Southern Miss
Sun Belt · 2-5
at
UL Monroe
Sun Belt · 1-6
Sat 31 Oct · 3:30 PM ET · ESPN+ · Malone Stadium
Rest USM 7 days, ULM 7 days · Travel USM 181 mi
Market
USM −3.5
total 56.5 · spread opened USM −3.0, moved −0.5 toward USM
Atlas projectsAtlas
29.7–26.3
USM–ULM · total 56.0
Difference
+0.2
on the spread · total −0.5
A+98/100
Historically reliable.

Atlas and the market land on the same number, 0.2 points apart.

Agreement is where this model is most reliable, and where it is adding least — a top grade means trust the number, not that this is the card to read first.

How much weight this card's information deserves — not a recommendation.

Why

what the model is reading

Be careful about

  • One book is quoting this game, so the market number has no depth behind it and may move sharply.
  • Atlas and the market have moved opposite ways on the total since it opened.

Projection built Oct 29, 2026 4:14 AM ETMarket updated Oct 29, 2026 4:14 AM ETData status

New to Atlas? What a card is, and what a grade means

Market detail where the line opened, where it is now, and the prices
SpreadOpenCurrentMove
Southern Miss−3.0−3.5−0.5
UL Monroe+3.0+3.5+0.5
Price−110−112—

The spread has moved 0.5 toward Southern Miss and the total has moved 4.0 up since the open.

TotalOpenCurrentMove
Game total52.556.5+4.0
Price (over)−110−110—
Moneyline · Southern Miss −135 → −170 Moneyline · UL Monroe +114 → +142 De-vigged, the market gives UL Monroe a 39.6% chance. Books quoting: 1.

DraftKings · 1 book quoting

Projection detail the projected score, the chance of winning, the total's range and the most likely exact score
Projected score
29.7 – 26.3
Southern Miss – UL Monroe
Projected spread
USM −3.3
market −3.5
Projected total
56.0
market 56.5 · 80% range 35–78
Southern Miss win probability
57.2%
from the score grid
Under probability
50.4%
at the current total of 56.5
Most likely score
31–24
1.0% of the grid — one cell of 6,400
How this number is made. Every FBS team starts the season at a preseason expectation built from last season's ratings, roster talent, recruiting, returning production and the coaching situation. After every game a filter updates each team's offense and defense, opponent-adjusted, and the two teams' numbers meet here with the home advantage. The total adds the teams' pace and the wind. The market is never an input; it is shown so you can see where Atlas differs and read why.

Atlas difference

MeasureAtlas modelMarketDifference
SpreadUSM −3.3USM −3.5+0.2
Total56.056.5−0.5
UL Monroe win probability42.8%39.6%+3.2 pts
A difference is not an edge. Atlas has measured what happens at every size of disagreement, and the gap between what the model claims and what it delivers widens as the disagreement grows. This game sits in the 0-1 band, where cards have claimed 52% accuracy and delivered 49% across 853 games.
Matchup how each offense compares with the defense it faces, season to date, ranked among 138 FBS teams

Season to date through 24 October: Southern Miss 7 games, UL Monroe 7 games. Ranks are among 138 FBS teams, 1st the best; the crest marks which side ranks better on each line.

Southern Miss offensevs UL Monroe defense
25.791st
Points per gameedge Southern Miss
37.3134th
6.0463rd
Yards per playedge Southern Miss
6.48123rd
158.468th
Rushing yards per gameedge Southern Miss
218.7134th
262.442nd
Passing yards per gameedge Southern Miss
227.791st
5.626th
20+ yard plays per gameedge Southern Miss
5.1122nd
1.967th
Sacks per gameedge Southern Miss
1.979th
32%131st
Third-down conversion rateedge UL Monroe
46%125th
66%37th
Red-zone touchdown rateedge Southern Miss
63%103rd
UL Monroe offensevs Southern Miss defense
20.1120th
Points per gameedge UL Monroe
32.4123rd
5.10129th
Yards per playedge Southern Miss
5.9791st
119.9117th
Rushing yards per gameedge UL Monroe
240.1136th
207.198th
Passing yards per gameedge Southern Miss
210.457th
2.9129th
20+ yard plays per gameedge Southern Miss
5.0111th
1.967th
Sacks per gameedge Southern Miss
2.622nd
29%136th
Third-down conversion rateedge Southern Miss
41%93rd
48%115th
Red-zone touchdown rateedge Southern Miss
51%48th
Southern Missvs UL Monroe
Situational
−0.43103rd
Turnover margin per gameedge Southern Miss
−0.57114th
69.727th most
Plays per game
64.185th most

Figures come from completed games only, so every one was known before kickoff. They are raw, not adjusted for opponents - All drivers has Atlas's adjusted view. College counts sack yardage as rushing, as the NCAA does.

