matchup vs UTSA

[SisyphusMiner]

This was posted on the other site and is a stats geek take.  I don't know if this guy knows anything about the two teams, his take seems to be just based on the stats, but he also captured the teams strengths and weaknesses pretty well I thought.  Really interesting to me

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1DXxyDkrkVkJM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1455595411763122176%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

[kyyote]

For the FAU game, the scoring offense for FAU was 28 and for the Miners it was 25 points.  The Miners' defense had been holding teams to an average of 12 points below predicted.  They didn't.  And then you can start laying blame-turnovers, for instance.  To me, I looked at the defense playing well enough to have done exactly as thought-they would have easily held FAU under their predicted 28 points.  And the Miners would have won. 

the predicted score is 33 21 SA.  If the Miners hold them to ten points below their predicted score it is down to 23.  The Miners average 25 points a game.  Miners win if there are no turnovers.  Miners win if the Miners turn it over but it doesn't cost us points.  One thing to remember-our fg kicker has been pretty good and the one he missed, a longer one, but it would have given us 28 points, a tie.

[Chanson]

I honestly think Miners will be exposed & may lose by more than 2 touchdowns. Sorry for being a Negative Nancy, but this team is good. Miners can't fix QB play, receivers, & play calling in 1 week. Beers on me of Miners win. I'm good for it.

[SisyphusMiner]

I went looking for stats to support my general sense that our offense gains yards but doesn't score.  Obviously with our eat the clock offense we aren't going to put crazy yards or points on the board, but are we good at scoring with the yards we get?

The answer is no we are not.  We are # 103 in scoring per yard gained.  There is a stat called Offensive FEI which is a scoring efficiency rating.  We are ranked 112.  We get a fair amount of yards on the long bombs, but can't turn that into points very well.

This, I think, is our biggest weakness.  Play calling?  Limitations of the offensive scheme?  Limitations of the players themselves?

[kyyote]

UTSA averages 4.3 ypr.  UTEP 3.88.  This goes to previous discussions regarding finding holes, and yards after contact.

Rushing Defense is he shocker.

1   Wisconsin   8   229   397   1.73   5   49.6 2   Georgia   8   245   605   2.47   2   75.6 3   UTSA   8   255   635   2.49   3   79.4 4   Alabama   8   250   697   2.79   7   87.1 5   Mississippi St.   8   212   715   3.37   4   89.4 6   San Diego St.   8   255   736   2.89   4   92.0 7   Army West Point   7   178   648   3.64   13   92.6 8   Minnesota   8   221   743   3.36   7   92.9 9   Oklahoma St.   8   264   759   2.88   8   94.9 10   Houston   8   276   769   2.79   8   96.1 11   UTEP           8   262   781   2.98   10   97.6

[SisyphusMiner]

Know what team has a worse Strength of Schedule than us according to ESPN power rankings?  UTSA

[Minermojo]

Know what team has a worse Strength of Schedule than us according to ESPN power rankings?  UTSA

I sure hope so because that means we have a chance in winning. Two so-so teams playing and one favored because they've won more against weaker opponents.

[SisyphusMiner]

Special teams is just awful.

[saminer]

Yup. Missed extra point, missed fg, offsides on a punt.

[Chanson]

Well...a few of us thought this might happen. That UTSA team has a hell of a QB. They exposed our Top 10 defense. I'm actually not mad. I expected a loss. The Miners still have time to have an OK season. I hope this 2 losses in a row gets under there skin.

[kyyote]

Well, damn!

Zman, I suggest carp. Thrown on the bank three days ago and ripened in the El Paso sun.

[Minermojo]

Well...a few of us thought this might happen. That UTSA team has a hell of a QB. They exposed our Top 10 defense. I'm actually not mad. I expected a loss. The Miners still have time to have an OK season. I hope this 2 losses in a row gets under there skin.

I was thinking the same thing this morning. I wish we had that QB to go with our great receiver, who may be out now, Cowing. I sure hope it's not serious he keeps us in the games with his catches. To think that he's only a sophomore and we have him for two more years is really nice.

Harris and his coach found our weak spot, the slant. Heck, and we never made any adjustments against it except one time. Every school now in our schedule will be trying it. That kicker stunk up the place until he didn't. I was very surprised to see him boot a 50 yard fg. To miss an extra point is unforgiveable and then the 39 yarder too. I think those two screwups kinda deflated the team.

One thing that stood out from what the announcers were saying was that mostly all of the Ootsa team is composed of seniors. It'll take a while for those underclassmen to reach the point where this seniors are right now and in contrast the Miners team is composed of mostly underclassmen and were still able to stay within a respectable score against those "men". I tell you if we had a QB with Harris' talent we would play lights out and would probably be where Ootsa is right now. Hardison is a so-so QB in my mind and needs a lot of learning if that's possible. He's inconsistent as heck and that's what irks me. Now, Hankins, don't get me started on him. He might be able to get better but I think he's too slow. Heck, some linebackers were able to keep up with his speed. Awatt has good and bad moments but is way better than Hankins.

We also need a play caller and we need to eliminate that stupid Wildcat. It amazes me that the coach can't see that it's not working and that opposing teams already KNOW what's coming. The stupidest mistake is trying to change the outcome of something that's been tried and hasn't worked and thinking this time it will.

With that game where homerism is king and thinking (not really) that the Miners might win I think we can win against Arroz and Tejas del Norte but have no chance against Uab in their home field. So we might end up with an 8-4 record which ain't bad at all. I'll take that.

[SisyphusMiner]

Pretty much agree with everything that Mojo said.

This is key "Harris and his coach found our weak spot"

They exposed EVERY weak spot.  This is not just them having better players.  They clearly analyzed film, identified our weaknesses, and put together a game plan to exploit them.

We are a decent, respectable team.  We beat lower teams that we should.  We get our asses handed to us by good teams.  We are still light years ahead of when Dimel took over, and our best players are younger.  We can finish 8-4 this year.  We should be as good or better than that next year.

[kyyote]

They were as good as their ranking indicated. We gave a valiant effort. Our players played hard and fought to the end. Their running back was that good and their quarterback was really good and his receivers were great. We are ok good and they?re good good. They would be a good matchup against BYU or Boise State. Maybe even Cincy.  Might beat them, too.
We are middle of the road in cusa.  Better than I could have imagined in that we didn?t out pillow fight our opponents. They were pillow fighting but we were actually playing football. No one on the UTEP team should feel bad. Sometimes you?re the windshield and sometimes you?re the bug.

[SisyphusMiner]

I just hope they come out with a major pissed attitude against UNT, especially the D.  Toying with going to the game, haven't decided yet.