Turn Up the Orange | UTEP sports talk

The nonconference grind, part 2

This is the second part of a four-part series taking  a look back at UTEP's nonconference schedule. We'll post some thoughts on what we thought before and after each of the Miners' first four games. Then we'll take a look at how good or bad those games look now with the season nearing the midway point. 

We invite readers to offer their input and analysis, too. 

This installment: Kansas.

Check back in to TUTO Thursday to discuss the rest of UTEP’s games.

Kansas Jayhawks, Sept. 12, Sun Bowl Stadium

Pregame perception: The Jayhawks are a top 25 team. They’ve got a mobile quarterback and a pretty good offense. Not great on defense. UTEP might be able to hang with them if they limit the penalties they had the week before. Some of the most diehard fans are saying upset. Maybe ...  

UTEP result: L, 34-7

Postgame perplexity: Even more mistakes than the previous week, including one additional penalty for a total of 13. Offense can’t move — only 208 total yards and seven first downs. The Jayhawks had six sacks. The score’s no indication of this, but the defense is surprising.  

Kansas' slate

Sept. 5 Northern Colorado W, 49-3

Sept. 12 at UTEP W, 34-7

Sept. 19 Duke W, 44-16

Sept. 26 Southern Miss W, 35-28

Final thoughts: A loss wasn’t the difficult thing to stomach. It was the poor play on offense. At the time it seemed like a one-game deal. Maybe the offensive line had a poor week of practice. Maybe the receivers were hobbled by injuries that weren’t disclosed. It happens. And teams trudge through it. But the lack of offensive prowess has become an alarming trend. The Miners have still not found the right mix on offense three weeks after the Kansas debacle. And the stiff competition has exposed weaknesses in all of the unit’s aspects. We don’t know if it's poor quarterback play, poor offensive line play, poor route running. On defense, the Miners did what they could given the circumstances they were put in. Four times the Jayhawks were given the ball inside UTEP territory, twice inside the 30. It led to 17 points. This is while the Miner offense was being quick to give the ball back. Through all that, the Miners held Kansas to its lowest point output this season. Considering Kansas is now the nation’s No. 7 offense, it doesn’t seem like such a bad performance. 

The nonconference grind, part 1

It's a slow news day out of Houston, unless pilfered helmets and talk of a $61.5 million stadium project is stuff you like to read. That's all well and good, but we at TUTO like keeping discussion focused on what's on the field. 

So today, we're taking a look back at UTEP's nonconference schedule. We'll post some thoughts on what we thought before and after each of the Miners' first four games. Then we'll take a look at how good or bad those games look now with the season nearing the midway point. 

We invite readers to offer their input and analysis, too. 

And we'll start at the beginning -- the Buffalo game. 

Check back in to TUTO throughout the day to discuss the Kansas, NMSU and Texas games.

Buffalo Bulls, Sept. 5, Sun Bowl Stadium

Pregame perception: UTEP’s experienced offense should be better than Buffalo’s rebuilding offense, which was without its star running back and featured a quarterback making his first college start. 

UTEP result: L, 23-17

Postgame perplexity: So many Miner mistakes, including two key ones that negated a would-be game-winning touchdown. This is one that got away. 

Buffalo’s slate

Sept. 5 at UTEP W, 23-17

Sept. 12 Pittsburgh L, 54-27

Sept. 19 at UCF L, 23-17

Sept. 26 at Temple L, 37-13

Final thoughts: Buffalo seemed like it might be a better team than previously thought after playing steady in El Paso. A loss to Pitt (3-1) wasn’t a surprise. And Central Florida’s (2-2) BrightHouse Networks Stadium is a tough place to play. But Temple? The Owls are 1-2, with losses to Penn State and FCS school Villanova. Evidently, Buffalo is a team that really is rebuilding. And UTEP shouldn’t have let the Bulls get out of El Paso with a win. 

A somber podcast: UTEP football looks ahead to Houston

In the latest UTEP football podcast, a somber Pablo Villa, Ruben Ramirez and Jay Koester take a look back at UTEP's loss to Texas and a look ahead at UTEP's coming game against the Houston Cougars.

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

Or better yet, subscribe the Times sports podcasts on iTunes! That's right, with one click of the subscribe button, you'll automatically get the weekly UTEP football and high school sports podcasts.

Get signed up here: El Paso Times podcast page on iTunes.

Head Case?

You’d think your second win over a Big 12 team, a No. 12 Associated Press poll ranking and BCS discussion aboutyour team would get a guy a bunch of second looks in his town. 

But that’s not the case for Case Keenum. The quarterback and poster boy of the undefeated Houston Cougars says no one seems to give him a second look in the sprawling city he calls home. 

Keenum spoke to ESPN.com about his experience picking up food for him and his girlfriend the day after the Cougars’ come-from-behind win against Texas Tech. 

“No one recognized me,” Keenum told ESPN’s Graham Watson. “You gotta love it, it’s still Houston and it’s still 4 million people here. We may have won over a couple hundred thousand, but there are still some people out there that don’t care. That’s fine. We love it.”

