UTEP Undefeated and In Sole Possession of First Place in C-USA

[kyyote]

Humor me.  I just wanted to be able to put that in a subject line.  But seriously, Hardison 249 yards passing and 11 of 16, before Dimel took his foot completely off of the pedal.

[Minermojo]

Dimly really did take his foot off the pedal. He had to go and remind us of how we used to employ our offense in the olden days when we hardly passed the ball...you know the ol' one yard and a cloud of artificial grass that both coaches Kugs and Dimly were employing. I really hated to be reminded of that.

One thing I did notice is that Hardison is way better than Bronhortz in every way. The only time Hardi messed up was when he threw the ball away into the air and hoped that the Miner who was surrounded by two defensemen would catch it but they intercepted it. That was a stupid play and should have taken the penalty instead of giving the ball to the Ugglies.

I was fairly impressed with the new Miners. They weren't intimidated by having a three game losing streak to the Ugglies. As the stupid cliche goes, "they came to play". That Cowling kid has great hands, he reminded me a little of Lee Mays.

What happened to Hankins? I heard from a friend that they took him out in a cart. I hope that he'll be alright but I still think Wadly is heads above him in talent. That's the guy I hope we never lose to injury.

[SisyphusMiner]

I think Awatt might be our best back

[Alaska Miner]

I think Awatt might be our best back

Agreed. But I am excited about Hankins.

[Colominer]

Ky, just looked at my sportsbook app and saw UTEP is +10,000 to win the conference. Should be a sweet payday for you.

[SisyphusMiner]

I have posted before that to me it looks like Dimel has been upgrading our talent level.  It has been a very very long time since we dominated NMSU -- who admittedly is just awful.  Last year I felt that our personnel was on par with a couple CUSA opponents, but coaching cost us those games.  Of course last year was weird.

Our schedule is as favorable as it could possibly be.  If we are upgraded enough that coaching doesn't cost us 2-3 winnable conference games, maybe we can have a shot at bowl eligibility.  we should open up 4-1.  There are a couple more theoretically winnable games on the schedule.

We have an acceptable QB for the first time in a long time.  We have good RBs, a decent line, and a couple good receivers.

Defensively, I think our secondary is pretty weak, but our D line is good.  If the refs had called some of the holds it would have gotten ugly for NMSU.  It looks to me like our secondary has been told if they get beat to just take the PI penalty.  We will make them beat us one pass interference call at a time.

I do feel like I might be oK with Dimel if someone else called the plays.

[kyyote]

The last game showed a team that looked normal just beating the Hell out of another very inferior team. What I mean by that is that there was a mix of passing and running that was appropriate in both length of pass and timing of it. This team didn?t come out like an armadillo. It came out looking for some low-rent baby-shaking Aggie to punish for being, well an Aggie. I have already figured in to the equation that this was against the ags and that is huge. But the plays came from the Miners and we didn?t just show up. The field was littered with the empty cans of whoop ass Miners had opened on some dirt eating Poke.  I haven?t seen that since Price. The team came out like their right hand had been untied from behind their back. Finally we get to use both hands. This is so much more fun and inspiring if you are a player. If, and that?s a big if, that reflects a change as it appears to  the years of fighting with one hand behind their back may have made them a vicious monster with the one hand and now the other one makes both the left and the right more dangerous. Dimel may have actually created a monster(cusa sized of course) but a bit of a bully with a serious chip on his shoulder. The thing is that their were a bunch of punks picking on the one handed guy for the past few years and now he got his hand untied it?s time to even the score and by even I don?t mean equal it up. I means there is and are vicious scores needing to be settled. Offenses need to be avenged. Blood needs to be letted. Scrawny birds to be plucked. Green ones to be demeaned. Owls to be poked in their blinking eyes.  And nothing would be better than to bully up on some Southern golden fried eagle. Yessir I think we could have us our own little monster.
If that is the case I will publicly apologize. Gladly.

[SisyphusMiner]

Man, I am cautiously optimistic of seeing incremental improvement.  You, my friend, have been guzzling orange sunshine.

[kyyote]

Dude, I have had a UTEP message board for nearly twenty years. I piss and moan and bitch and cuss!  But this is my school and I really do owe it as much as I love it. But UTEP football does things to a man. I have learned to, what was it that Bill did, ah compartmentalize. I put what could happen in one compartment and reality in the other. Then, after the game is played I am never surprised except when it is a good surprise. Like if I am right in my prediction wouldn?t it be cool. But if I am wrong I have that compartment that is now a rented storage space.
By the way, I am wrong about being in first place since it wasn?t a conference game. So let me correct that by saying that UTEP is in the top teams in the number of wins in the entire country. And they have the opportunity to hold that position for two weeks in a row.

[SisyphusMiner]

Well, we remain undefeated.

