Joe on utepia | The place for commentary for UTEP athletics

UTEP beats lightning flash

Coaches' press conferences on Mondays are hype, for both sides.

There is no explaining why UTEP is not supposed to poleax (my favorite verb) New Mexico Saturday afternoon in Albuquerque (will Time Warner have the game live?).

The Lobos are giving up (what?) something like 50 points a game. This week we hear they have hope, will, fortitude, desire ...  aw c'mon, and "it's a new season."

This is what bad UTEP teams have regurgiated at their Monday press luncheons - for many years. It's the beg to fans: Buy tickets, we're not as bad as our winless record (0-4) says we are. We've played some pretty good competition ...

Here's what happens: No lightning bolt from Heaven helps the Lobos. UTEP (3-1) has the seniors and the "need" to win this game. And it's not like the Miners are going into some hostile stadium with fans aroar for the home team. UNM has drawn little crowds for 30 years. They don't put 25,00 ticket-buyers into their seats at this time of a season.

UTEP's tiny crowds (such as last Saturday vs. Marshall), by and large, beat UNM crowds.

Bottom line:

UTEP: Seniors. Quarterback. Won't need RB Donald Buckram. Defense played well vs. Marshall Saturday (just don't down again ... )

New Mexico: The press conference UTEP fans have heard before: We're not as bad as our record indicates (insert TV interview with player). "We have a great team attitude."

UTEP wins and I'm still saying it's a 7-1 start for the Miners, who don't have to be a good team to beat New Mexico, and who can go 7-1 by playing determined, veternan-dominant offense - and keep getting better with Andre Patterson's defense.

 

Did it, Miners did!

UTEP is breathing a new kind of air. A win came ever so untraditionally, 16-13 over Memphis Saturday.

UTEP (3-1) was favored by 11 1/2 points. But UTEP was favored because of its offense.

The win came because its defense played great and new FG kicker, Dakota Warren, would hit on long arcs of 57 yards, 50 yards - and then a game-winning 18 yarder as time ran out.

UTEP's defense gave up one TD all night, and that came in the second quarter when Memphis set up at the UTEP 20 via a rare Trevor Vittatoe interception.

What was also rare was that Vittatoe and his receivers, supposedly the oomph this year, stunk most of the night. Vittatoe lost his aim and the receivers wore mitts of cinderblock. Usually this would mean the other team wins in a rout.

And  there wasn't much moving the ball until the last  when, using the running of Joe Banyard and the back-from-injury Donald Buckram, the Miners averted overtime by going 96 yards in 3:13, ending with the field goal. Clutch. That counts!

For a while it did not look like UTEP would achieve my prediction of a 7-1 start. But the way UTEP won this game, and the fare in the next four weeks, keeps the prognostication alive, I believe. At least we know one thing. UTEP can come from behind (it never led until the game-winning FB).

UTEP will beat: New Mexico, UAB, Rice and Marshall. It's not because UTEP is a good team yet, but because it is better than the next line of opponents.

However, by poleaxing rival New Mexico State 42-10 last week, then using defense and kicking - and some big special teams offense by Marlon McClure - UTEP found some new things in what was touted as just an offensive arsenal.

The corner toward a winner has not yet been turned, but UTEP is in turning-the-corner mode.

 

Don't allow history to repeat

UTEP football has been in this "looking good" position before. Then fortunes don't snowball and the season melts into a puddle.

Note Coach Mike Price's last four seasons.

UTEP (2-1) is "looking good "after a 42-10 over archrival New Mexico State, and is an 11 1/2 point favorite at home against Memphis Saturday. The offense and the defense really did look good against the Aggies. And in the loss the week before, well, UTEP wasn't even in Houston's class to start with.

Memphis (1-2)  had to rally late to overcome Middle Tennessee last week.

Again, I'm sticking with my prediction that UTEP will  be 7-1 before it loses again. The schedule dictates that.: vs. Rice, at UAB, vs. Tulane and at Marshall.

