Congratulations To the Football Team

[kyyote]

You have so very much to be proud of. Coach Dimel has done what he promised he would do. I won?t lie. I doubted. I doubted everything. I don?t care how he managed it but I may have to call him the Wizard of EP.  The Miners have been given a heart. From that he gave them courage allowing them to play without fear. Finally he taught them to believe in themselves and their teammates. They lost a few games but they weren?t to the better team in all but a couple and are on track to become even better. Also, nothing breeds success like success. Players will want to be a part of the excitement. The bowl matchup is going to be critical.   There are teams I think we matchup well against and others not so much. Here?s the thing about that. A loss would be just another bowl loss but a step in the right direction. But a win would do the team so much good in so many ways and have El Paso on fire. They would be heroes and kings. 

[SisyphusMiner]

Well said.  This is a huge improvement, and we can see a better team next year.  I have griped about Hardison, but he's a sophomore.  Next year he'll be a junior. 

If we can cut the penalties, improve QB play a little, improve DB position a little, and turn special teams from a negative to at least neutral we will be quite good next year.

This year, I think maybe this team could beat any post-Stull team.  Maybe.  D is certainly the best since the Stull years.

[Chanson]

Dimel getting the Miners to a bowl is short of amazing. He managed to do it by beating lesser teams, but that is an improvement from the last decade.
I am still not convinced we are a good team yet, but a few of the pieces got them going in the right direction.
I think Dimel needs to pick the lesser of the Bowls to play in. Why?
1) Miners don't do well with equal or better opposition.
2) Because the Miners will have a better chance to win, if they do, it will be a great end to a hard fought year.
3) A win gets the confidence going for next year.
4) A loss doesn't help with recruiting, but a win will.
5) Better chance in breaking the Bowl loss streak. Dimel would get major brownie points if he can win.
Finding a team to play against with a weaker schedule might be hard, but Dimel needs to use this opportunity as a building block for the future.
Not sure if anyone else has thought about it.

[Minermojo]

Even thought the team gets flack for beating bad teams I can imagine how badly they would be thought of if they lost to them. You play the schools that are on your schedule. I am ecstatic that for a long time we finally have a winning team, and not just a bowl team but a team with 7 wins. Who when the season began can actually say that we would have 7 wins versus 5 loses? There were a few in those loses where we should have won. Some were lost by the coach (NTU) and some were lost by the defense (Ootsa) and some were lost by the offense (FAU) and the others were lost by special teams which are many fold (but they all special teams players share in the blame).

Still, I am glad for the Miner fans who stuck around even in some of our worst seasons. I also am so happy for the players that came and some that stuck around until the end. They have heart, all of them. None of them have ever given up even when some of us fans have.

With the anticipation that next year most of the players will either be juniors or seniors I can't wait for that. Ootsa will be good because of their coach but he failed to play younger guys and they will be so unproven because most of the team has graduated. With us it's just the opposite we have a bright future, and I'm hoping that coach gets a good QB in case Hardison gets hurt because Brownlow or whatever his name is doesn't have the capabilities but that's just my humble opinion and I hope we won't have to find out if he is good or not. He might get better with this year under his belt and that's an asset already. Oh, for sure get a good punt returner, one who isn't afraid of not catching it and let's it bounce to the 5 yard line instead.

Now, onto a bowl game and I hope for everyone's sake we can win one finally.

Gooooo Miners! Great season!