Early morning observations:

BC is much better than NMSU.  We could have dominated them, instead Dimel decided to play his 5th string RB on the opening downs of the 3Q, he whiffs his blocking assignment, and the result is a fumble and subsequent 10-7.  Lucky we just lost the football and not our QB.  Dimel continues to play weird all 3Q and we let BC hang around.  How many damn Wildcats did we run 3Q?  Why in the hell can't he open up a 20+ point lead and THEN put in the 4th and 5th string. 

We are really deep at RB.  We have one marginally acceptable QB.  WRs are also OK but not stellar.  OL OK except for the penalties.  DL pretty decent.  Our DBs are just awful.  I mean really bad.  We are gonna get torched deep night after night.

Dimel's teams can't stop shooting themselves in the foot with penalties.  It's just another Dimel thing.

We should beat UNM and ODU.  We have a chance with So Miss, La Tech, Rice.  I wouldn't bet money on any of those  If Hardison goes down we are in deep doodoo.

[Chanson]

I like what I see, am also cautiously optimistic.
Good
O-line, D-line, RB, & Special Teams.
Bad
D-secondary & Play calling(still)
Ugly
Fouls
OK
QB & Receivers

Looking deeper into the program, I think UTEP has the talent to win 10 games. If they can improve on the Uglies. I was also disappointed in our defense in late 3rd & all of 4th. I get BC had fantastic Tight Ends & an OK running game, but you don't just give up even if the chances of opposition coming back are slim.
UTEP will give Boise St a good run, but will not win if the Uglies are not fixed. Our identity is the run. I freaking love it, however all schools are going to study tape & cram the box. Play calling must be versatile. Then there is the Secondary. They were caught behind more than grandparents trying to keep up with toddlers. Teams that like to let it fly are going to have record games if the DC doesn't do something quickly.
To finish, I think the foul portion is an easier fix than the secondary issue.

[kyyote]

I see it a bit differently. I still think that Dimel is holding back. He has started the first game finding out what he had.  The second game was more of the same but in the first game he was taking his foot off of the gas. This time it was that and getting experience for especially those positions that are weak.
Play calling. I see a whole different mix and use of the damned forward pass that has been missing. We have an attack mode that is finally two fisted. Dimel went back to running the football when we were in good shape and to run the clock. Without the last mistake and touchdown it looks exactly like it was. A rout.

Summary

We have a team that has strength and offensive balance that even more importantly is being used appropriately.
Dimel is an old pro and takes his foot off we he sees what he needs to see. Also a classy move. I like that. Given a chance to be an asshole and maybe even taking some pressure off of himself he chose class. Says a lot.

Defense is fairly solid but yes, I think we still will be vulnerable to the mi to deep pass.
All of this has been done against less than top level competition but before taking his foot off of the gas the team looked in total control.

I think Boise will be surprised at the fight. We aren?t defenseless and we have actually learned to throw punches with both hands. Not saying we?re badasses but by golly we can punch you in the gut like a two by four and damned crazy all of a sudden we will knock the dog shit out of you with a left hook.

I know. I am seeing orange.

[Chanson]

Then I guess we do see it different in regards to play calling. However, I will change my tune if I see at least 30% play calling changes. I called the plays 90% of the time last night. 

[kyyote]

Since the topic is standings and rankings, I thought I would list these, also while I can;

PASSING YARDS
Through games September 4, 2021
1   Nick Starkel   San Jose St.   702
2   Jake Haener   Fresno St.   629
3   Chevan Cordeiro   Hawaii   525
4   Adrian Martinez   Nebraska   486
5   Gavin Hardison   UTEP   431
6   Bailey Zappe   Western Ky.   424
7   Jonah Johnson   New Mexico St.   416
8   Artur Sitkowski   Illinois   390
-   Dorian Thompson-Robinson   UCLA   390
10   Will Rogers   Mississippi St.   370
RUSHING YARDS
Through games September 4, 2021
1   Kenneth Walker III   Michigan St.   264
2   Mataeo Durant   Duke   255
3   DeAndre Torrey   North Texas   244
4   Zach Charbonnet   UCLA   223
5   Brandon Thomas   Memphis   217
6   Tyler Badie   Missouri   203
7   Ronald Awatt   UTEP   200
8   Sean Tucker   Syracuse   181
9   Charles Williams   UNLV   177
10   Brittain Brown   UCLA   174

TOTAL OFFENSE
39   UTEP   2   136   921   6.77   8   460.5

Total Defense
28   UTEP   2   115   524   4.56   4   4   262.0


Time of Possession
25   UTEP   2   68   34

I know.  I know.

It still looks really cool.  BSU is a 27 point favorite Friday.  Stats and rankings will be changed.

[SisyphusMiner]

I agree that we are seeing a much more balanced attack from Dimel, until he shuts down the offense.  I mainly disagree with shutting it down early in 3Q or only up 10.  You shut it down when up 4 touchdowns or in the 4th Q.

I don't want to bash Hardison, but I think he's just average.  I feel like the best we can say about him is he probably won't cost us any games.  I think with a Hegarty, Garza, Perez, Palmer, we'd be really dynamic.  Especially if we had a Mays or Higgins to receive it.