EL PASO, Texas – The UTEP football team is coming off a two game skid that has put the Miners in a tight predicament with just four wins under their belt this season.

With only three games left UTEP (4-5, 1-4 Conference USA) is still looking for that coveted sixth win of the year to become bowl eligible. After two setbacks, the Miners will try to take another step towards bowl eligibility against a throw-first East Carolina offense that is second in C-USA in passing offense.

“(ECU) is a real high-powered offense, they like to pass and are real efficient with it,” senior cornerback Drew Thomas said. “They throw high percentage passes and are real good throwing it down the field. We just have to get prepared for this game.”

The Miners have not fared well with “gun slinging” type of games this season losing to Houston, SMU and Southern Miss who all rank in the top five in passing. However, it is only against the Cougars where UTEP gave up a staggering amount of yards (471); both SMU and Southern Miss barely obtained 200-plus yards in their contests against UTEP.

“We know we haven’t played our best football yet, just by looking at the tape we know we have a lot of room to improve,” Thomas said. “We have to win at home, that’s huge. We just want to win regardless of the record or (bowl) situation.”

This weekend’s loss to Rice played a big part in the quiet practice Tuesday. Head coach Mike Price said his team was equally as quiet when watching tape of the game on Sunday. Price could not explain what happened in the loss against the Owls, all he said was he hoped he could be around when his players finally won in November.

Quarterback Nick Lamaison was quick to explain the recent downturn the Miners have had as of the past two weeks.

“(Football) is a game of high’s and low’s. One week you’re up, you get a nice win, but when you lose you can’t get too low,” Lamaison said. “You have to get on an even keel. Just put it behind you. Thinking about the losses can’t help us win. We’re just trying to think about what we need to do to win.”

Saturday’s game will pit the UTEP offense against the 3-4 defense of ECU, something the Miners have become all too familiar with this season.

“We’ve seen the defense from several other teams so we’re prepared for it,” Lamaison said. “Our o-line coach is doing a real good job with the line so they’ll be ready for it and I don’t think we’ll have a problem with it.”

The Miners have three more days of practice left this week in order to prepare for the ECU offense and defense. Tuesday’s practice went as normal as it could for a learning day with temperatures hovering around 50 degrees in the Sun Bowl.

“The first day of the week is where we usually want to make our corrections and putting in the little wrinkles—not big changes—just little wrinkles to the offense,” Lamaison said. “Tonight we’ll watch some film, make our adjustments and just hone into that.”

Sal Guerrero may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or follow him via Twitter @Salosaurus_Rex for all things UTEP sports.