This schedule almost , I say almost, looks like something former basketball coach Don Haskins would drag in for his good teams to beat prior to the opening of the conference season. Recall how there were always a few Doanes, Cardinal Stritches (located in Milwaukee) and Tahoe Paradises (no longer in existence)  early in the season. UTEP's football fare represents major-college opponents, but they are not good major-college teams this season.

UTEP isn't tha.aaat much better than Memphis, or the others. But the Miners are better. So there can't be an, oops, off night. UTEP can't even so much as think it's a good team right now (I say bench anybody who celebrates catching a pass or making a good run - or actually tackling somebody for a loss).

UTEP fans need a winning season after four losers. Coach Mike Price is no longer the toast of El Paso. We all know the litany.

I think a level-headed UTEP team will beat Memphis.

So, is there a snowball in the forecast for this football season?

NOTE: I don't see Mike Leach going to New Mexico. He's too big a name to go to the ravished program up in Loboville.  Forget his situation at Texas Tech. I still say Tech used the controversy with the player (player's father, actually) to fire him and get out of paying his large contract.

There's certainly promise now

I'm sticking with the previous post. UTEP is now looking at a 7-1 start.

The 42-10 domination of archrival New Mexico State puts UTEP at 2-1. The Miners will likely be favored, sometimes favored big, in their next five games: Games are: Vs. Memphis, at New Mexico, vs. Rice, at UAB and even at Marshall.

Teams don't poleax an archrival and not deserve some props. So props to the Miners. They  were a two-TD favorite over NMSU, but led by that much after the first quarter - and by 42-10 after three quarters. UTEP QB Trevor Vittatoe threw 5 TD passes and the defense frustrated those Aggies virtually all night.

I don't see the next five UTEP opponents being much better than NMSU.

It was a definite skills/physical domination. It wasn't like one team messed up and got behind because of fumbles and pass intereceptions. There were no turnovers by either team until the Aggies threw a pass interception while already down 42-10.

UTEP is a senior-dominated team on offense and still a question mark on defense. But, on paper, UTEP, as it is right now, is still better than its next five opponents.

7-1.

 

 

UTEP and NMSU

Two things:

1) We know UTEP has trouble playing defense. Not many low-scoring games in Mike Price's tenue here. Braxton Amy is out for good, but UTEP still hadn't been much on defense with him in there for two games. One cannot tell how well New Mexico State plays the "D." Second-year Coach Dwayne Walker is just getting started, and is saying he was happy with the way the Aggies played defense in the first half against highly favored San Diego State. So, if the Aggies are getting better under Walker ... That's why I've concluded (previous blog) that if UTEP (1-1) can get past NMSU at home Saturday, it's not too long of a stretch to predict a 7-1 start this season. 2) Here's my take on Price closing practice one day during Miner-Aggie week: He's not doing anything different (secret). But with all the talk about "what's he doing," he gets the Aggies preparing for stuff he has no intention of running. Good mind-game job by Price.

A 7-1 start for UTEP?

This is not to praise UTEP's 1-1 football team by any means. The Miners didn't dominate little Pine Bluff and were poleaxed at Houston. It's to say the loss at Houston will be forgotten if UTEP beats New Mexico State Saturday. That's because UTEP then gets five real weak sisters all in a row.

SATURDAY

Sep. 18 New Mexico St. - UTEP is favored by two TDs

THE WINNING STREAK

Sep. 25 Memphis - picked last in C-USA East

Oct. 2 at New Mexico — might not win a game

Oct. 9 Rice - eh

Oct. 16 at UAB - looked real, real weak vs. decent Marshal

Oct. 23 Tulane - eh

THEN IT STARTS TO GET TOUGH:

Oct. 30 at Marshall

Nov. 6 SMU

Nov. 13 at Arkansas

Nov. 20 at Tulsa

If the win streak comes to pass (and tackle), UTEP is 7-1 and on a roll when it's an underdog the last four games. And the 7-1 can be had with the present offense and some defensive tweaks, such as tackling and positioning. UTEP doesn't have to get a whole lot better to be 7-1.

New concern about defense

Point spread: As expected. Houston was supposed to poleax UTEP on the scoreboard.

