Joe on utepia | The place for commentary for UTEP athletics

Miners not tested anymore

True, UTEP has always used the Sunnies' Christmas tournament (now invitational) as a final primp for conference play.

New Coach Tim Floyd was talking about that this week and the Miners went on to beat Western New Mexico Tuesday and Air Force Wednesday in the Sun Bowl Invitational. And there's one more pre-Conference USA game, Sunday vs. Sam Houston State.

His Coachency, Don Haskins, always said the same thing. And usually the Miners were ready for the January-February WAC games.

There's a big difference now.

UTEP's players were not tested this year, nor have there been strong Christmastime fields for some years now. This year the Miners might as well have been playing Western New Mexico or some other Division II school. Wait a sec! They WERE playing Western New Mexico, a Division II school. And Air Force?

No, Air Force, as the "other" decent basketball school in the Invitational, certainly was not a team the caliber of those who came to play when Sunny matchmaker Joe Gomez was rounding 'em up in UTEP's 1980s glory days. This isn't a shot on Gomez' successors. Matchmating is  tougher now.

Here's the 80s era, when it was possible to get good teams to come to your place:

1980: UTEP, Miami (Ohio),  Villanova, San Francisco.

1981: UTEP, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M.

1982: UTEP, SMU, Kansas State, Clemson.

1983: UTEP, Michigan, Arizona, Texas Tech.

1984: UTEP, Wake Forest, Purdue, Mississippi State.

1985: UTEP, Ohio State, Alabama, Nebraska.

1986: UTEP, Texas, Auburn, Iowa State.

1987: UTEP, Boston College, Cal, UAB.

1988: UTEP, Maryland, Cleveland State, Lamar.

1989: UTEP, South Carolina, Kansas State, Austin Peay.

By the time the 1990s hit, schools agreeing to come wanted at least one easy game. So a little guy was invited. Did you notice it kinda started in 1988?

An example in the 1990s:

1996: UTEP, Princeton, Texas A&M - and Northern Iowa.

By the late 90s, it was two little guys, on the norm:

1998: UTEP, Washington State, Grambling and Detroit.

Anyway, it was good to hear Floyd say he'll be glad to help the Sunnies do some future scheduling.  Gomez, back in the 1980s, needed no help. He knew everybody. EVERYBODY in college basketball, and he had the connections.

Now knowing people doesn't usually work. Schools can make more money beating a nobody in a home game. Why make no money beating a nobody on the road?

Any help Floyd can give, using his connections, will certainly be welcome, I would think. It's good that Floyd wants to play better opponents. Recall his predecessor, Tony Barbee, just wanted the two wins and that put some shackles on the Sunnies.

It's unlikely the Sunnies/Floyd can get a 1980s field again, but it would be a coup to have a three "bigs" and a sacrificial lamb. The fans would love it again.

UTEP's Horton heard a Coach

Progress in a 21-point loss? Yes.

A tiny bit of agate type  on Friday's El Paso Times "Scoreboard" page shows  UTEP Basketball Coach Tim Floyd has gotten his message across to Randy Culpepper, the reigning Conference USA Player of the year.

As the fabled Horton heard the Who, so did Randy hear the Coach.

The agate line: Culpepper 1-8 1-1 4.

The 1-8 stands out. It means Culpepper made 1 of 8 field goal attempts. It was ice water, not in his veins, but in his shooting fingertips. In the past, Culpepper would have continued to shoot. Not often does the senior take only eight shots. Yes, he's prolific when he's hot, but he's also been known to shoot the Miners out of games, too.

The message from Floyd has been: Take good shots. If your not hitting, STOP shooting, for crying out loud. And don't FORCE shots. And that goes for everybody.

On Thursday, Culpepper was well guarded by BYU, which is a good team and is ranked No. 23 in the nation. BYU plays smart basketball, always has.

Culpepper played smart basketball, too, in Provo, Utah - he not always has.

UTEP was an 89-68 loser to a team that shot 12 for 25 from 3-point range and won the inside bump-around  battle on the backboards, 42-33.

This situation of "Randy not hot tonight" will come up on occasion during C-USA play. It'll come up in a game UTEP can win, if the guys play smart.

It's a positive for the Miners that Randy heard the Coach Thursday.

UTEP just never got better this season

This was to be Coach Mike Price's comeback year, a nice winning season as a result of fielding a senior-dominated team, 26 on the roster. But after beating some early season  lads, UTEP just never got better and lost six of its last seven games, including a physical assault on their pads Saturday, 52-24 to BYU in the New Mexico Bowl.

BYU pushed the Miners around and barged through the littler Orange & Blues.

Never got better? While losing five of their final six regular season games, big opportunities were missed. Dropped passes, dumb penalties ... dumb decisions.

