Turn Up the Orange | UTEP sports talk

UTEP beats Army, and more preseason hubbub

The Miners trump the Cadets, at least in the eyes of ESPN.com writer Mark Schlabach. 

Schlabach, along with Turn Up the Orange's most-hated bowl prognosticator Bruce Feldman, make up the Web site's weekly college football bowl projections. And Schlabach's preseason look-ahead has UTEP taking Army's spot in the EagleBank Bowl to face Miami. See the game pits the Atlantic Coast Conference's ninth-best team against Navy and Army in alternating years. Last year, the inaugural year for the bowl, saw Navy face Wake Forest. This year, the game would take Army if it was bowl eligible. But the Cadets don't return much from a team that went 3-9 last season. So it's safe to count them out, at least for now. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mark.

Feldman, on the other hand, was bashed on this blog throughout the 2008 season for his strange love of Tulane and disdain for the Miners. UTEP didn't make a bowl, but for a while there, the Miners were in the thick of the race. Certainly more in the hunt than Tulane. At one point, the Green Wave was 2-5 and needed to win four of its last five games, two of which were against LSU and Tulsa, to become bowl eligible. But Feldman kept Tulane on his list. So how does old Bruce feel about the Miners' chances this season? No bowl in his preseason forecast.

...

Looks like we'll have at it again. 

Incidentally, neither projection has a Conference USA team crashing the BCS party. In the Liberty Bowl, which is the destination for the Conference USA champion, Schlabach has East Carolina, Feldman has Houston. 

Herbie likes Southern Miss

Speaking of the Conference USA champion, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit shows a little love to the Golden Eagles in his annual Herbie Awards. 

The former Ohio State quarterback picks Southern Miss to top Houston for the conference title. He also lists Eagle senior running back Damion Fletcher as one in a group ready to take it to the next level.

UTEP a favorite

Place your bets. 

The early lines are in and UTEP is a 4.5-point favorite in its season opener against Buffalo this Saturday at the Sun Bowl. Many figured this line would be tight. But plenty of us figured it'd swing in the other direction. But that was before Buffalo lost its top player in running back James Starks. 

So whose taking the Miners to cover on their parlay? 

It's football time

It's time to kick off a new season.

Throughout the country, hopes for a stellar year begin to reach a crescendo this week. The same is true in El  Paso, where the Miners begin play this Saturday against Mid-American Conference champion Buffalo. The Bulls got the better of UTEP in a 42-17 blowout in last season's opener, but there are plenty of reasons to believe the Miners can win.

Here are some things to keep an eye on this week and on game day.

1.) The revenge factor: There's no way UTEP didn't see Buffalo appear on national TV last season in all those late-season midweek games. The Bulls were one of the feel-good stories of the year and had the next big thing at head coach. If that didn't stick in the Miners' craw, I don't know what would. Look for UTEP to come out and wanna punch Buffalo in the mouth.

2.) Players out: Everyone probably knows Buffalo all-everything running back James Starks is out with a shoulder injury. It'll be a huge blow to an offense that will have a first-time starter at quarterback in Zach Maynard who replaces star slinger Drew Willy. But now the Bulls will be without senior defensive tackle Dane Robinson, who was listed as a starter in fall practice. Robinson will be suspended the first two games of the season for what Buffalo head coach Turner Gill calls disciplinary reasons.

3.) Turnover margin: Gill is notorious for doing all he can to take care of the ball. This is evidenced by Buffalo's phenomenal +19 turnover margin in 2008 (UTEP's was +12). That +19 is sure to change with a new quarterback at the helm for the Bulls. With that in mind, it's possible we'll see Maynard tasked with nickel and diming the ball down the field with hitches and passes to the flat. This probably means not too many passes over 20 yards for the sophomore. That's a good thing for the Miner secondary, which was prone to the big play last season.

4.) The weather: Seems like in every conversation about the game, someone's bringing up the weather as a huge factor. It's not. Granted, Buffalo enjoys much cooler days than El Paso does. But the Bulls aren't gonna experience the dog days of July during their visit. The projected high temperature Saturday in El Paso is 89 degrees. That's sure to cool a few points by kickoff. And after the last shards of sunlight leave the stadium, it shouldn't be hotter than any day this week in upstate New York. Buffalo's projected high this Saturday is 74 degrees.

So there's some things to think about. Feel free to add in yours and check back in with Turn Up the Orange this week as we look ahead to UTEP's season opener.

Podcast: Gary Nord's defense found under Sun Bowl turf

The latest UTEP football podcast is now available.

Bret Bloomquist, Joe Muench, Ruben Ramirez and Jay Koester talk about the new Sun Bowl turf, look ahead to the Buffalo game, and discuss how many points per game UTEP football will average this year.

To listen to the podcast, click here. (right click, save-target-as to download)

From Burges to the NFL?

Former Burges High School quarterback John Skelton is garnering more attention heading into his senior season at Fordham. And this time, it isn't from his hometown paper.

Just three weeks after the El Paso Times ran a profile on the 6-foot-5, 255 pound quarterback for the Rams, the New York Daily News posted a story Tuesday on its Web site lauding the former El Pasoan. 

