Thursday, June 16, 2016

Conference USA Preview: University of Texas at El Paso Miners

 
University of Texas at El Paso Miners
Last Year: 5-7 (3-5)/ 3rd West

2015 was the year for the Miners. Starting off with the best Battle of I-10 game since 2008! UTEP has won the last 7 matchups between the two schools, but there isn’t much better than a 3OT rivalry game. Now to their 3 conference wins. The Miners beat Florida Atlantic, Rice, and North Texas. There seems to be a pattern of their wins. In 2015, Rice had the 2nd best rushing attack in the conference, while Florida Atlantic sat at 5th. And North Texas, was well, North Texas. .

Players to Watch
RB Aaron Jones
LB Alvin Jones
OL Will Hernandez

Coming into 2016, the Miners will have new looks on both sides of the ball after Head Coach Sean Kugler hired Brent Pease as the new Offensive Coordinator/QB coach and Tom Mason as the new Defensive Coordinator/LB Coach

The Miner offense wasn’t very effective in 2015, but OL Will Hernandez was a bright spot. Hernandez was an All-Conference USA selection. The Offensive Line unit only gave up 12 sacks in 12 games, which is astounding. Ranking wise that’s 7th nationally and 1st in the conference. RB Aaron Jones will come back after a season-ending injury in the second game of the season against Texas Tech. He’s the program’s 8th all-time leading rusher.

The defense is led by LB Alvin Jones leading the team with 92 tackles. That’s 31 tackles better than Jimmy Musgrave who has left after his senior year. The defense returns 6 starters, but they will have to have an overhaul to make some progress in 2016. Passing defense was a problem. Adding to the stats below, UTEP was 11th in opponents passing efficiency. Meaning, no matter who was facing off against the Miners, they were effective and scored lots (28 TDs/11th in conference).

Total Offense
107th/11th (342.8)
Total Defense
93rd/9th (427.8)
Passing Offense
94th/10th (195.1)
Passing Defense
110th/12th (265)
Rushing Offense
97th/11th (147.8)
Rushing Defense
54th/4th (162.8)
Scoring Offense
112th/11th (20.7)
Scoring Defense
98th/8th (32.9)

Big Games of 2016
Sep 3        New Mexico State
Sep 24       @ Louisiana Tech
Oct 29       Old Dominion

Prediction
7-5 (5-3)/2nd West
The West division is down from 2015, and the Miners can capitalize. Southern Miss will still be a power, and getting them at home will be a plus, but that seems like the only obvious loss on the conference schedule. Without Driskel, Louisiana Tech will be down, and the next 3 teams went 3-5 in conference last year. The Miners are the only team in that division who returns the key starters of all facets of their offense, even if that offense is a weak offense. Rice has a QB change, UTSA returns their leading rusher, but that plays into UTEP’s strength, and North Texas will always be a chance for a win.

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