It happened again vs. BYU, especially dropped passes - a two-year plague now.

When BYU threatened to make it a rout by halftime, UTEP missed a good chance to make it a two-score margin, and perhaps keep people from turning to a different ESPN station. With time running  out before the intermission, the Miners were near the goal line, but two passes were dropped.  The Miners were held on downs.

And in trying to stave off the rout late in the game, UTEP got inside the 20, but Trevor Vittatoe endured his third pass interception. The interceptions, by and large, were balls tipped off the hands of UTEP receivers.

So, then, was losing six of their last seven games because of that stuff.? Probably more so it was so many injuries to offensive guys and, of course Vittatoe played the last half of the season with all the tendons ripped apart in one of his ankles. He also had a bad left shoulder.

Now what? It's now five straight losing seasons (6-7 this year) and only some of the good players come back, especially on offense.

In late summer I had theorized Price would call it quits if he didn't have a good year; after all he's back to rebuilding, he's heading toward the upper 60s, and it may take a few years for another run like he was supposed to have this season.

But Price gave no indication he's hanging it up. He was pretty hangdog-looking on the sidelines by late in Saturday's game, but he was back to being upbeat on his post-game radio show with Jon Teicher and Bernie Ricono.

So he's coming back. That's OK. Most people like Price. He's never had a media fallout, as did some of his UTEP coaching ancestors. Oh, and he's got a multi-year contract still going, and UTEP doesn't appear to be in any financial shape to buy him out - and then find somebody better.

Disappointing season for Price and true Miner fans. His team never got better as the season wore on. But everybody likes Mike Price, that is people with influence in the community.

Maybe we should start calling him Mike Pa.

 

 

 

Miners get split Saturday

Two games Saturday:

I can't see UTEP's football team pushing around BYU's lineMEN in Saturday afternoon's  New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, but I find it no surprise UTEP's basketball team is a 7-point favorite to beat Texas Tech here Saturday night.

FOOTBOWL

UTEP will have to move the ball in the air, and somehow control the clock while doing so. I don't see that happening. UTEP can score in the air, all right, but that's where the Miners mess up, too. If BYU gets the ball, it'll use its bigger, Mormon-Mission-older guys to run the ball and run the clock.

UTEP might get some points running back kicks. That could change things.

Also, BYU plays physical football, like the teams UTEP has a hard time with in the eastern half of Conference USA. UTEP and its mates in the western half of CUSA like to play  more of a finesse/crafty style ... Thus,  rock crushes scissors in the New Mexico Bowl.

BYU is an 11-point favorite.

BASKETBALL


A UTEP (6-2) win means the Miners would have defeated a Big Ten team, Michigan, and a Big 12 team.

Texas Tech is 5-5.

Tech's wins have all been over little guys: Louisiana-Monroe, Stephen F. Austin, Liberty, Georgia Southern and Oral Roberts.

Tech's on a two-game losing streak, at Washington and home against TCU. Tech has been idle the past 10 days.

Tech plays disciplined basketball; UTEP Coach Tim Floyd is in the process of teaching the Miners the same.

All the same, UTEP is at home, the determining advantage in this game.

New Mexico Bowl ticket sales?

A previous blog regarding New Mexico Bowl ticket sales was pulled by the webmaster when a spokeswoman from the bowl said there was some incorrect information in a story that appeared on the Times' sports page.

The bowl's explanation, though, continues to baffle.

A bowl official said neither UTEP nor BYU had sold their allotment of tickets. This was as of Thursday. UTEP's Bob Stull reported UTEP was alloted 5,900 tickets and had about 1,500 left onsold.

A bowl official said BYU had not sold out its allotment.

A bowl official said the New Mexico Bowl had about 7,757 tickets to sell.

A bowl official said there were some 30,003 tickets either sold or out. What does out mean? How does one get to that number?

These people choose not to say how many tickets have been sold! If the "out" tickets are at, say, a Ticketmaster type of firm, shouldn't the bowl be able to find out how many tickets have been sold?

She also gave a different seating capacity for University Stadium. The University of New Mexico lists the number at 39,244. The New Mexico Bowl lists 37,457.

So if UTEP sells, say, 5,000 tickets and BYU sells the same, or even more ... what will be the attendance at the game?

Miners better than 213 out of 348

Odd.

UTEP, with a 6-2 record, including a win over Michigan, is so far only No. 213 of the 348 schools ranked on the RPI.

And UTEP gets to help itself only one more time before it heads into Conference USA play next month. That's the Dec. 23 date at RPI No. 5 BYU (10-0).

Here's what's happened when UTEP played the bigger schools:

UTEP lost to No. 174 Georgia Tech (in Atlantic City)

UTEP beat  No. 66 Michigan (in Atlantic City)

UTEP beat No. 230 New Mexico State (1-7) TWICE

UTEP gets No. 205 Texas Tech in Lubbock Saturday

UTEP gets No. 151 Air Force Dec. 29

In the 12-school Conference USA, UTEP is only 10th best??????

