Turn Up the Orange | UTEP sports talk

UTEP, Texas and a bold prediction

It’s official, the UTEP football team will visit Austin for the second time in four years to take on the Texas Longhorns in 2012. 

The Miners and Longhorns will meet Sept. 8, 2012, at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in a nonconference matchup. 

The Miners were demolished 64-7 in Austin last season and lost 42-13 in the Sun Bowl in 2008. Texas leads the series 4-0. 

I don’t expect the result to be any different during this upcoming trip. It’s gonna be a tall task for UTEP to go into Austin and beat the Longhorns, who will likely have a seasoned quarterback in Garrett Gilbert. You guys will remember him as the kid who had to grow up fast against Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game a few weeks back after Colt McCoy was knocked out of the game. Gilbert will be a senior in 2012 and he’ll surely have a bevy of talent surrounding him. 

What UTEP fans would like to see is a competitive effort from the Miners. One in which they show they have the chops to go toe-to-toe with other teams consistently. The Miners were so unpredictable last season, beating teams they shouldn’t have beat, and losing to teams they should’ve trounced. They have two full seasons to prepare for their return trip. 

And since I’m not gonna be the one to offer up the bold prediction of a UTEP upset, I’ll give you another — neither team will enter this 2012 game with their current head coach. 

C-USA changing of the guard?

Joe on Utepia already said it: UTEP basketball's victory over Memphis Wednesday night was more than a big win.

Loved watching Culpepper's steal late in the game. That was a big-time play. And the CBS Sports announcers in their post-game report brought up a possible changing of the guard in C-USA dominance. Big night.

Why K-State and not UTEP?

The latest column by Jason Whitlock, of the Kansas City Star and ESPN, should give pause and maybe food for thought for UTEP fans.

The column, K-State needs to reward Martin now, is about how Kansas State has become a powerhouse through head coach Frank Martin's recruitment of Hispanic players. Kansas State, as you probably know, is ranked in the top 10 and beat #1 Texas this week. Here's an excerpt:

Martin, if he can control his temper, has a chance to be the Latino/Brown/Cuban John Thompson, college basketball’s groundbreaking Hispanic coaching star.

America, as you know, is going Brown. In Denis Clemente and Luis Colon — almost half of K-State’s starting lineup — Martin has tapped into his own innate ability to relate to, motivate and recruit Latino players.

Sitting behind the K-State bench Monday night was Freddy Asprilla, a 6-foot-10, 280-pound Colombian version of Texas’ Dexter Pittman. I sat opposite the kid on the other side of the court. I thought he was some retired NBA player. He’s Martin’s next Hispanic difference-maker.

Like Thompson 20 years ago, Martin delights in being a father-figure/mentor to his players. K-State — or whichever school employs Martin — will enjoy the benefits of Martin’s skill at relating to America’s growing Brown community.

The column has to make you wonder why UTEP isn't at the forefront of the trend. On the other hand, it's hard to complain about the athletes Barbee has recruited. So maybe it's not an issue. Discuss.

And while you're discussing ... how do you expect UTEP to do tonight at Memphis? Vegas has installed Memphis as 8.5-point favorites.

Random UTEP sports notes

A blog post over at Rivals.com lists UTEP football's 58-41 defeat of Houston as the fifth biggest upset of the 2009 football season. An excerpt:

UTEP proceeded to light up the Cougars for more points (58) than it gained in total yards against the Longhorns (53) just a few days before. Miner running back Donald Buckram ran for 262 yards and four touchdowns in a late-night shootout that featured more than 1,200 total yards between both offenses and knocked Houston out of the mainstream polls entirely from its perch in the top 15.

Just for fun

I've been interested in following the Alcorn St. basketball team even since I noticed they were going to play the three teams that interest me the most — Kansas, UTEP and NMSU — back-to-back-to-back.

Kansas beat Alcorn St. 98-31, UTEP followed up by crushing them 101-41, then NMSU completed the trifecta, winning 97-72. Following the Kansas game, my dad said it was the worst team he had ever seen play in Allen Fieldhouse: And he's been attending nearly every home game for about 30 years now. We'll see if Alcorn St. can win a game. They are currently 0-16.

Poor me

I'm working tonight, so let me know how UTEP does against Southern Miss. This should be a good test of whether the Miners are likely to turn their season around.

UTEP's new defensive chief

EDIT: Finally, confirmation from UTEP of its football coaching changes. 

The Times’ Bret Bloomquist confirms today what was speculated in the Las Vegas Sun last week — that UNLV defensive line coach  Andre Patterson will be named UTEP’s new defensive coordinator. 

Patterson will take over for Osia Lewis, whose departure was confirmed by the Orlando Sentinel  earlier this week. 

Patterson, a Camden, Ark., native, coached for three seasons in Las Vegas. In 2009, he coached the defensive line while also serving as assistant head coach. 

The Rebels’ base 4-3 defense finished the year ranked No. 115 nationally in total defense (No. 112 against the run, No. 86 against the pass). By comparison, UTEP finished the year ranked No. 110 in total defense (No. 106, run; No. 98 pass). 

UNLV’s 2009 schedule included seven schools that went to bowls at the end of the season, including BCS buster Texas Christian. Those games accounted for all of the Rebels’ losses. 

At UTEP, Patterson will inherit a defense that returns roughly six starters and features a slew of underclassmen that got playing time. 

Patterson’s experience runs the gamut from high school to the NFL. He  spent two seasons coaching the defensive line/tackles for the Denver Broncos (2005-06) and worked in similar capacities for the Cleveland Browns (2003-04), Dallas Cowboys (2000-02), Minnesota Vikings (1998-99) and New England Patriots (1997).

Patterson coached nine seasons in college before heading to the NFL. He was the head coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo from 1994 to ’96 and was named American West Conference Coach of the Year in 1994 as he led the Mustangs to the league title with a 7-4 record. Before that he was defensive line coach at Washington State (1992-93).  He also coached at Cornell (1990-91) and served as the defensive coordinator at Western Washington (1989).

Before working as defensive line coach at Weber State in 1988, Patterson coached five years at the prep level at St. Monica Catholic High School in California (head coach, 1987) and Renton High School in Washington (1983-86). Patterson began his coaching career in 1982 as a graduate assistant for the University of Montana. 

A look into the heart of a UTEP fan

UTEP football, basketball preseason: This is the most talented team we've seen in a long time. Schedule looks good. We should be competing for the conference championship and a bowl game/big dance.

Early season loss to Buffalo/NMSU: Just a bump in the road. This will be a learning experience for the team. Great things are still ahead.

More pre-conference losses begin to pile up: That's OK. UTEP scheduled a tough pre-conference schedule. We'll still be the top of C-USA and should be in a good bowl/big dance.

Conference losses begin: Oh-uh. This isn't looking good. But I have faith they can turn it around.

And that's where we stand now in basketball. We know how the rest of the football season turned out. It looks like the basketball team is headed that way, too.

UTEP basketball is 10-5 right now. Last season at this time they were ... 10-5. Looks like the CBI will be calling again.

But I don't say that as a bad thing. The CBI tournament last year was some of the most fun I've had in the Don Haskins Center. Great games with packed houses. If that's where UTEP ends up again, you won't hear me complaining.

Osia Lewis is out

The Orlando Sentinel’s Knights Notepad blog has confirmed what many of our commenters have been saying for weeks — Osia Lewis is out as UTEP football’s defensive coordinator. 

The Sentinel spoke to Lewis while he was attending the American Football Coaches Association convention in Orlando.

The Miners finished the year ranked 110th in the nation in total defense. 

Read the full blog post here.