C-USA Watch

[kyyote]

FIU eked out a win against Bryant and Charlotte got beat up by William and Mary which doesn't seem fair.  Mary against Charlotte is a girl fight but when William jumps in its a gang beat down.  Western Kentucky beat the Peay out of Austin.  Within the conference, UNT beat UTEP and FAU whipped Charlotte so she was already feeling bad before Bill and Mary stomped her ass.  UAB showed that they will be the team to beat by drubbing Bama A&M 59 zip.  LA Tech fought a good fight versus SEC Mizzou.

Today, UTEP at #9 OU.
#24 Houston vs UTSA
Rice @ #14 USC
FAU @ Ohio
Middle Tenn takes on James Madison in the JMU's first FBS game for the former FCS powerhouse.
SMU goes to Denton and UNT
Western Kentucky travels to the other side of the world to play Hawaii.

Remember that the conference is really on the line in these games setting the tone for next season.

I wish I was in Vegas. I would put $20 on the Miners. Maybe better odds than the lottery.

[Minermojo]

The UTEP-Okie game is on channel 14 at 1:30 p.m. Watch it only if your heart is in good shape and the kids/grandkids aren't around to hear the curse words.

[kyyote]

I'm old, and subject to daydreaming, but what if UTEP shocked OU?  OU lost their head coach and starting quarterback and others I think to USC.  Maybe they haven't quite gotten over the shock.  What if they had a chink that made them susceptible to big holes for bruiser backs to rumble, giving Hardison the openings to bomb away and we just played a really good game catching OU a little unsettled and then panicking?

El Paso would erupt and tonight would be a city-wide party!

[kyyote]

Week 1

Austin Peay @ Western Kentucky   WKU 38, APSU 27
Charlotte @ Florida Atlantic   FAU 43, CLT 13
North Texas @ UTEP   UNT 31, UTEP 13
Bryant @ Florida International   FIU 38, BRY 37 (OT)
Alabama A&M @ UAB   UAB 59, AAMU 0
William & Mary @ Charlotte   W&M 41, CLT 24
UTEP @ 9 Oklahoma OU 45, UTEP 13
Rice @ 14 USC   USC 66, RICE 14
24 Houston @ UTSA   HOU 37, UTSA 35 (3OT)
Florida Atlantic @ Ohio   OHIO 41, FAU 38
Middle Tennessee @ James Madison   JMU 44, MTSU 7
SMU @ North Texas   SMU 48, UNT 10
Western Kentucky @ Hawai'i   WKU 49, HAW 17

[kyyote]

9/17 2:50

23-20 UNLV over UNT at the half  58-27 UNLV

UAB 21-7 over GA Southern 6 minutes left in 2nd quarter

Char @ GA ST

TN ST  MTU

UCF  @  FAU

LA  @  Rice

LA T  @  5 CLemson

UTSA  @  21 UT

UTEP  @  UNM

[SisyphusMiner]

MTSU beating Miami right now

[kyyote]

It was a pretty good week for C-USA.  The Miners big upset of Boise State probably topped the list of unexpected wins.  But MTSU bating #25 Miami @ Miami will be the big one.

UTEP beat Boise of the MWC
MTSU beat Miami ACC
Western Kentucy assaulted and left FIU in a coma 73-0 conference
UNT lost to Memphis  AAC
UTSA beat Texas Southern  SWAC
Rice lost a close game to Houston  AAC
LA Tech lost to South Alabama Sun Belt
Charlotte lost to South Carolina  SEC
FAU lost a close one to Purdue Big10

[SisyphusMiner]

On paper, and given last week, we should have the EXPECTATION of beating La Tech, Charlotte, and FIU.

Win those plus one of FAU, Rice, UTSA, MTSU and we make a bowl.


The more I think about it, the more I am thinking that coaches and players alike were not taking UNT or the NM schools seriously enough to prepare properly and come in with the right mental attitude. It happens with 20 year old kids.  It shouldn't happen with 50+ year old coaches.

Basing this on performing well against OU and BSU and not the others.

[kyyote]

MT is playing very good football. Utsa and FAU are playing well and even Rice has figured out that the pass is ok sometimes. If the smart UTEP plays those teams they could win all of them. But if the dumb UTEP plays them they could lose all of them. It is very strange that it is so apparent that the Jessie?s and Joes are good enough to win and coaching decisions are having an enormous impact on the outcome of games. Unt was winable as was unm. Easily. Sis, you have to watch the whole game. It was like the players had been unleashed and with each play they gained confidence and energy.

[SisyphusMiner]

Having watched nearly all of it on that weird edited version that cuts out scoring, I agree.

This is the D line we saw last year but older.  This is the O line we've been hoping for.   So what happened?

Coaching didn't suddenly teach them how to play their positions.  The previous games they looked like they were not playing with fire in the belly.  This time they did. 

