while i certainly agree with your points that NW is absolutely awful, it's still crazy that UTEP is favored in this game. even a terrible big 10 team (which obviously applies here) would normally be a solid home fav against UTEP.
the lines these days are basically set by the computers, give or take a few adjustments. espn shows nw with an 80% chance to win. sagarin shows NW should be roughly a 10-pt fav. of course those are not the same computers the linesmakers use, but they're normally pretty close. and this line is WAY off.
if NW was favored by, say, 4 - 5, i'd be all over UTEP. and, like i said, they very well could win. hard to say how bad the mindset is now for the NW players.
i guess the point i'm making... is this line adjusted SO much that the value on UTEP is gone? i certainly can't bet on NW, but a bet on UTEP at this line might not make sense.
the line really jumped out at me, so figured i'd get a discussion going.