But an inability to stop a passing team's running game? This has to eat at Coach Mike Price, who usually has an offense, but when has he ever had a defense?

UTEP didn't manhandle Arkansas Pine Bluff.

UTEP was smeared by Houston.

Question: How will UTEP do next game against a school likely midway between a Bluff and a Houston - New Mexico State a week from tonight in the Sun Bowl.

UTEP was a question mark going into the season. Now there are even more questions about the program.

We'll know more about New Mexico State tonight. Those Aggies play host to San Diego State. The thing to watch is the line play and tackling. If the Aggies can show muscle, then I don't know if UTEP will be favored the next game.

 

 

 

Buckram on Friday?

Predictions and a question or two:

• Prediction: Donald Buckram won't play Friday at Houston;  but the bruised knee bone is getting better. The star runner missed the season opener Saturday against Arkansas Pine Bluff because of it. Asked Monday how it's coming: " ... I can run now," he told the Times.

That means where UTEP called him day to day prior to the Bluff game — he couldn't even run?

Don't mess with Buckram's health against Houston, a big favorite over the Miners.

• Question:  So, if you can't  be on a Pine Bluff quarterback like paint on a wall, how are you going to ruin the game for Houston's Heisman candidate, Case Keenum (17 of 22 for 224 yards and 5 TDS in a 68-28 win over Texas State)?

• Question: Why are some fans smiling  when told UTEP attracted a crowd of 30,000 in the home opener against Bluff. It was the season opener - and only 30,000? The stadium holds 50,000. A lot of revenue was not realized. UTEP usually does better than that in home openers.

 

OK, but it took UTEP too long

It took UTEP too long to beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 31-10 Saturday. The bottom line was an OK grade, but the story line was UTEP had to "eventually" beat down the littler school from the SWAC (if need be, you can look up SWAC - it's a conference).

This brings up the question: If it takes "eventually" to beat a Bluff, does UTEP have the muscle and mind-strength to get leads, and hold them, against the rest of the opponents - like Houston this Friday? Or even New Mexico State in two weeks.

Good part: Bluff got only 10 points, and 7 came on its first drive. That means UTEP's defense gave up only a field goal after early in the first quarter.  Bluff got a field goal at the verge of the halftime whistle by driving a long way in less than 3 minutes, so that wasn't so good. But the defense tackled a shutout in the second half.

The ???? part: UTEP wasn't pouring it on the lessers early. And UTEP got only a field goal in the fourth quarter. It was not a game where the bigger school sent in the reserves while the starters back-slapped and swung towels the entire fourth quarter.

Yes, UTEP played without seven regulars. But more than half were not playing because they were suspended for "team violations." That's not good. You don't start a season with so many guys out.

This game did not show that UTEP, with a veteran offense, is heading toward a winning season. A win by 31-10 looks like a romp in most cases. This 31-10 was not a romp.

Hold Buckram out

Credit is due poster Stahala, who's in a class with injured UTEP running back star Donald Buckram. I'm going with what Stahala said Buckram told him amid the air of academia: He'd miss Saturday's game, and maybe next week at Houston, too.

Buckram hurt his knee (two bruised bones) in Wedneday's practice. Reports are conflicting. Buckram's foot landed on a lineman during a non-tackling drill? A lineman landed on Buckram? (A bullet from Juarez grazed his patella?)

Doesn't matter. These things happen. It's not like the Miners were scrimmaging all out four days before the season opener against Arkansas Pine Bluff. It was a "got twisted" thing.

But there is a situation. Buckram's forte is his elusiveness and his darting speed. He can't be Donald Buckram with a sore knee.

Since UTEP will beat Bluff without Buckram, and probably won't beat Houston even with a healthy Buckram ... get the franchise player's knee back to Donald Buckram status before playing him again. The Miners can probably beat New Mexico State here Sept. 18 without him, too.

If Buckram is out indefinitely, would that definitely mean a losing season?

That we can't say just yet because both backups are transfers who haven't played for UTEP. Joe Banyard came here after leaving TCU. Leilyon Myers is a transfer who was not academically elilgible last season.