Here are the C-USA RPI ratings (Bold face are UTEP's division):

025. Central Florida
034. So. Miss.
036. Memphis
079. Marshall
103 UAB
227 East Carolina
146 Tulsa
208 Houston
210 Rice
213 UTEP
253 Tulane
267 SMU

Bottom line: UTEP should rise rather quickly. The big schools, once they start playing tougher opponents, will rise. That means teams that played them get somewhat of a boost, too.

UTEP is much better than 213.

Will Price retire after bowl game?

Since Mike Price and Bob Stull are not known for openness with the public/fans, I'm not sure if Price is really coming back as football coach, or not. He says he plans to return.

He's been here seven years, a lo.ooong time for a UTEP football coach. And unless he beats BYU Dec. 18 in the New Mexico Bowl he'll be on a skid of five losing seasons in a row. Nobody before him has ever survived that. And he talks about his grandkids a lot. And he's got picturesque properties on the West Coast and in Idaho. He's got money.

True, Price says he's not planning to retire, and Stull said that would be up to Price. UTEP''s money backers, which doesn't amount to a whole lot of money, seem to like Price. Stull says he's not planning to fire the coach. But when have either been up front? Never.They don't tell fibs, but they have mastered the fine art of weasel wording answers.

Recall when Stull was coach here, he knew nothing, he'd say, about speculation he was  leaving (for Stanford or Missouri). Not until right at the Independence Bowl trip to Shreveport, La., did he finally admit he'd agreed to be a Missouri Tiger. I'm not sure he officially announced it, or if somebody saw him wearing a Mizzou jacket and he had no choice. I've always said Stull won't admit today is Thursday until Friday. Only on Friday will he confirm yesterday was Thursday.

Price never goes public with team ongoings. Just one example: Fans were left to believe star running back Donald Buckram would be ready to play in Game 1 this year, then Game 2 ... He was always on a so-called "day-to-day" all the way through 12 games. He saw little action on what must have been a real bad knee. Probably opponent scouts knew more about Buckram's status than did the Miners' fans.

I like Price as UTEP's football coach. He's good in the community. He's one of the biggest winners, percentage wise, in the history of the school. His almost-.500 seasons sure beat the 1-win and 2-win seasons of so many of his UTEP ancestors  - going far back to the 1970s.

My only gut feeling now on this is (what do you think?):

If Price beats BYU (UTEP is a 12-point underdog), he'd have a good reason to retire. He'd be going out a winner (7-6) - because he is a winner as a man and a coach.

If he loses, well, THIS was supposed to be his big year. After Dec. 18 he's back in a building mode. He's got four untested quarterbacks for 2011. If he had a lot of confidence in one, as he did four years ago with Trevor Vittatoe, I don't think he'd keep mentioning the possibility of going after a JC quarterback, or even two.

Yes, I know that three supposed Vittatoe clones are no longer here, but that says something, too.

I just don't know why it's to Mike Price's benefit to stay in college coaching as he heads into his upper 60s and he's been National Coach of the Year - and he's got a great family ... and he's been one of those 365-days-a-year college coaches for 29 years now.

Recall 1993-99 coach Charlie Bailey didn't get the hook from UTEP, he got it from his wife.

If next year looked like a winner then I'd say Price would definitely be back, or plan to be back.

Now? You just can't make this call without it being just a guess.

UTEP-BYU only game on TV

Some are carping that bad bowl game matchups mean, Who's dumb enough to watch the thing? Not true. If there's a game on TV, it'll be watched. 1) It's bowl season. 2) Some football fans have no life.

And if it's the only game on ...

UTEP vs. BYU on Saturday Dec. 18 will be the only game going on, and the first of three "only-games-going-on" that day. ESPN has 'em all.

(ESPN, by the way, has 31 of the 35 bowls, 29 on ESPN, 1 on ESPN2 and one on ESPN-U.)

Some other bowl dates have more than one game going on at the same time. Examples are the Sun Bowl's Dec. 31 date and, of course, Jan. 1.

FIRST UP (all on ESPN)

UTEP (6-6) vs. BYU (6-6) in Albuquerque's New Mexico Bowl is the first bowl of the season, starting at noon on Saturday, Dec. 18. Good game? Eh, at least anywhere other than El Paso and the Salt Lake City area.

The next bowl, the Humanitarian (Boise, Idaho), doesn't start until 3:30 p.m.. Fresno State (8-4) plays Northern Illinois (10-3).  Eh.

The third bowl, at 7 p.m., is the New Orleans. Ohio University (8-4) plays Troy (7-5). Eh.

