Tag: Miners

As a public service, I am posting some of the information I find regarding UTEP Miners football and the Preseason Prediction Challenge (read more here) http://www.kyyotesden.com/preseaon-prediction-challenge-championship/ and enter here http://kyyotesden.com/den/index.php?topic=5.0 to better prepare you for the Challenge.  We have talked before about lies, damned lies, and statistics so each of us can use the information as they see fit.

This time I looked at offense.  In particular, I looked at three areas, total offense, passing offense and scoring offense all over the past 4 seasons.  Some of you will immediately notice the missing rushing offense.  So, let me tell you why I chose the areas I did.  Total offense tells me how steady Kugler’s offense has been overall.  The scoring offense is where the rubber meets the road. The passing offense will tell me if the passing has changed much as I believe the passing offense is a key factor.  It tells me the rushing offense at the same time, but I already know Kugler is going to run on every down he can.

Let’s start with total offense.  The Miners have been amazingly consistent in this area over he past 4 years.  In the 2013-14 season the Miners averaged 347.9 yards a game, ranking them 103rd in the nation.  The next two seasons saw the team ranked 105 and 107 giving up 350.7 and 342.3 respectively. Last year UTEP battled back up to the 102nd ranked spot. But, as we saw when looking at the defensive side in my prior analysis, it isn’t how many yards that determines wins and losses.

The passing offense is  a bit of a mixed bag once you get past the fact that it is ranked very much toward the low end of yards per game average and yards per pass.  This is no surprise to Miners fans familiar with Kuglers offensive philosophy. In the 13-14 season UTEP was ranked 110.  The next year it changed to 118. The 2015-16 season saw it change somewhat dramatically to 94th ranked, 24 point difference.  The 2016-17 season saw the team return to the triple digits with a ranking of 103.  Now, I want to point out that this area also has little to do win wins and losses.  A team could certainly win every game without ever completing a forward pass-in theory.

So, here comes what I said is where the rubber meets the road.  It doesn’t determine wins and losses, either, but it may get a little closer.  I have to say that scoring offense is where we might get some clues. The 2013 campaign ranked the Miners scoring offense at 101., scoring 21.8 points a game. The next season it moved to 81 scoring 26.6 points per game.  The 2015=16 season saw it move right back the other way to a 112th ranking, scoring 20.7 points per game.  The, last season it was back 82nd rank, scoring 26.3 points a game.  Keep in mind that when you look at wins and losses, this doesn’t guarantee anything. What it does tell me is that during the past four seasons the scoring offense is perhaps the most subject to change.  For what it is worth.

So, there you have just a touch more information to help you as you think about the upcoming football season.

 

Ask yourself, what is a rival.  I think, if you get down to it, it is a competitor with an emotional connection. There are competitors who compete against each other without a thought about it other than winning, losing, technique, form and such.  They may not have ever met the competition before.  They are rivals in a seemingly distant way. There are one-sided rivalries in which one team regularly beats the other and the records are lopsided.  In these, the competitive event may mean little more than an opportunity for the two emotional sides to meet in battle.  Often, there is a regional component to these rivalries. Then there are rivalries that are competition based.  Rivalries can spring up overnight or they can grow slowly over decades.  Rivalries can sometimes develop around other things first and then be seen in competition and vice versa. The competition between El Paso and San Antonio is a whole lot older than football.  But, when UTEP and UTSA met of the football field it all had a focal point in competition.  So, here is my assignment for you to contemplate.  List in order and give your reasons why for your Top Three UTEP Miners rivals.  Post your list here on the Den message board http://kyyotesden.com/den/index.php?board=1.0 .