UTEP Notes (UCF -5 is on the short list)
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By Bret Bloomquist / El Paso Times
<!--date-->Article Launched: 09/21/2008 11:18:15 PM MDT
Video: UTEP vs. NMSU 9/20/08
EL PASO -- The good news is that the UTEP football team obviously responds well to adversity, because now they have a mountain of it.
Jeff Moturi and Terrell Jackson will probably be back this week when the Miners open Conference USA play against defending champs UCF, Trevor Vittatoe probably won't be back, the team is 0-3 and won't be favored for several more weeks.
"These guys aren't losers," coach Mike Price said after the 34-33 loss to arch-rival New Mexico State. "They haven't won yet, but they are still winners. They're going to keep fighting."
Safety Josh Ferguson said, "There's no one I'd rather have than the 10 guys lined up besides me. I just have to keep encouraging them, helping them see the field through the fire."
The fire is burning now after the Miners did everything they could to salvage a victory against the Aggies. Less than one quarter into the game, Mike and Aaron Price threw the game plan into the garbage and pass-happy UTEP became the runnin' Miners, an option team triggered by James Thomas II with a pair of freshmen running backs as the option. "I can't even explain how good a job JT did, coming in and running the gun-run," said freshman tailback Daniel Palmer, who was denied a touchdown on what appeared to be a bad call after he kicked over the pylon (Thomas scored on the next play). "It was good to see we can do it now if Trevor is out for a long time."
"We showed a lot of courage," Price said. "There's a lot of plays we're going to look back at, what went our way, what didn't go our way, a lot of what-ifs."
They'll have to draw on that courage now, the same courage that enabled them to take the Aggies to the wire despite missing the three offensive players (Vittatoe, Moturi, Jackson) they couldn't afford to miss.
They cobbled together an offense without them, going to the option attack a few days after Price joked that he was going to install a wishbone. The NMSU defense was just as confounded as the UTEP offense, as both teams spent the game doing something they spent a few plays worth of preparation on during the week.
"That little quarterback gave us fits," Aggie coach Hal Mumme said of Thomas, who ended up with 142 rushing yards. "We weren't ready for him. He's a terrific player. I wish he was a senior. I hope he's a senior."
Thomas is a sophomore.
"Too bad," Mumme said.
Ultimately, though, playing a sophomore quarterback who never played there extensively before and a pair of freshman running backs led to a predictable mistake. Thomas and Palmer had a busted handoff when they ran into each other, leading to a fumble at the Aggie 14 that swung the game.
Without a fumble, UTEP would have scored, though NMSU answered on the immediate possession the previous three times the Miners had a lead.
"It was a misdirection and we had a little miscommunication we've got to get corrected in practice," Thomas said.
That's what UTEP will do this week -- correct things in practice.
"Small things," linebacker Adam Vincent said after the defense balanced allowing five touchdowns with scoring two, a sum that UTEP can win with. "If we fix them, we'll have a great defense. "We're winners, we just have to put it together again."