OTHER DAYS:

On Dec. 31:

The Sun is sandwiched between two other bowls, although the Sun's Notre Dame-Miami is by far the best "name" matchup of the three.

10 a.m.: Meineke Car Care (Charlotte, N.C.) ESPN: Clemson (6-6) vs. South Florida (7-5). Eh.

Noon: Hyundai Sun, CBS: Notre Dame (7-5) vs. Univ. of Miami (7-5).

1:30 p.m. Liberty (Memphis, Tenn.), ESPN: Georgia (6-6) vs. Central Florida (10-3). Eh.

On Jan. 1:

10 a.m., TicketCity Bowl (Dallas) ESPN-U:  Northwestern (7-7) vs. Texas Tech (7-5). Eh.

11 a.m.,  Outback (Tampa, Fla.) ABC: Florida (7-5) vs. Penn St. (7-5).

11 a.m., Capital One (Orlando, Fla.) ESPN: Alabama (9-3) vs. Michigan St. (11-1).

11:30 a.m. Gator (Jacksonville, Fla.) ESPN2: Michigan (7-5) vs. Mississippi St. (8-4). Eh.

Of ESPN's 31 games, 26 are the only games on in that time period this bowl season.

Now you know.

Bowl tickets, anyone?

Raise your hand if you're going to buy (as in layout money )New Mexico Bowl tickets for UTEP vs. BYU at noon Dec. 18 in Albuquerque. Fans here wanted their 6-6 Miners to play in a bowl, now tickets must be sold to help the school not take a financial bath on this move.

Don't say you have to stay home because UTEP plays Texas Tech here that night, or it's too close to Christmas.

Meanwhile, there remains a question about the payoff Conference USA will get for UTEP''s appearance. UTEP was to play in the $325,000 New Orleans Bowl, as per Conference USA's contract. But, instead, UTEP gets to play in the New Mexico Bowl, which has a much higher $750,000 payout.

We know a deal was cut with the WAC to swap bowls to set this up. And it really is a good move for UTEP. The Miners get to play near home, within driving distance. And the game is nationally televised on ESPN, which owns the New Mexico Bowl.

But bet that the WAC didn't agree to go to the lesser-paying bowl without a financial agreement with C-USA. Does the WAC get the New Mexico Bowl $750,000 and C-USA the New Orleans $350,000? Probably there's a happy middle-ground there.

It's odd a bowl gets to be certified with  a mere $325,000 payout in the first place. The minimum has/had been $750,000, and even that makes it tough for a football team, and its party, to make expenses.

Perhaps the city of New Orleans adds some other financial incentives? Like getting to stay in New Orleans, a definite tourist attraction? Maybe hotel discounts? Free crawfish pie and file gumbo?

The deal looks good for the Miners. Now they can opt for a bus trip to Albuquerque and save on the airline fees. A couple of team buses, a couple of equipment trucks. By the time you load and unload a football team at an airport, taking the bus from El Paso to Albuquerque is about as fast, anyway.

But here's the bottom line: If UTEP doesn't sell 10,000 tickets in El Paso, then the fans will have left their Miners down, and don't really care if the team goes to a bowl.

I'm sure a travel agency will set up charter buses for fans.

New Mexico Bowl best for Miners

UTEP's best financial bet for a bowl game is, obviously, the New Mexico Bowl.

BYU (6-6) has already accepted an invitation for the Dec. 18 ESPN game that has a $750,000 payout to each participant.

Since travel, lodging and food costs generally come out of the payout, UTEP (6-6) could save a lot of money by taking the bus to Albuquerque instead of having to fly to its other likely bowl option, the New Orleans Bowl (vs. Florida International). Most bowls also require the participating school to purchase a minimum number of tickets. What they don't sell, they eat.

Generally, the bowls pay the participant's conference - after expenses. Meanwhile, the conferences give their bowl teams expense limits. Anything over, the participant pays. That's why so many schools lose money at bowls. Sports Illustrated points out that Western Michigan lost more than $400,000 two years by going to the Texas Bowl.

UTEP could not only bus to Albuquerque, but could sell some tickets. BYU is one of UTEP's all-time rivals from back in the old-WAC days.

The down side is  UTEP would not be favored to beat BYU, and if the Miners lost, it would be their fifth losing season in a row. BYU opened with a home win over Washington, then went cold, but won four of its last five games. UTEP lost five of its last six.

That's why I continue to maintain there are way too many bowls - 35. There are not 70 schools that deserve a bowl berth, unless we subscribe to the youth sports poppycock that everybody is a winner, and everybody gets a trophy.

And since rules say a team must be at least .500, some bowls must scramble to get two participants. It looks like the Sun Bowl will be scrambling because it doesn't appear the Pac-10 will have a bowl-eligible team to play a contracted game vs. the ACC.