Other models what FPI, SP+ and Elo say about this game, beside Atlas and the market
ModelMarginWinAs of
FPI (ESPN)USM by 10.277%Oct 28
SP+USM by 5.7—Oct 29
EloUSM by 4.1—Oct 29
AtlasUSM by 3.357%live
MarketUSM by 3.5—live

Each model's number for this game as its source published it before kickoff; Win is the favored side's chance to win, where the model gives one. FPI's margin and chance are ESPN's own. SP+ is the difference in the two teams' ratings, plus 2.5 for a home side; Elo is the difference in ratings at 24 points a point, plus 2.6 for a home side, as Atlas measured it on past seasons. None of these is an input to Atlas's number, and none is here to settle anything: they show where Atlas sits among other models.

How this grade was computed the four things that set the letter, out of a hundred
A+98

High-reliability card

Atlas and the market agree closely, and this disagreement band has been among the model's most consistent across five seasons.

Calibration 43/45
Market agreement 25/25
Card conditions 15/15
Data completeness 15/15

Atlas sits 0.2 points from the market. The calibration curve, fitted to every completed season out of sample, expects cards at that distance to fall 1.3% short of what they claim — which is where the calibration component above comes from.

The season is mature enough for the team profiles to have settled, and the market has not moved much since it opened.

The grade describes how much weight the information deserves. It says nothing about which side of a market anyone should take, and Atlas does not publish that. How grades are computed.

All drivers all 4 things the model is reading, and how each team ranks against the rest of the country
Offense, in points USM +6.7 pts

Atlas rates Southern Miss' offense at -3.8 points a game against FBS average and UL Monroe's at -10.6, opponent-adjusted, after 6 games this season.

Southern MissUL Monroe
Pace and possessions 102 plays · 21st percentile

A combined 102 plays per game — the 21st percentile of this season's games. Few possessions, which pulls the projected total down.

fewer playsmore plays
Home advantage ULM +2.6 pts

Playing at home is worth 2.6 points in this season's model, fitted, not assumed.

Southern MissUL Monroe
Pace and wind, on the total +1.8 pts

The teams' pace moves the projected total by +1.9 and the wind by -0.2, against an average game.

lower totalhigher total
Market movement how far the market has moved since the number opened, and which way

Total, open to current

57.5 54.5 51.5 Atlas 56.0 open 52.5 now 56.5
MeasureValue
Opening number52.5
Current number56.5
Market directionup 4.0
Atlas directiondown

Atlas and the market point opposite ways on this total. That is information, not a verdict.

Two findings that are not in conflict

Atlas has measured disagreement twice, against two different reference points, and they say different things.

Measured againstWhat it predicts
The closing numberthe model's own failure — so a large difference lowers the grade
The opening numberwhich way the line moves — tracked publicly, not graded

A model far from the close is wrong; a model far from the open is early. The second finding is tracked in the open closing-line record and is deliberately kept out of the grade.

Reliability record what Atlas claimed and what it delivered, across the seasons it never saw while being built

Calibration by disagreement band

82% 64% 45% this card10+ claimed realized

Two series, labeled directly. The widening gap is why Atlas grades large disagreements down.

This band, five seasons

MeasureThis bandAll cards
Realized accuracy49.5%49.2%
Claimed accuracy52.1%58.0%
Calibration gap−2.7 pts−8.8 pts
Seasons above 50%1 of 5—
Games measured8533,864
Read the gap, not the claim. Atlas's raw confidence numbers run high — a claimed 52% has historically delivered 49%. The grade already corrects for this. The claim is shown so the correction is visible rather than hidden.
What this card is. Research, analytics and market context. Atlas does not publish selections, does not size anything and does not project returns. Every figure is computed out of sample from a point-in-time database: nothing attached to a game uses information that did not exist before kickoff.