Was it the all-players meeting?  Was the D mentally tired of bailing out the O?  Was the O tired of crappy play calling?  Whatever, if they can maintain that bully attitude they can win games.  When I'm watching a game, IMO one of the main indicators early on in each half of how things are going to is who is winning the line of scrimmage.

If your O line can get a push you can get 3+ yards each carry and that really opens up your playbook and puts the D on their heels.  If your D line can get a push you don't have to blitz as much to disrupt the opposing O.

I have no problem with smashmouth ugly football.  What we were watching before was more like a silly sissy slapfight.

[kyyote]

Pounding the football up the other team's ass ain't ugly.  It is brutal but it isn't ugly.  Tyson and Duran weren't fighting ugly fights.  The brutality, and destruction of the opponents physically and mentally was a beautiful thing to watch.  Beating up on Boise was so much more satisfying than landing a few more shots than them in a fight.  This was say Uncle, bitch.  Having watched our team say Uncle for ever it was nice, no, more than nice, to make Boise say it.  Ugly is running blindly into brick walls instead of opening the gate and going through.  It has for years been the stupid play that was maddening.  Losing is no fun and we are used to that, but stupid you can't get used to.  It was not being stupid that was so refreshing about this game.

I don't know what happened, but this was a completely different team with the exact same players.  Night and day different!  Again, that is what makes UTEP football so maddening.   

[MinerInWisconsin]

The O-line was great. They had their way with BSU D-line all night. Starting out the offense had a 3 and out series and then the shanked punt gave BSU possesion in UTEP territory on their 1st series. I was thinking, oh crap, this is going to be bad. But then the defense held them to a field goal and I thought, you know what, UTEP's D came to play. The Miners might just be ok. Man, they were a lot more than just ok.

It still pisses me off that our coaching staff didn't have this team ready to go when the season started. Out guys could easily have been 4-1 right now with 3 crowds of over 40k. Instead here we are at 2-3 and averaging 26,800 per game. If UTEP wins the next 2 then we should have a very good crowd for FAU.

[kyyote]

UTEP's offense on the first possession looked like Dimel had gone with the run at bricks plan like he did with the Lobos.  That made me wonder if we were going to continue the brick breaking or start mad bombing on the second possession.  It was neither.  We kept pounding and mixed in just enough surprises to keep them honest, and honest Boise was not as strong as honest UTEP.  UTEP just started outmuscling Boise on both sides of the ball.  I still believe that the Hardison runs were backbreakers.

You are right about the other games.  The Boise Miners could have dominated UNT and the Lobos should have been speed bumps.  All with the same players.

Reading Dimel's press conference I had hoped to get an answer to why we were a different team.  Interesting read. 

https://utepminers.com/news/2022/9/26/utep-weekly-football-press-conference-transcript-sept-26.aspx

[MinerInWisconsin]

I forgot to mention Hardison's performance.  The best at running this offense for a whole game that I can remember. It's obvious he can sling the ball a long ways and he can hit tough throws too. As long as he isn't just chucking bombs he is efficient. And he made good decisions of when to throw and when to use his legs. I was impressed. If he and the team can play to the Boise game level the rest of the season they should make a bowl and possibly challenge for the conference title. Wouldn't that be something after the crappy start to the season.

[SisyphusMiner]

Reading Dimel's press conference I had hoped to get an answer to why we were a different team.  Interesting read. 

https://utepminers.com/news/2022/9/26/utep-weekly-football-press-conference-transcript-sept-26.aspx

OK here's my stab at translating coach speak and reading between the lines:

"Last year we couldn't run block and our RBs dropped the ball a lot.  Gavin couldn't or wouldn't run and was really inconsistent in the short game but has a cannon for an arm and we had Cowing.  So the only thing we could do with any consistency was the long ball to Cowing.

This year we started out and we couldn't run block and Gavin couldn't or wouldn't run and was really inconsistent in the short game so we sold out to the long ball against UNM.  And it was a shitshow.

So we regrouped and said we have to find a way to run the ball.  We got someone to call a team only meeting and challenge everyone to come out with their hair on fire.  And thank God it worked.   So now we have to try to figure out how to get them to play with that fire all year."


So that's what I think he's saying, and it kinda sorta makes sense.  Even given that perspective however, only a lunatic would believe that the UNM game plan was a good idea.   And why in the heck hasn't any of the coaches been able to get the O line to play like bullies instead of sissies this whole time up until now?

I'm still very worried that the new Gavin was a one-off and we'll be back to the old Gavin throwing an 8 yard pass at 150 mph and 3 yards over the WR's head.  Even in this game there were some spectacular catches of some awful throws.

To MiW's point, there are three games we have no excuse to lose, which would put as at 5 wins.  Then pick up one more win somewhere and they squeak into bowl eligibility.  Hope they haven't dug themselves too deep a hole.