According to the report, Keenum is the most level-headed guy in the locker room. And that will help the Cougars as word gets out about their potential run to the BCS, which takes its next step this Saturday at Sun Bowl Stadium against the Miners. 

Keenum had this to say about UTEP:

“This is going to be a big week for us. UTEP has always played us pretty well. They’re a team that’s hard to go play down there at UTEP. They’ve got a really good stadium down there, a cool atmosphere, and that’s going to be a big test. We’re 0-0 in conference and our goal is to win the West and that comes with keeping level headed and taking it one game at a time. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”

Bowl projections

Houston’s mercurial rise has not been enough for ESPN’s dueling bowl projectionists to make the Cougars part of the BCS picture. 

Mark Schlabach and TUTO’s most-hated prognosticator Bruce Feldman both still have Houston in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, which goes to the Conference USA champ. 

UTEP, most-deservedly, doesn’t show up on either list. 

It is interesting that Schlabach realizes that Idaho is off to a hot start and places the Vandals in the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl. Feldman, meanwhile, continues to make us question his football knowledge by not noticing.

Bonus: Fifth Quarter

We looked at so many intangibles during our Four Quarters segment, that we decided to go Wisconsin Marching Band on you and bring you a Fifth Quarter.

5.) Closer look at the Cougars: 

As commenter just a thought pointed out in our previous post, Houston’s skill positions are induced with speed. Tyron Carrier is a burner who can beat you in the passing game and special teams.  He’ll even try his hand in the running game a couple times. And he is getting a nice complement in freshman receiver Charles Sims. Sims led all receivers this weekend against Texas Tech, grabbing 10 passes for 122 yards. The guys behind these two are no slouches either. Recievers Patrick Edwards and James Cleveland combined for 177 yards against Tech. 

On the ground, Cougar sophomore Bryce Beall chews up most of the yards. Beall’s biggest showing came against Oklahoma State on Sept. 12, a game in which he scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns. And on passing downs, he’s a good check-down threat out of the backfield. 

This is all behind an offensive line that had to break in three new starters this season. 

And the guy that makes the whole thing hum is Case Keenum. Keenum is a darkhorse candidate for the Heisman trophy. He collected his second Conference USA Player of the Week Award on Monday and was also named the Davey O’Brien Foundation’s Quarterback of the Week.  The senior from Abilene is at the helm of the nation’s No. 2 offense and has Houston thinking BCS. 

Now to paraphrase ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, Houston has a BCS-caliber offense. The Cougar defense, however, is another story. 

The Cougars are ranked No. 97 in total yards allowed. That’s not a whole lot better than UTEP’s No. 109 ranking. 

And Houston was dealt a loss Saturday in their win against Tech when senior linebacker and captain Matt Nicholson was lost for the season with a torn MCL. But the Cougars do have a stout defensive line, anchored by David Hunter. Hunter was the recipient of this week’s C-USA Defensive Player of the Week award after forcing two fumbles, which led to 10 points in the Cougars’ win over Tech. 

The Houston secondary is a little suspect and might offer UTEP the chance it needs to get its offense going. Maybe the Miners’ best bet is to get the 6-foot-3 Kris Adams matched up against Couger cornerback Jamal Robinson, who is advertised as 5-foot-11. Robinson is probably Houston’s best cover guy, so getting him to cover the bigger, more physical Adams should help Jeff Moturi and Co. run loose. 

Both UTEP, NMSU are large underdogs

Jay's Juárez Sportsbook Report™ has an interesting tidbit for you today. Both UTEP and NMSU are exactly 16.5-point underdogs as of Monday.

Of course, UTEP is taking on the #12-ranked team in the country, the Houston Cougars. Meanwhile, the Aggies are large underdogs to San Diego State, the proud owners of a victory over Southern Utah to go along with three losses. So it shows UTEP is still getting a little bit of respect, at least compared to NMSU.

First thoughts: I'll take the points with NMSU. Strangely enough this early in the season, NMSU and SD State have a common opponent in Idaho. NMSU lost to Idaho 21-6. SD State lost to Idaho 34-20. The game is in San Diego, but considering both teams are pretty scrubby, I'll take NMSU and the 16.5 points.

On UTEP, I'd love to have faith and take the points. I really would. But in the end, what I going to believe: my cheating heart or my eyes. My heart wants to believe in the Miners, but my eyes have seen UTEP shoot itself in the foot in every way possible. They just don't look very good right now.

Until they prove otherwise, I'm going to have to bet against them. Despite Mike Price's vow to turn the season around, I'll take Houston to cover.

Quick update: Losing to NMSU really pissed off New Mexico.

Four Quarters: Houston Cougars

Four keys in the matchup between UTEP and Houston on Saturday at Sun Bowl Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

1.) Been there, seen that: It's difficult to imagine UTEP being nervous about squaring off with Conference USA's BCS hopeful. The Miners have played Houston tough the past two seasons with essentially the same guys lining both teams' depth charts. And both of those battles were tight -- a 42-37 Houston win in 2007 and a 34-31 Houston win in 2008. The Miners are physically capable of playing with these guys. But this still is another top 25 team coming to town. And everyone has certainly heard how it goes with UTEP and top 25 teams. But, for what it's worth, the game is at the Sun Bowl, which brings us to ...

