Joe on utepia

Sticking with Vittatoe

An AP story indicates New Mexico Coach Rocky Long thinks UTEP will use Lorne Sam at quarterback against his Lobos Saturday night.

I'm sticking with freshman redshirt QB Trevor Vittatoe as UTEP's best chance to upset the slightly favored visitors (3 point spread). UTEP's best chance is Vittatoe taking snaps and getting the ball to Sam on short passes.

If UTEP is to have a good season, Sam will have to do a lot of catching short passes, and then running with the ball.

Side note: At tonight's (Friday) Minerpalooza, UTEP’s annual back-to-school celebration and pep rally, you can park for free in the new parking garage. Remember, the cost for the garage at Saturday's game is $20. What's this, a free-trial offer before getting hosed?

UTEP strategy

We know UTEP will have its defensive focus on New Mexico running back Rodney Ferguson Saturday. He got more than 160 yards rushing against the Miners last year — and the Lobo quarterback is new.

There will be no stopping Ferguson with UTEP's brand-new defensive line, so that means defensive backs will have to help out a lot.

GOING LOOO.OOOONG!

Yes, UTEP cannot afford to stack up for the run — all the time — because the Lobos will find open receivers well down field, new quarterback or not.

That's probably why oddsmakers have New Mexico by 3, even though New Mexico is no world beater and will be playing on the road.

Only the coaches know

One thing never changes about two-a-day, pre-season college football: Only the coaches really know what's going on. Is the team any good? The answer is buried in the coaches' film room.

College isn't like the NFL, where the players are household names and if you still don't know who's best at what position, you can always check out the salaries. It's even more difficult to analyze mid-level NCAA Division I-A schools, such as UTEP.

Perhaps more than usual, UTEP is a mystery team. It gets a big plus mark because Mike Price is a good, veteran coach. Predecessors didn't have that pedigree. So people with die-hard love for the Miners, and those with "gut feelings," will be relying on Price to pull the team through. It's like picking a saint and praying. Price is the athletic version of a saint.

We have no idea about the level of strength on either line, and there are so many running backs that eyebrows should rise. Doesn't anybody stand out? They can't all be that good. This isn't USC or LSU.

Don't let the pre-season optimism shown by players and coaches fool you. The players haven't been hit by the other team yet. Remember all the 1-10 teams were optimistic in August, too.

But here are a few things we know, and/or can openly question:

Fred Rouse, who some say is UTEP's most-talented recruit ever, is apparently able to play now. The junior transfer receiver from Florida State hurt a groin (it was reported) in spring. And when the team went to Socorro for two-a-days some three months later, reports were he was doing laps to get in shape. What's that all about?

It appeared, from both Price's quotes and daily stats, that red-shirt freshman Trevor Vittatoe and senior Lorne Sam (hurt much of last year) had good two-a-days at quarterback while in Socorro. Very promising. Remember, though, they were going against UTEP's defense, considered the weak spot going into the season.

But the big thing is this: How good are the teams UTEP will play this year? That's why the coaches know the most. They not only see their team, they see the opponents' 2006 games on film.

The season opener is against New Mexico, a so-so team in the Mountain West. But the Mountain West is better than UTEP's Conference USA. New Mexico returns 10 defensive starters, eight offensive starters and two-year lettermen at both fullback and tailback.

It's always fun to joke that all the summer-time pre-season national college football magazines don't know what they're talking about.

Now, with the season just two weekends away, there's not a whole lot of in-the-know talking to be heard about the 2007 UTEP Miners — even from those who have watched them practice.

It's the fun of football. Wait for the first snap and see.

Is Price hinting?

It's of note that Mike Price keeps praising freshman running back Vernon Frazier when there are so many other pedigreed, older backs on the roster.

"A star is born," Price said of Frazier Monday. " ... I'm very excited with his future at running back."

"Vernon Frazier is good enough to play as a true freshman," Price said Wednesday.

I don't think its just because runners Terrell Jackson (Oregon transfer) and Donald Buckram (sophomore) have sore knees (neither announced as serious).

And don't forget senior Marcus Thomas is back. He is a high-school Parade All-American.

These three come with high credentials, yet Price seems even higher on this 5-foot-7, 165 pounder from Duncanville. Frazier must be something special.

Usually you don't slap a coat of praise on a freshman, during two-a-days no less, unless you believe he's your  guy. If I was a high-school star runner this fall, and I knew UTEP had this great freshman, and he's only on the scout team, I might not choose the Miners. So usually coaches don't brag up freshman once they've been signed.

