Here I go again. I've got my orange tinted visor on and we are down to the last game of the regular season. This game is the perfect game for preparation for an upcoming bowl game. UAB is one of the top teams in C-USA and in them UAB represents the kind of strength UTEP might expect to see in UTEP's upcoming bowl game, and it involves leaving the friendly confines of the Sun Bowl.
Half Glasses
At 6 and 1 some felt like the level of competition left too many questions about results and what they meant. Some simply saw the glass with liquid in in. Others, saw more. Some saw the glass and liquid in the context of the surroundings, and saw the glass in the context of time and how it could be seen in that context. Some questioned the vision of others. That is our nature. We question and what doesn't fit we often dismiss, sometimes with prejudice as they say.
Then, there were three losses in a row and some saw the glasses again. They all saw them through their own eyes and some thought they had been confirmed and others didn't. Some may have change how they saw things. This part is important. Some saw the three losses as a reality check and more importantly perhaps as evidence that the team was a paper tiger. Some saw the three losses as victories in that they proved that the first six wins were not to be dismissed. When given opportunities to revert to past weaknesses, this team showed the exact opposite. This team showed their strength. They traveled east to play a tough FAU and should have won. They played a top ranked UTSA and was completely respectable. Then they butted heads with UNT and could easily have been the winner.
A few weeks back, Coach Dimel said the team just didn't score enough points to win, or something like that and I thought at the time it might signal a move to open things up just a little. He did. What had been enough to beat the earlier teams, the run, run, run, offense needed the pass to be added to put some more points up on the scoreboard. UNT's run defense was the test for the added passing game and while the Miners came up short, they now showed that if forced to pass they could. The team was becoming more complete.
As for being exposed these are from Oct 25th;
Total Offense
33 UTSA 446.3
41 Fla. Atlantic 438.3
47 FIU 433.8
56 North Texas 415.0
76 UTEP 387.3
121 Rice 309.7
Total Defense
15 UTEP 297.4
30 UAB 320.0
33 UTSA 323.9
62 Fla. Atlantic 376.2
103 North Texas 433.5
107 Rice 438.0
Time of Possession
8 UTEP 33
13 UAB 32
23 Rice 31
30 UTSA 31
71 North Texas 29
98 Fla. Atlantic 28
128 FIU 26
Scoring Off
13 UTSA 38.6
61 Fla. Atlantic 29.3
72 FIU 27.8
86 UAB 26.1
93 UTEP 24.9
106 North Texas 22.5
126 Rice 16
Scoring Def
21 UAB 19
22 UTSA 19.14
25 UTEP 19.29
54 Fla. Atlantic 23
115 North Texas 35
122 FIU 36.83
126 Rice 39.67
These are current;
Total Offense
70 UTEP 11 728 4393 6.03 31 399.4
Total Defense
32 UTEP 11 730 3745 5.13 29 31 340.5
TOP
14 UTEP 11 357 32
Scoring Offense
94 UTEP 11 32 29 2 0 16 2 277.00 25.2
Scoring Defense
45 UTEP 11 31 30 0 0 13 0 255.00 23.18
Did the last four games change things? Some. But, with one game left they hold up pretty well. UAB is favored by a dozen points. We will see. I don't see this team letting up. This team wants wins. UAB is in for the shock of their lives. Now, they will shake themselves into reality quick, but they will realize that this Miners team is different. UTEP has come light years ahead this season but UAB is used to winning and beating up on the Miners. My head knows that only a sucker would bet on the Miners to win outright. I did mention that I was wearing my visor, though, right? My head says 31 to 21 Blazers, but my heart feels like roasted dragon would probably taste like chicken and in Alabama that would be Southern Fried Chicken Dragon and a bucket sounds good to me right now, so I am going to say the Miners are hungry, too. 31 to 28 the Miners in a bar fight.
