what am I missing about Houston?

[ConferenceChalk]

I'm seeing Houston's win total at 9.5 (+130), and two games of the year where they are a very small dog at UCLA (+2) and a 4.5 point favorite at SMU. I'm not under the impression that they are going to be that great after losing Keenum, but this combination would lead you to believe they're C-USA's best team. Lindy's has them as the conference's 5th best team and has them rated 67th in the country.

Am I missing something? I feel like I should take the Under in wins and bet against them in these 2 futures games.

[nvrlose37]

Phil Steele has them as best team in CUSA West. They lose Keenum but the new starter Piland has some experience from when he went down in 2010. And they return their best rusher.

That being said they probably do not have 9.5 wins here, they play La Tech next week too and that's no gimme.