Turn Up the Orange | UTEP sports talk

EA Sports: Miners will finish 7-5

A slew of video game fans clamored this morning for EA Sports' Madden '10 at the Super Target store on Joe Battle Boulevard.

The game is a favorite of football fans everywhere and sales are expected to rise as interest is piqued by the recent retirement of John Madden, the Hall of Fame coach and TV analyst whose name graces the cover.

EA Sports has another annual title that harbors just as much attention without the advertising blitz that Madden carries. NCAA '10 was released in stores last month and is a major hit among college football fans throughout the nation.

So before we unwrap the plastic on Madden, let's run our UTEP Miners through a simulated season and see where EA Sports' computer figures the Miners will finish.

* Simulating *

And the results are in.

Buffalo: W, 29-28

Kansas: L, 55-34

at New Mexico State: W, 27-13

at Texas: L, 47-7

Houston: L, 34-27

at Memphis: W, 27-17

Tulsa: W, 24-7

UAB: W, 45-26

at Tulane: W, 38-17

at SMU: L, 29-24

at Rice: L, 34-17

Marshall: W, 24-19

Regular season finish: 7-5, 5-3 in Conference USA

In the simulation, the Miners were selected to play in the Texas Bowl against Baylor (6-6). The Bears won the game 24-21, giving the Miners a 7-6 finish.

Some things stood out from the simulation. The Miners earned the split against projected Conference USA West front runners Houston and Tulsa. They also were bowl eligible with three weeks still left to play in the season. And, the Miners' November struggles continue with two consecutive losses to SMU and Rice. But UTEP does get its first season finale win in quite some time against Marshall.

How close do you guys think this is to reality?

And by the way, Madden '10 is awesome.

Podcast: Is Mike Price on the hot seat?

In the latest UTEP football podcast, Joe Muench, Pablo Villa and Jay Koester discuss whether head coach Mike Price is on the hot seat this season.

Also discussed is the new artificial turn at the Sun Bowl and Sun Bowl stadium food.

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

Cheers, El Paso

SI On Campus, a Sports Illustrated Web site dedicated to college sports and life, selected an El Paso woman as its Cheerleader of the Week today. 

A profile and photo gallery of Melissa C. Solis, a cheerleader at Cameron University, was placed on the SIOC Web site today. Solis is an El Paso native and is currently a sophomore biology major at the school in Lawton, Okla. The Aggies boast an enrollment of 5,589 and compete in the Lone Star Conference. Solis says her favorite sport is football and the worst date she's been on involved a boyfriend who took her to the movies and didn't offer to buy her popcorn or drinks. Tsk, tsk. Always practice gentlemanly behavior, fellas. 

Solis isn't the first El Pasoan to be featured as SIOC's Cheerleader of the Week. In March 2008, the site recognized Shiloh Miller, then a University of Arizona sophomore. 

Nice to see El Pasoans in the spotlight in a positive way. Way to represent, ladies. 

Now how about we get an effort going to highlight one of our UTEP cheerleaders on SIOC? If anyone out there would like to nominate one of our Miners send an e-mail to feedback@sioncampus.com.

Sun Bowl to get Pac-10's crumbs

A story in the Seattle Times today, Alamo Bowl close to deal with Pac-10, indicates that once the deal is done, El Paso's Sun Bowl will go from getting the Pac-10's third-place team, to their fourth-place team. An excerpt:

Sun Bowl selection committee chairman John Folmer says he expects the El Paso bowl to assume the No. 4 position with the Pac-10.

"We don't like to get bumped out [of No. 3]," said Folmer. "But we're not shocked. Cash is king. It's the nature of the game. We've had a great ride with the Pac-10."

I suppose it's not THAT big of a difference. Probably going to be either Oregon or Oregon State every year, anyway.

UTEP football will win the West

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Sports Illustrated released its college football rankings today. And the guys at SI have high hopes for the Miner football team. 

UTEP is ranked No. 46 in SI's poll, more than 10 spots ahead of Conference USA West favorite Houston (No. 57) and Tulsa (No. 74). The Conference USA team ranked highest in the SI poll is Southern Miss, which comes in at No. 35. 

