After arguably the toughest loss of the season to the Rice Owls last Saturday, UTEP (4-5, 1-4 CUSA) will try and pick up the pieces as they prepare for a showdown with East Carolina (4-5, 3-2 CUSA) tomorrow night (6PM MDT) in the Sun Bowl.

The Pirates are hoping to return to their winning ways after seeing their recent 3-game winning streak halted with a 48-28 loss to Southern Mississippi last weekend.  Head Coach Ruffin McNeil expects his team to forget about the loss to the Golden Eagles and remain focused on the upcoming matchup with the Miners.

“The next step is UTEP. We’re going to bounce back and finish strong. That’s one of the things we’ve talked about all year. We want to finish strong as a team, finish strong within our division and become bowl eligible. We don’t have control of our destiny, but we know we can finish strong. All of our attention is on UTEP. That’s the bottom line. We’re not focused on anybody or anything else,” Ruffin said earlier in the week.

Leading the way for Ruffin and the Pirates is senior quarterback Dominique Davis. Davis is one of the top quarterbacks in the conference passing for 2604 yards on the season with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions and can also hurt opposing defenses with his mobility (five rushing touchdowns).

“East Carolina has a really good football team and a really good quarterback in Dominique Davis. He’s averaging over 300 yards per game passing and running. Their offense, passing-wise, is the next best in our conference. He’s a senior now, he’s really good and he can run. The offense that they run is a Mike Leach-style offense. It’s an offense without a tight end, with four wideouts in the game all the time and the quarterback in shotgun a lot of the time,” UTEP Head Coach Mike Price said in regards to Davis and the Pirates offense.

After the UTEP defense gave up 405 passing yards last week to Rice’s Nick Fanuzzi, the Miners will have to play at a high level to slow down Davis and the high-powered ECU passing attack.  One area of concern is the UTEP pass rush that has struggled over the last two games in losses to Southern Miss and Rice recording only one sack (vs. USM).  If they allow Davis too much time it could be a long day for the Miner defense.

On offense the Miners must find a way to jump start the running game that has sputtered after the last two losses averaging a pedestrian 83 yards per game.  With East Carolina giving up over 180 rushing yards per game this could be a golden opportunity for the UTEP offense to pound the ball on the ground.

“I think in retrospect I probably should’ve called more runs. You call a play and it gets stuffed and you move on, rather than going back and saying ‘That play’s really there.’ There are a couple of plays I wish I would’ve run over,” Price said about the poor rushing performance in the loss to the Owls.

As for the passing game, quarterback Nick Lamaison had a productive day under center versus Rice completing 16 of 29 passes for 294 yards and adding three touchdowns, but hurt UTEP’s chances at a win with two interceptions in the loss.  Overshadowed by the loss was the breakout performance of wide receiver Mike Edwards who had a career day versus the Owls with a 187-yard, two touchdown performance in a losing effort.  Price is hoping for more balance from his team as he hopes to turn around the losing performances in November.

“I just want to be with these kids when they win in November. I want to be there with them and see the smiles and see their dreams come true. I like our team chemistry, I like our fellowship with our coaches and I’d like to see them win and I want to be there when they win,” Price said in reference to UTEP’s November struggles.

Defensively the Pirates are led by freshman linebacker Jeremy Grove (6-1, 230 lbs) who is ranked 7^th in the nation in tackles with 95.  Grove is a solid all-around linebacker that can wreak havoc everywhere on the field.  Lamaison and the offensive line should keep a keen eye on Grove and where he lines up on every play.

This is a game both teams desperately need to solidify their chances for bowl eligibility with the loser essentially on life support to win six games.  The Miners and Pirates are both coming off tough losses so the motivation could not be any higher for either team.  Sounds simple and based on the issues both teams have had protecting the football the outcome could be decided by which team can take advantage of the opposing team’s turnovers.  The Miners have the advantage of playing in El Paso, but are only 2-2 on the year in the Sun Bowl and hope to improve that mark to 3-2 with a win against the Pirates.

East Carolina leads the overall series 2-0 with their last meeting (2008) ending in 53-21 win over the Miners in Greenville, North Carolina.  The Pirates also defeated the Miners in their first ever meeting 45-42 in a thrilling overtime game in the Sun Bowl back in 2007.