Saturday brought no surprises, thus no pleasantries in Utepia, on a day both the football and basketball teams got wiped up.
The worst news is in football. Not only did visiting Tulsa win 57-28, but it doesn't look like UTEP will have a winning season - after five straight losers (but, hey, it's not 1-10 anymore). The Miners are 5-6 with one game to play.
The not-to-bad news is the UTEP Freshman Team lost to New Mexico State's Varsity Team 89-73 in Las Cruces. Look for more poleaxed UTEP basketball teams this year. Remember, this is the season the present Miners are simply auditioning to be able to remain on next year's team when second-year Coach Tim Floyd's recuiting is supposed to take effect.
Football, 5-6 with a game at Central Florida Friday, is looking bad. It's injuries (and continued terrible tackling). It's not that Tulsa won by so much, but more so that there's a good chance the Miners will again play sans starting quarterback Nick Lamaison (groin) and place-kicker Dakota Warren (his groin, too). There's no backup QB, really. And UTEP missed 2 PATs and a 37-yard FG sans Warren.
Neither Lamiason nor Warren suited up against Tulsa. And how can either be expected to be in form by Friday. Looking bad for that win and that 6-6 finish - which would mean bowl eligible.
Basketball? NMSU is big and seasoned. A four-point NMSU halftime lead quickly turned into a 22-point lead before midway into the second half. This is going to be a season when a lot is done on the practice court. UTEP doesn't have a varsity; it started four freshmen at NMSU. In fact, UTEP has no seniors or juniors on the court right now.
Rack up Saturday as not surprising, not disappointing, either. It's how it is in Utepia.
It is looking bleak for the Miners. They really need to get healthy quick. The only positive for the Miners today was that UCF lost and are now out of the running for bowl eligibility. So will they be playing mad next week or will they have no interest in being out on the field? Here's hoping it's the latter.
With ECU beating UCF and Marshall barely beating Memphis, the two meet up next week to see which team ends up bowl eligible.
Posted by: LC Ray | November 19, 2011 at 10:01 PM
Way to beat the whiners!
Go Aggies!
Posted by: jefe | November 20, 2011 at 06:29 AM
Football: Tulsa was a bit more talented, deeper, with fewer injuries to contend with. The point spread was a surprise, but the outcome wasn't necessarily.
Basketball: The Aggies have more talent/depth, experience, and are more physical/larger. The point spread, to UTEP's credit, wasn't as bad as it could have been given the disparity above. The Miners played the entire game and that was good to see.
One of the Aggie fans was telling me about a guy named Beri(sp?) who is being held out for the first 6 games. He said the player was a top 20 player out of high school and was supposedly going to be the best forward they have...kind of scary considering McKiness is a forward and is leading that team in scoring and rebounding.
Posted by: The watcher | November 20, 2011 at 10:03 AM
Yes, that player is 7'5" and weighs about 360ibs (name is Bhullar). He is literally a giant. Not sure if he can run and jump but he will certainly clog the paint when he is in there.
BTY, the aggies shouldn't take these wins for granted because any domination over the Miners is short lived.
Posted by: David | November 20, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Get over yourself. Utep is a joke in football and basketball. This shouldnt be a surprise =)
Posted by: LABruins@hotmail.com | November 20, 2011 at 03:23 PM
Watcher, David,
Those are two different Aggie players your talking about.
Berri is a 6'6" French kid that can light it up from anywhere on the court and we can't wait till we get him back. He's going to help us a ton when make a run in the NCAA!
Bhular is the 7'5 Canadian. I doubt the NCAA clearing house will let him play this year and yes, for a man his size, he can move rather well.
Good thing we have two other 7 footers (well, 6'11") players on the team.
Posted by: Aggietude | November 20, 2011 at 05:46 PM
The Miners looked small against the Aggies, with the Aggies being burlier in most cases. The Miners were a little quicker at the guard positions but not so at the others.
The Miners looked confused at first, seemingly expecting NMSU to hammer inside instead of bombing from outside. We couldn't cover when the Aggies played the inside-outside game, and we couldn't rebound against the more physical squad from Las Cruces.
Lots of hustle on the floor for both teams. UTEP showed potential, which is what you would expect of a Floyd team that is freshman dominated. NMSU looks pretty good for this early in the season.
I predict that both teams are going to do well in their prospective conference battles.
Posted by: Dayton Flyer | November 21, 2011 at 02:30 PM
This is just part of the ebbs and flows of a rivalry. UTEP is young and needs some work, while the Aggies are more experienced and complete. I think UTEP is too athletic to repeat their 2002-2003 season, but they will struggle at times.
I expect the series to be very competive the next few years with these young Miners getting some experience and Aggies like Kabongo, Nephawe, to go along with newcomers Mullings, Bari, Bhullar, and Ross-Miller. Good times ahead for the rivalry!
Posted by: SM | November 21, 2011 at 02:49 PM
Typical UTEP fans, Aggies were young the past two years, why was that never mentioned when UTEP won?
Posted by: Ag4Life | November 21, 2011 at 08:23 PM
Ag4life,
The Aggies weren't young last year as they had a fair number of juniors and seniors; they had to play with Freshman because McKines was out for the year and Gillenwater was out for the non conference games. About half way through the non conference schedule, Rahman the center, had some kind of leg injury that kept him out a lot of games, and when he came back he couldn't jump. With their best players missing, the Aggies were forced to go with three freshman, a senior, and a sophomore for a lot of the season. That hurt them last year, but benefits them this year as Kabongo, Napahwe, Watson, and Sy got serious playing time. NMSU ended up with experienced sophomores and juniors this year.
What is nice for NMSU, and is what Coach Floyd is building, is the balance in the classes. NMSU has three seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and five freshman this year in what looks like a pretty good team going forward. The Miners have a good nucleus of very young players. And it sounds like the Miner coach is bringing in some top notch talent to boot.
So, no excuses for the Miners. They might have some rough road this year, but next they'll be much improved.
Posted by: a fan of the game | November 21, 2011 at 11:11 PM
Explain to me how UTEP has only played 5 games so far this year and most other schools in the nation have played 8-9 or 10 and some 11 games. How can they get better without competition. How can they even seek post season with a minimal # of games for a decent W-L record?
Posted by: JAY BUTLER | December 10, 2011 at 12:56 PM