Thursday night in Birmingham the UAB Blazers host the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a Conference USA match-up that is going to be a whole lot more interesting because of injuries.

Southern Miss will be without three of its top players when it heads into this game on the road. The Golden Eagles will be without injured running back Damion Fletcher and wide receivers DeAndre Brown and Johdrick Morris.

Even short-handed, NCAA odds makers have the Golden Eagles as heavy favorites as the Vegas line is sitting at Southern Miss -10 with the total in the game at 61.

The Eagles began a three game road stint last week and looked extremely good against nationally ranked Kansas, but they fell 35-28. A win a Kansas could have possibly thrust SMU into the Top 25. Now at 3-1 overall, the Eagles return back to C-USA play, where they are 1-0 following a 26-19 win over UCF earlier this season.

Southern Miss was able to move the ball on Kansas last weekend, but when it mattered most, their offense came up empty and was held scoreless in the fourth quarter of the loss. Quarterback Austin Davis led the team in defeat by throwing for 331 yards and three touchdowns.

UAB is 1-3 and 1-1 in conference play. After winning its opening game against Rice, the Blazers have lost three straight.

This past weekend, the Blazers were thrashed by Texas A&M 56-19. They failed to do much of anything against the Aggies and should not put up much of a fight against the SMU either.

UAB has lost all nine meeting between these two, including an embarrassing 70-14 loss a season ago. Don't look for much to change on Thursday night.

Take the Southern Miss and give the points.