Author Topic: It has been about ten years  (Read 723 times)

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kyyote

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It has been about ten years
« on: September 27, 2020, 10:14:54 AM »
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  • Since I saw a Miners team play like that. Like a switch was turned on. It was fun to watch them play again. It was only one game but it was so unflukey looking that it actually gives me hope.

    Minermojo

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    Re: It has been about ten years
    « Reply #1 on: September 27, 2020, 11:21:20 AM »
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  • I think we have for sure two good players, the QB and Hankins. If the others played like they played Saturday we might have a few more wins. Who knows if there are still bowl games the Miners need only 3 more. Wow, I'd never thought I'd be saying that so early in the season. I don't know how the FCS wins tally into this but at least for US who haven't been subjected to a winning team we're flabbergasted.

    We'll know a little better when we play La Tech next week how good we really are.


    Chanson

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    Re: It has been about ten years
    « Reply #2 on: September 27, 2020, 04:11:49 PM »
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  • Our defense took a big turn compared to the TX game. Also, I was watching the game & saw a short bald guy on LMU. It was Scott Stoker. He was UTEPs DC in beginning Kuglar of Kuglar era. He was terrible then & didn't look very good yesterday.
      "He who has nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature & has no chance of being free unless kept so by better men than himself.

    SisyphusMiner

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    Re: It has been about ten years
    « Reply #3 on: September 28, 2020, 07:00:41 AM »
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  • UTEPDfense has a nice writeup on the other site.

    For the first time in a long time we looked like a football team .  One that has players that have actually played football before.

    I am slowly and cautiously thinking that it is possible that Dimel has a viable offense.  Maybe our problems were really primarily due to just awful QB  play.

    I like our D, in that we are able to make adjustments and make plays.  I don't know that we have CUSA caliber players, but I think this DC is getting everything he can out of what he has, and maybe more than we have a right to expect.

    I don't want to get too excited here because I think we are going to be outmanned by every team we play from here on out.  But this demonstrates progress.

    UTEPDefense

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    Re: It has been about ten years
    « Reply #4 on: September 28, 2020, 11:28:40 AM »
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  • In Spring Ball, Dimel was trying to get a QB Grad Transfer.  Even though a coach is supposed to always be improving his roster and Dimel was concerned about starting a season without a QB who had never started before, I think that Dimel not getting his Grad Transfer has turned out to be a major blessing for our program, since it has forced him to fully commit to Hardison.  Imagine if Dimel had brought in a Senior Grad Transfer QB and now Dimel was giving him a large portion of the QB snaps, the same way that he is currently giving the Senior Fields a large portion of the RB snaps. 

    In a worse case scenario, imagine how frustrating it could have been if today we were in a position that we would be asking for Hardison to get more snaps(behind our Grad Transfer), the same way that we are asking for Awatt to get more snaps(behind Fields).

    SisyphusMiner

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    Re: It has been about ten years
    « Reply #5 on: September 28, 2020, 12:26:28 PM »
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  • Question on the running backs:

    Awatt seems to be the 2nd most dynamic back we have.  But is the question a speed thing?  Hankins just runs over people, but he doesn't necessarily outrun them.  Is Fields just faster than Awatt?

    UTEPDefense

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    Re: It has been about ten years
    « Reply #6 on: September 28, 2020, 01:30:38 PM »
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  • I do think that Fields is partially the fan's scape goat for an overall running game that has struggled this year and has provided few holes.  Kinda like how a back-up QB is always the fans favorite when an offense is struggling.  Fields plays because he is dependable and doesn't fumble.  The staff has felt comfortable using him in our close games.

    But with all of this being said, Fields has never shown a D1 level of RB speed in any of his years here.  He has looked "quick" in only one game during his entire UTEP career(the HBU game last year).  He is solid and dependable, and while that has value, he is also not a game changer.  I personally believe that we sacrifice a couple of yards on almost every carry.  And adding 1 or 2 more yards on 15 carries a a game can really add up.   When we do create the rare opening for him, it turns into a decent first down run instead of 20 or 30 yard run.  His longest carry of the entire season is only 15 yards and he has only gained 152 yards on 47 carries this season, which is very poor.  We just aren't getting enough production out of his carries this season.  On the other side Awatt is just simply a bigger, faster, and better athlete.  He might not be as good as Fields in all of the areas outside of running the ball, but I feel like we really should be developing him faster than the current rate.