Sean Kugler will be the Head Coach at UTEP until the year 2020. His contract was extended, a commitment was made. It is Kugler Ball at UTEP. The powers that be at UTEP are happy with the direction of the program off of the field and have evidently made the decision that they will take whatever fan support they get. That may be a great topic for another time, the amount of difference fan support makes in their decision making, but not this time. I am more interested in wins and losses on the field, this time. My focus is on whether or not the football team can win football games. I expect them to pass their classes and keep from being arrested off the field. But, I am not thinking about their grades during a football game.
This season will be a brutal test for a team that has had trouble finding wins. Coach Kugler has preached power running football, based on smash mouth and not tricks. Line 'em up and believe that my guys can push the other guys backwards. Simple as it was when I was ten years old. Paired with a defense that can go flat-out on every play because the offense will keep them fresh. For the most part, his offense has done their job. The trouble has been the defense. Other teams score in the blink of an eye. On comes the UTEP Offense and they grind away. But, if the offense stalls and has to punt, because the defense can't keep another team from scoring, UTEP quickly falls behind. When that happens, they start passing, an aspect of the game they avoid usually and become desperately predictable. At that point, people get hurt and things get ugly.
So if we want to get a look at the future, the best place to look is at the defense. The saying goes that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing and expect different results, so maybe that is a quick place to look for answers. Things always change so it is a matter of how much and what kind if the Miners expect to win more than a child's handful of games. There are two parts to the defense. Coaching and players is our first breakdown of the defense.
Tom Mason is serving as the Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach. He has been around forever, well nearly 40 years of coaching. This will be his second year at UTEP. Last season he was the Linebackers Coach. I am going to say right up front that he knows defense enough to be the Defensive Coordinator. His knowledge and ability to coach should not be a question. UTEP's website says this; "Mason’s defense ranked third in C-USA in opponent first downs (22.1 per game) and ranked fifth in total defense (419.3 yards per game allowed)." We all know about lies, damned lies, and statistics. This is one. It picks two areas that look good, ignoring the other important statistics, and their reason for the two good stats given are really misleading. Opponents don't make one first down on a two play scoring drive and taking over on offense inside UTEP's 50 yard line and instantly scoring means the opponents can score 14 points /100 yards to our hope for 7 points per 100 yards. So, what we have to look for is a change in the ability to stop the quick scores.
There are pretty much two factors that account for the quick scores. One is ability to cover receivers by defensive backs and the other is the time the quarterback has to throw. Both have been a problem in the past few years. Or forever. So we perhaps should look at coaches and players there, and changes that might be reason to have hope.
Andrew Browning is the D-Line coach and has been for 5 seasons. I went back four years(because that is what the site allowed me to do easily) and looked at UTEP's ranking in Sacks and Tackles For Loss. In 2013/14 the Miners ranked 118th in Sacks and 121st in Tackles For Loss. Just about as bad as it gets. The next season he cut those horrible rankings just about in half, ranking 74th in Sacks and 64th in TFL. The 2015/16 season saw a slip back to 83rd in Sacks and 91st in TFL. The 2016/17 season saw a return to just horrible, ranking 117th in Sacks and 126 in Tackles For Loss!
I don't think you need to even look at the defensive backs. Who can cover when the defensive line is putting no pressure on the quarterback? The thing is, it is the d-backs that look like they can't cover when that happens. They give up huge plays. So, I am going to leave it right there for now. There has to be a reason for those changes in rankings under the same coach. That is where we will pick it up the next time.
