Football on the Fringe Season Previews were ranked, then delivered in random order.
UTEP (University of Texas – El Paso) had a 2009 season that made no sense whatsoever. After a 1-4 start, they handed Houston (#12 at the time) their first loss of the season in convincing fashion, 58-41. They grabbed other wins against quality opponents in Tulsa and Marshall, but had inexplicable losses to Tulane and Rice along the way.
Only 11 starters return for 2010, but they’re good ones. Trevor Vittatoe is among C-USA’s many prolific passers and returns for his senior season, while senior Donald Buckram finished second in the country in rushing yards last year among players returning for 2010. Even without some of the starters back, the two-deep is loaded with juniors and seniors, and the Miners could be ready to finally make a move.
Schedule
9/4/2010 vs. Arkansas – Pine Bluff
9/10/2010 at Houston
9/18/2010 vs. New Mexico State
9/25/2010 vs. Memphis
10/2/2010 at New Mexico
10/9/2010 vs. Rice
10/16/2010 at UAB
10/23/2010 vs. Tulane
10/30/2010 at Marshall
11/6/2010 vs. SMU
11/13/2010 at Arkansas
11/20/2010 at Tulsa
More than almost any team we’ve looked at, it’s incredibly hard to pick wins and losses out of UTEP’s schedule just because they’ve been so inconsistent. And unlike most teams, an early season win or loss has, in the past, been worthless in trying to gauge the Miners outlook. But we can try anyway. Week 2 at Houston has trouble written all over it, with Houston gearing up for a run at the BCS and they’ll have revenge on their mind after last year’s result. After that, the table is set for UTEP to have either a huge run or a massive letdown- I have their next six opponents ranked 47, 39, 52, 35, 46, and 50 among the 54 non-BCS teams. If they can run the world’s easiest gauntlet against those teams, then they’re bowl eligible just like that. That might be it though, depending on what we get from Tulsa and Marshall this year, so that midseason run is going to be incredibly important.
Coaching
Mike Price has six years in the books at UTEP, and after twin 8-4 seasons his first two years, hasn’t reached .500 since. UTEP seems to be in no hurry to let go of a coach with a long history of success, but a fifth straight sub-.500 season could spell trouble for Price.
Rankings
Conference USA does not release a preseason poll, and the Miners do not figure in the national picture.
Outlook
The one and only key for UTEP this year is consistency. There’s enough soft teams on their schedule that they should sleepwalk to 6 wins with the talent they have, but they can’t go out and lose to the worst teams in college football again. If not for that track record of barfing up easy games, I could even see UTEP as a 9 win team, but instead I think 6 is about right, 7 is very reasonable too.
UTEP Connections
MinerDigs.net – Rivals message board
El Paso Times – Local coverage of the Miners