EL PASO, Texas – UTEP (4-4, 1-3 CUSA) looks to rebound following a hard fought 31-13 loss at home versus Southern Miss last weekend and heads out on the road to face off with the Rice Owls (2-6, 1-4 CUSA) in a nationally televised (Fox Sports Network) matchup tomorrow afternoon (1:30pm MDT) in Houston, Texas (Rice Stadium).
The Owls are coming off their worst loss of the season; a 73-34 blowout to the 13th ranked Houston Cougars and are looking to bounce back at home versus the Miners. Head Coach David Baliff still knows his team has plenty left in the tank as they prepare for their homecoming game with UTEP.
“They are going to come over here and give it their all. You get into this and you know there are going to be some highs and you know there are going to be some lows. You do it long enough, and you stand on both sidelines. But you do it long enough the one constant is you do it for the young men in it. We will come out fighting next week against UTEP,” said Baliff regarding his team earlier this week.
Baliff understands that UTEP is a tough opponent even with the advantage of playing at home and hopes his team can snap their three-game losing streak.
“I think we definitely need to get that mojo back. We can’t go overlooking the fact that they play better at home than they do away. This is a big game for us, and you know they’re going to come out wanting this win just as badly as we do. So right now we’re going to have to prepare and get ready for this game more than we’ve done in weeks prior and attack like we would any other week,” added Baliff.
Offensively, the Owls present some problems with the quarterback position and can hurt opposing defenses through the air or on the ground specifically with their wildcat packages. Nick Fanuzzi will start the game and be on the field especially in passing situations, but the Miner defense is also preparing for running back/wildcat quarterback Turner Peterson who is coming off a 140-yard rushing performance versus Houston last Saturday.
After the Owls rushed for 359 yards versus the Cougars last week led by senior Tyler Smith’s 170 yards (13.1 ypc) the Miner defense will have to regroup after giving up 260 yards on the ground in the loss to Southern Miss as Rice will continue to pound the ball with the running game.
Switching to the Miner offense, UTEP will have to bounce back after a rough outing scoring only 13 points against the Eagles and managing a meager 262 yards of total offense as the running game never got on track with 68 rushing yards on the night.
The passing game didn’t fare much better as quarterback Nick Lamaison had another inconsistent game under center throwing for 195 yards completing 21 of 35 passes with one interception. Fortunately, this could be the matchup Lamaison has been waiting for as the Rice pass defense is allowing almost 290 yards per game ranking 113th in the nation.
The Miner offense will have to come alive this week in Houston to help Coach Mike Price avoid the November letdowns that have haunted the team over the last several years.
“I don’t know what excuse I’m going to have to tell alumni at the end of the year if we don’t win in November. Fans remember the games in November, and so do I. We’d like to go out strong. There’s no reason we shouldn’t because we’re healthy. We just have to take it one game at a time. The first hurdle is to play well at Rice, because we haven’t done that,” said Price regarding November struggles.
Rice may be out of the bowl picture, but they are a tough team that should be taken seriously even with a 2-6 record. This is a must win for UTEP to keep their bowl hopes alive especially with some tough games left on the schedule. The Miners are better on paper and the Owls are battling some injury issues, but this should be a close game that will be decided in the fourth quarter.
Rice and UTEP have met 14 times with the Owls holding an 8-6 series advantage (5-2 in Houston). Coach Price holds a 3-4 (1-2 in Houston) record versus the Owls, including losing the last two games in Rice Stadium (2009 and 2007).
Josh Puga can be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow hin on Twitter at @jpuga1966.
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I know this may be a off the wall question, but is there any luck in having Marlon Mclure in next years roster? Is he even attending school this year, or has he moved on? Just curious due to the departure of Frazier after seasons end.
Over the summer it was reported that McClure was likely done, he had been in classes over the summer, but pretty sure he and UTEP have moved on. As for replacing Frazier there are some options starting with freshman speedster Nathan Jeffery who will be more involved in kick returns next season and has a lot of potential out of the backfield as well.
Marlon did attend school at UTEP this year, but I am unsure if he will return to the football team or to UTEP at all in the Spring…..