A coach once told me upon being asked, "Now that you've recruited this great player, and practice has started, how do you coach him?"

Said the coach: "Now I unrecruit him (shape him up)."

I'm guessing here: Price thinks he really does have a "star" in Frazier, and since quarterback Trevor Vittatoe is a red-shirt freshman, Price is being the type of coach he's always been. Note that in 25 seasons as a head coach, Price has a record of ALWAYS having a few lean years in a row before busting out with a big year.

Price, who lost last year, and will be fortunate to have a winner this year, senses another big one coming up, and Frazier could well see a lot of action because he is "good enough to play as a true freshman," and because Price has noticed "a star is born."

High parking-garage price

UTEP wants $20 a game to use its new parking garage. Or you can get a deal: $100 for all six home games.

Conk, conk and more conks! (the sound of jaws dropping).

What's going on?

Does UTEP want to discourage fans from using the brand-new facility? Maybe officials are worried about a traffic glut once the game is over.

Or, does the $20 include limo service (with free wet bar) to the various gates of the Sun Bowl? And Coach Mike Price shaking your hand while ushers ask your color preference in seat cushions?

Here's the university's release: " ... Single-game parking passes ($20) will be available at the University Ticket Center. Season parking passes ($100) can be purchased at the Miner Athletic Club Season Ticket Office in the Brumbelow Building, next to the Don Haskins Center ..."

Let's get up early tomorrow to see if there's a long line of people waiting to take UTEP up on this.

Figure most people will find either free, or much-cheaper parking, out on the perimeters of the campus.

If you pay $20 to park, and buy even the cheapest tickets for a wife and two children — and a hot dog and coke for each — that's a lot of money, even if you're on the family plan.

Yes, UTEP needs money to run a good sports program. But this is not a fan-friendly move.

So you'd better not throw any interceptions, or fumble, Miners. That's because the Athletic Department has already muffed the ball by creating these parking-garage prices.

Two quarterbacks? Nah

Of course Mike Price is going to name his senior, Loren Sam, as a quarterback this fall. He promised.

It's more like honoring a committment to Sam, who left Florida State because they made him play receiver.

HEY, I'M A GREAT QUARTERBACK!

Oh sure. Heard that before.

The real quarterback is red-shirt freshman Trevor Vittatoe.

When Vittatoe is in there, they'll run the Price offense, which is pass orientated — and has play cards. It's the one the linemen know how to block. So that will have to be almost every play.

When Sam takes snaps once in a while, it will be the "SamShow," some special play the coaches have gizmoed. Sam is a one-man offense, if he can get into razzle-dazzle territory on the field.

Get outta of the way, Miner linemen, and just let him zig and zag. No, don't expect him to complete many down-and-out passes.

But expect him, as Price says, to be lined up somewhere on the field virtually every play.

It's obvious what's going on. This happens all the time with guys who were quarterback stars in high school, but the college has three better quarterbacks and will recruit more the next season. Quarterbacks are usually the best athletes on a high-school team. So get a great quarterback and change his position.

So UTEP promised Sam a shot at quarterback if he transferred from Florida State. Price is coming through on the promise of giving Sam that shot.

Side note: They promised big'un Brandis Dew (6-5, 265) a shot at quarterback a few years back. USC wanted him to play defensive end, so he chose UTEP. Now Dew is moving to defensive end at UTEP, probably where he should have been all along, maybe even at USC.

Ticket strategy

Good move, UTEP Athletic Department (with condolences to the average schmo):

People who buy season football tickets for this season and for 2008 get first dibs on extra tickets for the 2008 home game against Texas.

Sellout assured. It's THE Texas, not some school with "Texas" somewhere in the name (Texas Southern).

OK, and a shellacking is assured, too.

But that's not the idea behind this plan, the shellacking on the field. If UTEP can load up on season-ticket buyers this season, and add to the numbers this time next year, that helps the program a lot. YOU KNOW WHAT MONEY YOU HAVE COMING IN AND YOU CAN BUDGET ACCORDINGLY. A couple of rainy days or cold nights in a six-game home schedule won't hurt. The money is already in the bank.

That also means there will be few, if any, Texas tickets available to the people who have been choosing to buy single-game tickets — probably because they can't afford tickets to all the games.

The goal of most sports outfits, college and pro, is to sell out the stadium or arena with season tickets.

If UTEP can sell a lot more season tickets because of the Texas game, and can do a good job of retaining the buyers year after year, that will go a long way in putting football around here on a sounder footing.

The little guy is going to take one on the chops this time, but that's the way the game is played in the athletic department offices around the NCAA these days.