UTEP Football has been in the darkness for awhile, but from my home on the west side of the Franklins, I can see rays of orange light beginning to peak over the mountains. UTEP has a new Head Coach, Dana Dimel and it appears that his offensive coordinator will be Mike Canales. I am going to take a purposefully positive look at the team and the prospects for next season.
Kugler used to say that we were just a few missed passes away from success, usually dropped. He always claimed to be balanced, and the stats usually bore that out. We almost always won the time of possession. So, from what I have read, he truly is the perfect fit. This is his kind of football. Like Kugler, he believes in grinding it out on the ground and winning the time of possession battle. It seems that we can expect to see an offense that is a running team, much of that coming from the quarterback position by design. But I would expect to see the defense stretched downfield, and with that I believe we can expect the wide receiver spot to be recruited looking for speed. The offense will be much more creative in how they run. Kugler was a brute force kind of guy. Like Dr. D said though, we have to do more with less. So, the running game will be from different angles than from what we had seen. By the way, I expect that we will perhaps see a JC quarterback come in to run the offense. The Big 12 circles he has been running in should give him a leg up on the competition, perhaps. I once visited with a very good UTEP tight end that had graduated and was working in the weight room. He told me that he had been in the weight room while someone like Arizona State had come in and had seen all of their numbers of measurable power, speed, weight, and all of that and was shocked to see that UTEP’s player’s numbers were better. I know that Kugler can coach offensive linemen, so I am going to believe that if the play calling had done anything to keep the defense from stacking the box against the run, the offensive line would have shone itself much better. So, on the whole I believe that the new regime will bring in enough creativity to get back to putting up 35 points a game and holding onto the ball for about that much in minutes or more.
The key will be the defense, as it always has been. We have never been able to stop anyone from putting up points! Mike Price was able to outscore them for awhile. Kugler basically figured if the other team never touched the ball you could limit the damage the defense could do. He was wrong. The new coaches feel pretty much the same way, and in theory it is true. The trick is keeping the other team from being able to score at will whenever they touch the ball, and two, not stalling on long, time-consuming drives without scoring any points. I believe the new staff will make serious progress on the scoring part. We will have to see as for the defensive side. I will say that the play I saw from the defense at the end was spirited and fought like Hell in spite of the offense’s lack of help. So perhaps the changes on the offensive side of the ball will give the defensive side the help they need. That and a few defensive linemen that can pressure the opposing quarterback. Actually, if the offense can hold up their end of the bargain, I think the defense could have a chance. This is probably what interests me most. Will Dimel be able to simply do some tuning up of what we already have and were trying to do.
The team will play their first game on September first against Northern Arizona, and NA will be much more of a test than you might think. They can rack up the yards offensively. So, we should be able to see what the Miners offense is doing in a game that doesn’t just crush them and keep them from even seeing how it works. If that is the case, it should also telling us quite a bit more about the defense. If the offense is rumbling along, can the defense do theirs?
So, I have put my orange lenses back on and will be back to hoping and praying that we can win. I am already hoping that a few changes, not giant ones, will be all that is needed to right the ship. After all, wouldn’t it be lovely if Coach Dimel could actually turn our great kids, hard-working and highly achieving students in the classroom, into winners on the field in their own home town. We could all be so very proud of that, and the people of El Paso care more about their kids maybe than anyone. There is a reason why this city is such a great place to raise children. So, here is a real welcome to Coach Dimel and a heartfelt best of luck and you have my support. Please make us proud on the field.