EL PASO, Texas (KFOX 14, CBS 4) — UTEP has had a difficult start to life in the Mountain West, entering the week at 1-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play. However, the Miners believe there is still time to turn the season around and that starts with winning at practice.
“We have to build the habit everyday in practice of making everything a competition and not being okay with losing,” UTEP senior bandit Sterling Miles said. “We have to make winning intrinsic and a habit.”
Offense has been UTEP’s biggest challenge. The Miners average 257 yards per game, ranking 138th nationally and last in the Mountain West. They’ll need to find a spark as they look to get back on track.
“We have got to find a rhythm,” UTEP head coach Scotty Walden said. “It seems like when we get a rhythm, there is something that happens: a misassignment, a TFL or penalty. It is an inconsistency trend that gets us stalled out. We have to keep evaluating our personnel and cater play calling to
“We have really harped on execution and the details within each play,” UTEP senior wide receiver Jaden Smith said. “We have to focus on winning each play.”
Finding a rhythm means making positive plays earlier in drives. Too often, UTEP has faced third-and-long, and those situations have led to punts. The Miners punted nine times in their game against Nevada.
“100% that is what the issue is,” Walden said. “It’s extremely hard to get in that rhythm when you don’t play ahead of the sticks.”
UTEP has been dealing with injuries along the offensive line, but the Miners know they need a stronger performance up front this week.
“The battle [against Nevada] that we lost and was the difference in the game was in the trenches,” Walden said. “They ran for about 270 yards and we couldn’t amass 100. There was lots of missed assignments up front, times we were out of gap. We have to play cleaner up front.”
Kickoff between the Miners and Spartans on Saturday is at 7pm at the Sun Bowl.