2.) The crowd: It's Homecoming Week. But I doubt even that will be enough to draw the fans out. Two woeful games at home to start the year and a thrashing in Austin might keep many fans at home this weekend. It¹s a shame because when the Sun Bowl crowd wants to, it can really be a factor. But it won't be so this week. So count this intangible out. This low attendance is also gonna affect the Athletic Department's bottom line. If UTEP's season worsens, I'd hate to be Bob Stull trying to decide where to set Miner football season ticket prices next year.

3.) The trap game: Houston's win over Texas Tech this weekend drew the largest crowd in Robertson Stadium history. And the late-game heroics were sure to encite a high level of emotion from everyone in the stadium. Players included. It's tough to maintain that high level week-to-week. And the Cougars will need it again on Oct. 10 as SEC team Mississippi State awaits. And there's UTEP sandwiched in between two opponents from big-time conferences. Will we have Houston's full attention?

4.) The refs: Maybe I'm a conspiracy nut, but I wouldn't be surprised if UTEP sets a record for penalties if the game gets tight. Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky and the rest of the league big-wigs have to be licking their chops at the prospect of millions of dollars for a BCS
at-large bid. Houston certainly has the talent to earn the berth on its own, but if games started getting a little close ... ah, maybe I'm just a conspiracy nut.

There's plenty else to look at in this game. Start the discussion.

Texas trying to hide UTEP's highlight

Well, the second half wasn't any better.

There were high hopes for these Miners coming into the season, but it appears the UTEP offense is much, much worse than any of us thought it would be.

The defense actually looked pretty good Saturday ... you know, as good as you can look while giving up 64 points. They made a couple of good stands after the offense put them in some bad spots.

How bad was this one? Well, it's the worst beat-down Texas has given any school in the past two seasons. They beat the Miners by 57 points. The second worst beat-down this season was to Louisana-Monroe, who only lost by 39. Last season, the most they ever beat anyone was by 42 points. That's messed up.

Colt McCoy for Heisman?

Earlier in the week, I was interested in Pablo's note that some Texas Tech fans were saying that Texas made up a story about Colt McCoy being sick last week to protect his Heisman chances after a lackluster performance against Tech.

But then I got more suspicious when I searched YouTube today and couldn't find any footage of Melvin Stephenson's Pick Six off of Colt. Sure, I can quickly find footage of UTEP's punter getting jacked up and slo-mo of Texas cheerleaders, but no Stephenson. Even ESPN's highlight reel mysteriously begins with the score tied at 7-7!

But DrewShirleySports finally ruined the conspiracy ... though before the highlight he did get in a shot about UTEP being a "really, really bad team."

I hope the Heisman voters slip by the conspiracy and watch the above video. Because like I told the Texas fans watching the game at my house on Saturday, that should END any talk of Colt for Heisman. If you throw a Pick Six against UTEP, you should automatically be taken out of the running for the Heisman!

Seriously, though, nice play Stephenson. I appreciated the one chance to cheer and make fun of the Texas fans.

For UTEP, the clouds gather

It's understandable to lose against big-time competition. 

The Texas Longhorns are no joke. And their 64-7 win against UTEP on Saturday in Austin showed just how laden with talent their roster is. Clearly, Texas belongs in the national championship discussion. 

What's not clear is where this Miner team is in terms of progression. Is the UTEP offense really 53 yards of total offense bad? Or is it that the Texas defense is 53 total yards allowed good? 

Defensively, the Miners held as best as could be expected when you let one of the nation's top offenses begin their onslaught from your 16-yard line. You had to admire UTEP’s fight when Texas only managed three points after being given the ball on the Miner 6-yard line after a botched punt attempt in the first quarter. And there was the Melvin Stephenson pick-six for UTEP’s lone score of the day. Not a shining performance, but it’s something the unit can build on in time for conference play.

And speaking of conference play, it begins next week in the Sun Bowl, with the AP poll’s new No. 12 team, Houston, coming to town. 

The Cougars are officially a BCS hopeful after their win over Texas Tech on Saturday night. But can they rise to the occasion on the road at UTEP after such an emotional game against Tech and a visit to Mississippi State pending? 

And a more pertinent question is, will UTEP’s offense wake up? Fans are seething after this game. And they should be. It was an embarrassment. But the blow of this loss will be softened if Texas keeps winning and/or ends up playing for the crystal football at season's end. The Miners were at this same point, record-wise, last season and they still managed to get into bowl discussion. The schedule eases from here. We at TUTO are gonna stay tuned. 

Texas covers -36 by halftime

I rushed over to Juarez this morning, feeling good about betting on UTEP at +36.

I figured, sure, we all expect Texas to win, but there is no way they'll cover that many points, right? The Miners will be up for this game.

Well, with a halftime score of 47-7, Texas has already covered those 36 points.

I guess I can pray Texas puts in some scrubs in the second half.