I will say that UTEP has definitely closed the gap between us and the top teams in the conference. FAU has won 2 of the last 4 CUSA championships and they are currently tied for first place in the eastern division. While we were probably lucky that it ended up only a 3 point game, I don't think there is really any doubt that the teams were no more than probably 7-10 points apart. That is close enough, to where if you play that game at home or just have 2 or 3 plays go differently, then you can win. That is a major improvement for UTEP over the past few years.
The way that our roster is built, we are basically a year ahead. Essentially we are currently in the same position that UTSA was last year. If...and it is a big "if", we can bring back everyone who is eligible to come back, then next year could be a very legitimate year for us. Not saying we would have a UTSA type of year next year, but we could legitimately be amongst the top of the conference and belong there.
