| #130 UTEP Miners |
| #14 in Conference USA |
I truly can’t believe we are here again, but yes. After discussing last year the unprecedented second consecutive appearance at the bottom of the list for the Miners, here we are for a third consecutive time. That’s typically because the worst teams tend to hedge young, and are replaced at the bottom by some school, usually with an extremely hot seat coach, who didn’t go young, tried to get to a bowl, and went 3-9, and still have major turnover in their starting lineup. However, for the second consecutive year, UTEP played to win now...and still didn’t. The picks thus far haven’t been far off, with the Miners going 2-22 over that span, including just 1 win over an FBS opponent over their past three seasons. Dana Dimel rotated between two quarterbacks last year, both of them seniors, both of them now gone. And that’s just the start of the issues for a team that returns less production, per Bill Connolly’s metric, than any school in the FBS except for Utah. And Utah was a game away from the Playoff. If the backups in El Paso were any good, I don’t think they’d be backups. The offense should be an absolute mess, but there is some reason for hope on the defensive side of the ball, starting with the cornerback pair. Josh Caldwell was tied for third in the conference in passes defended, but was one of only three players to rank in the top 20 in that stat, without recording an interception. Across from him is Duron Lowe, who is probably the best athlete on the team. Lowe, who arrived at UTEP via the JUCO route last year, is a former Kansas high school state champion in both the 100 meter and the long jump. That has translated to his return abilities, taking over kick return duties midway through the season, and tallying a 100 yard kick return touchdown against North Texas. With a full FBS offseason under his belt, if he can hone some of the technique issues, he has the physical abilities to be a factor. They will be aided if Praise Amaewhule becomes a more consistent threat off the edge. The redshirt freshman tied for the team lead in sacks, tackles for loss, and quarterback hurries. That said, he only had 3 sacks, for a UTEP defense that forced just 12 on the season. He wasn’t just Academic All-Conference, but was also a Conference USA Commissioners Academic medal winner. He’s a smart kid, with the capacity for massive growth. So while I say it’s a relative strength, that is considering a team that ranked #129 in SP+ defense last year and lost 6 starters, but does have two guys with breakout potential. The offensive situation is particularly bleak. Sophomore Gavin Hardison is the presumptive leader at quarterback going into spring, after seeing some action in the final two games last year, although was very unimpressive. They were ripe for a transfer, perhaps TCU transfer Justin Rogers, but they didn’t land one. As far as the running game goes, Joshua Fields, with 312 yards on a team-best 5.3 yards per carry is the only returnee from their top four rushers. Although while the line struggled to pass block, they were actually middle of the FBS pack in interior run blocking, led by the returning Bobby DeHaro at guard. The other two starting interior linemen have graduated though.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| WR | Justin Garrett, Senior |
| G | Bobby DeHaro, Junior |
| K | Gavin Baechle, Junior |
| . |
| DE | Praise Amaewhule, Sophomore |
| CB | Duron Lowe, Senior |
| CB | Josh Caldwell, Senior |
| #129 North Texas Mean Green |
| #13 in Conference USA |
Whoops. The Mean Green had gone 12-4 in Conference USA play with a conference title game appearance in the past two years, and their first run of three consecutive bowl games since 2001-2004. They brought back senior quarterback Mason Fine, who was the school’s all time leading passer before the end of his JUNIOR season. They were the preseason conference favorites, and had more players selected to the preseason all-conference team. And they went just 4-8. The bright side is that head coach Seth Littrell went from possibly the next hot coaching name, to back to Denton for a fourth season. Now, for the first time in his coaching career, he has to figure out how to do it without Mason Fine. Whoever the next quarterback is, should have plenty of weapons to work with, with all-conference players returning at running back, tight end, and a pair at receiver. But, this was an offense that fell to #85 in SP+, even with all those guys, and Fine, who, for lack of a better word, was fine. The offensive line was absolutely abysmal, ranking outside the top 100 in nearly every metric, even with four senior starters. So good luck with 4 new dudes, that couldn’t even beat out those players, now blocking for a guy who won’t be the best quarterback in school history. It might be Jason Bean, who saw action in 7 games last year, but 3 interceptions in just 35 pass attempts, small sample size caveat, is a little concerning. The defense should continue to be decent in the front seven, but the secondary looks to be a concern. The defense as a whole last year was probably better than the old stats, which just showed 32.5 ppg allowed, third worst in Conference USA. But, they were 6th, solidly middle of the pack, in yards per play allowed. They just simply couldn’t get off the field, forcing the fewest interceptions, allowing the third most first downs per game, with the fourth worst 3rd down defense, and the conference’s worst red zone defense, which didn’t force a single red zone turnover all season. Littrell is not sitting around and taking it, bringing in 5 new assistant coaches, which included replacing both coordinators. New offensive coordinator is former Tulsa offensive line coach Mike Bloesch, a guy whose only coordinating experience was from 2011-13...at Temple HIGH SCHOOL, and whose offensive line last year at Tulsa, was one of the ten worst in the FBS, so...ok? The new defensive coordinator is just the old defensive coordinator, Clint Bowen, who was the Mean Green defensive coordinator for one year, in 2011, but has been at his alma mater Kansas ever since. Les Miles demoted him from defensive coordinator to safeties coach upon his arrival, and his one previous year as North Texas’s defensive coordinator, the Mean Green were #103 in Defensive S&P+, so, again...ok?
| KEY PLAYERS |
| RB | Tre Siggers, Junior |
| WR | Jaelon Darden, Senior |
| TE | Jason Pirtle, Senior |
| . |
| DT | Dion Novil, Senior |
| LB | Tyreke Davis, Senior |
| LB | K.D. Davis, Junior |