According to the report, the Jets, Broncos and Redskins have all sent representatives to scout Skelton, who played his last season for Burges in 2005. And the Colts and a few other NFL teams have requested credentials to see Skelton later this year. Former Cowboys vice president of player personnel and NFL.com draft guru Gil Brandt says Skelton is the ninth-best senior quarterback in the country. 

All this after playing in relative obscurity at Burges. Skelton was an All-City player his senior season, but according to the Daily News, he had only one Division I (now the Football Bowl Subdivision) offer from UTEP. And despite Skelton's father being a former Miner lineman, young John decided to go elsewhere. Nice to see he's found some success. 

And here's hoping UTEP can keep even more of this home-grown talent in the future. In fairness though, it ain't like the Miners aren't trying.

Bad news for Buffalo

The Buffalo News reports on its Web site today that Buffalo Bulls running back James Starks will miss his entire senior season with a shoulder injury. 

The announcement was made today by coach Turner Gill with Starks at his side. The decision was made Monday night after failed rehab attempts and an MRI that revealed a labral tear in Starks' left shoulder. 

Starks is the school's all-time leading rusher and a member of the preseason watch list for the Doak Walker Award presented to the nation's best running back. Starks averaged 4.9 yards a carry last season and rushed for 1,333 yards, 179 of those were against UTEP in the season opener. 

Starks will be replaced by junior Brandon Thermilus, the son of former NFL running back Alonzo Highsmith. That, coupled with a new quarterback in Zach Maynard, makes for a very inexperienced backfield  and will make the task a lot easier for the Miner defense when the teams meet in the Sun Bowl on Sept. 5.

Might be time to start believing Joe Muench's prediction. 

Sun Bowl, Folmer, make the right choice

Soon after my last blog post, it was reported: Sun Bowl drops Big East, will go with ACC starting in 2010.

And after my last blog post, I particularly enjoyed this quote from Sun Bowl committee chairman John Folmer:

"You can't make your decision on whether you can or can't get Notre Dame," Folmer said. "During that four-year period we have a bigger menu to chose from with the ACC and get someone out here we haven't seen in a while. We have a new menu to pick from."

Amen to that. Dreaming of Notre Dame was getting in the way of the Sun Bowl making the right choice, but in the end, they did it. I'm looking forward to seeing some ACC football in the future.

So, as it stands now, starting in 2010, the Sun Bowl will get the fourth pick from the Pac-10, in a game against the fifth pick from the ACC. or the Big 12. (I'm assuming the deal with the Big 12 continues; I haven't heard of any changes on that front.) Update: Bret Bloomquist gives the scoop that the Big 12 is gone.

Sun Bowl announcement could come today

Reports indicate that Sun Bowl and CBS officials will decide today whether to stick with the Big East or more toward the ACC. (Hat tip to The Wiz of Odds.)

The Sun Bowl must decide between the third selection from the Big East or the fifth selection from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Big East comes with the possibility of getting Notre Dame some year. (Which is a far-fetched fantasy for anybody except, apparently, the starry-eyed dreamers in charge of the Sun Bowl.)

The Notre Dame dream is silly. It will never happen, John Folmer, so quit including it in your plans. Your Notre Dame fixation is unbecoming and embarrassing.

Instead, let's take a look at the Big East and ACC teams and see which we like.

Big East: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, West Virgina.

ACC: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami (Fl.), North Carolina, North Carolina St., Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest.

It's a surprisingly close call, considering the Sun Bowl's selection spot. Third from Big East might actually be better nationally, but I'm guessing ACC teams hold more interest for El Pasoans, even if the Sun Bowl picks fifth.

Kansas writer looks ahead to UTEP game

Kansas football beat writer Dugan Arnett penned a short preview of the Sept. 12 showdown in El Paso between Kansas and UTEP. Below is an excerpt, and here's the full piece: UTEP to provide challenge on road.

A year ago, the Kansas University football team’s lone nonconference road game ended in a last-second loss to South Florida on a balmy Friday night in Tampa.

Entering the 2009 season, the Jayhawks are hoping this year’s early-season road trip — to El Paso, Texas, for a Sept. 12 matchup with UTEP — goes a little better.

And while the Miners are no South Florida — they’re coming off a 5-7 season and haven’t advanced to a bowl since 2005 — they aren’t exactly chopped liver, either.

Not chopped liver, indeed!

 

Stefon Jackson to drain jumpers in Turkey

To step away from football news for one moment, Eurobasket.com has reported that former UTEP basketball star Stefon Jackson has signed to play professional basketball in Turkey. (Hat tip to KVIA's Raul Martinez, who first reported this news today.)

Here is the short write up on the signing from the Web site:

Dynamic scorer Stefon Jackson has signed his inaugural overseas contract with Darussafaka Istanbul in the Turkish TBL. The 6'5' guard is a scorer with good quickness and athleticism that allows him to finish strong and draw a lot of fouls (second in the NCAA for fouls drawn in 2008-09). Stefon was the NCAA 7th leading scorer in both his junior and senior years at University of Texas at El Paso, averaging 23.6 and 24.2 respectively. His nickname is DJ for 'draining jumpers'.  

Congratulations to Stefon on the signing.