able to keep up. Jacksonville State will also be looking to replicate what James Madison did in their 1st season last year so expect Jacksonville State to come out with a point to prove in this game as they will be hungry to get their 1st FBS season off to a great start. Jacksonville State will cover the spread here at home and win this game.