EL PASO, Texas – With the temperature falling, skies becoming grey and gloomy and sprinkles of moisture coming down on the Sun Bowl turf, the only thing that seemed to have any positive feel to the afternoon was the attitude the Miners had during practice Monday afternoon.

Still reeling from Saturday’s loss to Tulsa on Senior Day, there was much ado regarding UTEP’s final opportunity to break even on the season and earn bowl eligibility. Head coach Mike Price was frank about the situation during his weekly press conference.

“It’s unbelievable that we still have an opportunity to go to a bowl game,” Price said. “We win this weekend, and we go to a bowl game. As badly as we played [on Saturday against Tulsa], and as poor as the score was, and as bad as we felt after the game, we still have a chance to go to a bowl game. That’s what we’re looking for.”

That same message was conveyed during the beginning of practice as Price gathered the players together for a quick speech on what the team still had to play for. As practice began, it might have been the weather that effected the players as drills were slow-moving and had little enthusiasm. As the afternoon progressed, it was evident that many had intensified their play while others were still shaking off the defeat while trying to get to a bowl game.

“[The loss] was real disappointing, but we have to look at it, turn the page, and look towards positive things,” running back Joe Banyard said. “Being a senior [a bowl game] is all you think about. You want to get to a bowl game and finish out, finish out strong.”

Banyard continued, “We have to come to practice with a positive attitude. A lot of us were down at first, but we have to keep the team morale high and just go at this like we know how.”

Lamaison Practices

Aside from maintaing the team morale and getting the team to focus on Central Florida this week, the big highlight of the day was when Nick Lamaison took half of the first team reps with Carson Meger. There is no official word on who will be the starter, but it was evident that Lamaison worked last week to get ready.

“I felt good and I’ve been working really hard, getting treatment,” Lamaison said. “Right when I suffered my injury, [head athletic trainer] Dawn [Hearn] said I was going to have to work really hard to get back and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I feel pretty good on day one.”

That said, he still was not 100 percent during practice as it was evident by some of his errant passing during practice.

“Every now and then [the injury] effects a step here and there and I feel a little twinge, but it’s been getting less and less,” Lamaison said. “I’d say I’m about 85 percent [ready] and we are at the beginning of the week, so I look forward to improving on that as the week progresses.”

Campbell Out of Awards Chase

On a down note, punter Ian Campbell was not named a finalist for the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding punter. Campbell was a little disappointed after practice when he found out.

“It is a little bit [disappointing], but I have to look forward. I guess I needed a little more fair catches to persuade the Augusta Council,” Campbell said in jest.

Chris Avila can be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @chrisavila_01.