How reliable are these rankings? Well the SI poll does have the Texas Longhorns ranked No. 2, which is where most other polls and projections have slotted the team from Austin. And one Miner fan in the building says those folks at SI must know what they're talking about because they have New Mexico State ranked WAY down at No. 118. 

What do you think?

El Paso loves the Big 12, and Joe flip flops

I was surprised by the overwhelming response to the earlier post, Big East wants Sun Bowl changes.

There was unanimous support for ditching the Big East and sticking with the Big 12. A sampling of comments:

Tell the Big East to take a hike and bring in a Big 12 Team. They can compete with the Pac 10. It would bring in bigger out of town fans and put more money in the El Paso economy. -- Andy Springer

Andy's right on. Big 12 for sure. -- Orangefever

I hope the Sunnies get it right and bring in the Big XII. A #5 team like Colorado, TX A&M, TTech, Baylor etc. would bring in more fans/ excitement than the #2 Big East snoozers! -- Jefe

I choose not to attend the Sun Bowl when the Big East participates. Big 12 is much more competitive and geographically relevant. I also think a SEC at-large bid if no Big 12 team qualifies would be interesting. -- Roman

Obviously, I'm a Big 12 fan, as well. Let's hope the Sun Bowl makes a deal with them.

PREDICTION SCANDAL!

After I blogged about Joe on Utepia's recent prediction of a 5-7 season for the Miners this year, a podcast listener who would like to remain anonymous sent along this direct quote from Joe Muench in our True or False podcast.

"They’ll go 6-6. I think the key game comes halfway through the year with Houston. If they beat Houston, then they’re over the hill.”

When, Joe named his 5 wins this week, he put Houston in the loss column.

When grilled about the supposed John Kerry-like flip flop, Joe answered, "Well, 5 or 6 wins, sure. This isn't a science."

Come on, Joe, we expect more from you. This is way more important than science!

Joe on Utepia speaks the truth

Joe Muench has made his UTEP football season prediction over at Joe on Utepia, and as might be expected, many of the commenters don't like his take.

Joe predicts a 5-7 season for the Miners, and Shyminer says, "Joe will be wrong again." Toasted Whitebread says, "My prediction is 8-4."

For fun, I thought I would look up Joe's previous predictions and see how he did. Off the top of my head, I seemed to remember that he usually is close to the truth, though fans often don't want to hear the truth.

So, here's what I found.

In 2006, the blog had just launched as the season began, so Joe didn't get in a prediction.

In 2007, Joe predicts the Miners will get six wins at best, but will likely go 3-9. Joe ended up pretty close on that one, as the Miners went 4-8.

In 2008, I couldn't find that Joe gave a prediction before the season. But he was doing podcasts and a TV show, as well as the blog, so maybe he did it elsewhere. He did, however, blog after the Buffalo game to say the Miners did not seem improved from the 4-8 team the year before. The Miners finished the year at 5-7.

Speaking of the Buffalo game of 2008, while researching, I stumbled upon the most right-on prediction one could hope for (or hope against if you're a UTEP fan). Several days before the game, Joe posted that he was astounded Buffalo was only a three-point favorite over UTEP, and that by his reckoning, Buffalo should be at least a 17-point favorite. The outcome? Buffalo won 42-17.

What's all this add up to? Don't bet against Joe.

Big East wants Sun Bowl changes

Thanks to a tip from The Wiz of Odds, I saw a story that indicates the Big East isn't happy with their Sun Bowl arrangement.

Basically it seems the Big East doesn't like the Sun Bowl two-timing on them, so they are demanding an engagement ring. Here's the story: Big East commissioner looking to upgrade.

But considering the Big East team scored exactly zero points in last year's Sun Bowl, can you blame El Paso for continuing to date the Big 12 on the side? She looks good!

Personally, if the Sun Bowl has to choose a steady girlfriend, I would prefer to see the Big 12.

Of course, the Pac 10 is our main girl, but who do you think should get the Sun Bowl's other promise ring: the Big 12 or Big East?