Turn Up the Orange | UTEP sports talk

Paydirt Pete needs you

UTEP's beloved mascot Paydirt Pete is part of Capital One's National Mascot of the Year competition.

And in week one, Pete is doing well, so far getting more votes than Cincinnati's Bearcat. So get over there and vote.

SI: UTEP vs. Purdue in Dallas Football Classic

Could’ve been a nice New Year’s trip for all you Dallas Cowboys/UTEP Miners fans.

But if SI’s Stewart Mandel is correct, you’ll at least be able to see one of your favorite teams play in the other’s city.

Mandel released his way-too-early bowl predictions today. And he has the Miners playing in the inaugural Dallas Football Classic at the newly renovated Cotton Bowl against the Big Ten’s Purdue on Jan. 1. (And in case you’re wondering, the actual AT&T Cotton Bowl will be played Jan. 7 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington).

The Dallas Football Classic has agreements with the Big Ten, Big 12 and Conference USA and will be played on a Saturday. But alas, there’d be no hope of swinging to Arlington the following day for a Cowboys game as Dallas closes its season on the road in Philadelphia on Jan. 2.

Of course, there’s no real guarantee the Miners would make a bowl trip anyway. UTEP has been a fixture in early season bowl predictions each of the last four years only to see their postseason hopes fizzle out. There’s optimism this season though, especially with a much softer schedule.

The Miners begin the season Saturday against FCS school Arkansas Pine Bluff. Stay tuned to Turn Up the Orange for previews, analysis and some plain old fun.

To see Mandel’s complete bowl predictions list — including his Arizona-Georgia Tech Sun Bowl matchup — click here.

USA Today profiles Buckram, slaps UTEP

USA Today on Wednesday had a nice profile on UTEP running back Donald Buckram: UTEP's Donald Buckram ready for encore of runaway season.

UTEP fans can enjoy the profile, but probably won't like the poll that goes with it, which reads:

Which team do you think will win Conference USA in 2010?

Central Florida.

East Carolina.

Houston.

Marshall.

Southern Methodist.

Southern Mississippi.

Tulsa.

Other.

Other? Man, that hurts. Burned like a marshmallow at a campfire.

Two events for UTEP football fans

Announcements from UTEP: 

SATURDAY

UTEP football fans will have the opportunity to interact with Miner players and coaches, as well as obtain autographs, at the team's annual Fan Appreciation Day this Saturday (Aug. 21) in the concourse of Sun Bowl stadium.  The event will start at 11:00 a.m.

UTEP schedule posters will be given away to attendees.  The Miners will open their season at home versus Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sept. 4.

AUGUST 26

Fans are invited to mingle with their favorite Miner players and coaches at the 2010 edition of the UTEP Football Kickoff Luncheon.  This year's event will be held on Thursday, Aug. 26 at 11:30 a.m. at the Camino Real Hotel in downtown El Paso.

Individual tickets are $30 each, and tables of eight are available for $300.  Two UTEP players will be seated at each table, and head coach Mike Price will preview the 2010 campaign.

Proceeds will benefit UTEP's summer recruiting camps through the Touchdown Club, the fund-raising arm of the Miner football program.

For more information or to reserve a seat, please call Rod Ramirez at 471-8929 or Marilyn Munden at 433-9227.

Myron Strong's final thoughts?

On Saturday, former UTEP basketball player Myron Strong had this to say on Twitter:

Wish things coulda played out differently! No harm meant at all. I wish utep the best in the future and I hope they wish the same for me

Classy, at least at the end. Good luck, Strong, I wish you the best.

Myron Strong tale familiar, yet sordid

Now that we've had a few days to digest all the various Myron Strong comments, along with a few comments from Tim Floyd and UTEP, it's clear to me Strong's departure is just the old tale of a coach wanting to clear out a player so he could offer a scholarship to someone else.

But though that tale is old and familiar, it rarely gets this sordid. Most players forced out quietly move on to the next gig; probably because they don't want to admit they weren't good enough ballers for the coach to overlook their transgressions.

Not Myron Strong. He comes out swinging and admits Floyd didn't want him on the team from day one.

Some of Strong's accusations are laughable: Like the one that "sources" tell him Floyd held a fake charity event to help pay O.J. Mayo $100,000. Somehow the NCAA couldn't track that one down, but Myron "Inspector Gadget" Strong's investigation is turning up big stuff. That's silly, and no one should be worried about it.

What's less laughable is the accusation Strong made to Miner Rush and elsewhere that many of his teammates failed a drug test. UTEP fans will have to hope this outing will scare the players straight.

Reaction to the affair has broken into two camps. The locals are rushing to support Floyd, while most of the national sports media is getting their first chance to tell UTEP, "I told you so." Looking around, it's clear Floyd has a lot of enemies in the national media.

Maybe this is just a one-time incident, but the fact that Strong's departure turned so ugly and sordid when most departures are quiet and peaceful makes me worry we're going to be hearing a lot more "I told you so" in the years to come.

Myron Strong disses UTEP b-ball coach Tim Floyd

The El Paso Times reported earlier today that Myron Strong has been dismissed from the UTEP basketball team.

The dismissal was for unspecified policy violations, and "UTEP Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations Jeff Darby said the school would offer no further comment on Strong's dismissal."

But someone who is saying more is Myron Strong. Today on Facebook, he had this to say about his departure:

Yeah I'm not at utep anymore I know a lot of ppl wondering y, but the big question really should be how did tim floyd even get the job there? Wasn't he just under investigation at USC? Well I'm hearing that he had a fake charity event to pay former player OJ Mayo $100,000 to play for him. How did the ncaa let that slide? I'm just saying ...

In the comments following his post, Strong goes on to say that he misses El Paso and can't wait to visit again soon.

UPDATE: Over on Twitter, Dan Wolken of Memphis says:

Spoke with Floyd, who went right back at Strong, said he was dismissed due to drug policy violation, noted his fourth school in 4 years.

Wow.

Phil Steele on UTEP football

I finally bought a copy of Phil Steele's 2010 College Football Preview today, lauded as "the most accurate preseason magazine the last 11 years." Some of the highlights:

In his list of the most-improved teams for 2010, Steele ranks UTEP at #15. He ranks fellow C-USA member Tulsa as the #1 most-improved team.

Steele ranks individual units of teams, and UTEP shows up in the rankings for quarterbacks (#27) and running backs (#24).

Steele predicts UTEP to finish fourth in the C-USA West division, trailing Houston, Tulsa and SMU. He has Houston playing UCF in the C-USA title game. (Steele notes that he picked UTEP to win the West last year, and with victories over Houston and Tulsa that looked good until the Miners faded late.)

After reading all the critical comments on Pablo's prediction of a loss to Memphis, I found this note on the game interesting: "UTEP has been upset in all 3 meetings with Memphis but has outgained Memphis in 2 of the 3 as they are a combined -12 in turnovers."

Steele's final prediction: "They do have just 12 returning starters but were much better than their 3-5 C-USA record last year, and 8 of my 9 sets of power ratings call for them to be bowl eligible."