The UTEP football team has a new challenge as it heads to Louisiana Tech for a Tuesday night nationally televised game.
The Miners have success to sustain and momentum to build on without the pressure of snapping what had become the nation’s second longest losing streak Wednesday against Florida International. Though six long weeks first-year coach Scotty Walden talked about playing loose and without hesitation and now they see what happens when they do that.
The team now has a different vibe about it as it hits the road.
“It creates a hunger for more,” Walden said Friday at his weekly news conference to kick off the short four-day run-in to Louisiana Tech. “When you get a taste of that success and you know you’ve put in the work, you shouldn’t have to compensate for anything before the game if you’re prepared.
“We have to be the most excited team to play; we have to show up excite to play this game and with passion. There’s a level of emotion and passion that this game demands and you have to be good at harnessing that.”
Harnessing that is what UTEP has to do to turn one victory into a winning streak.
“It’s all mental,” Walden said. “When you are going through struggles and not seeing the results, it gets harder and harder to stay true to that process. You start to think about what can go wrong instead of what can go right. Now that you have that mental block out of the way, look what happens when you play complimentary football.
“When we play complimentary football we’re a hard team to beat. We have to preach execution and getting out of our own way and I think we did that for the majority of the game.”
UTEP Miners still dealt with adversity
They didn’t do it the entire game, specifically in the poor start, but they overcame it. Walden said that was where the experience of the first six games helped.
“We couldn’t have started the game worse: Three and out, punt blocked,” FIU touchdown, Walden said. “If this is Game 2 or 3 I don’t know that we recover. Now we’re in Game 7, we’re deeper, more experienced, ‘Hey, this is football.’
“There are highs, there are lows, let’s go back and execute. I’m excited to see those guys grow and mature before our eyes.”
Big step forward for the UTEP offensive line
Perhaps the group that did the most maturing was the offensive line, which created 148 yards worth of holes for tailback Jevon Jackson and largely avoided penalties. The offensive line’s improvement was a reflection of where the entire team has gotten better over the first half of the season.
“I don’t see as much timidity in what they are doing,” Walden said. “We’ve done a good job of managing the game plan on runs, getting the volume down to where they can play free and fast and come off the ball. They are starting to settle into the system and see what we’re looking for.
“I’m starting to see those guys communicate well, come off the ball and know exactly where they are targeted to and being efficient with their fundamentals. Not playing hesitant, playing fierce, coming off the ball — it’s good to see.”
Louisiana Tech ‘dangerous’
Next up for the Miners is the trip to Rustin, La. where they last won in 2004 behind the likes of Jordan Palmer and Johnnie Lee Higgins.
This year’s Bulldog team comes in with a 2-4 record, but that includes overtime losses to New Mexico State and Tulsa, a seven-point loss to Florida International and a 10-point loss to North Carolina State of the ACC. They rank first in Conference USA in total defense and rushing defense.
“They are a dangerous football team,” Walden said. “They have the best defense in Conference USA, the No. 1 rush defense in the conference. They play a pretty unique defense … the three-high safety to eliminate explosive plays. It is what they major in. … They are playing very confident, fierce and physical.”
Offensively they are led by quarterback Evan Bullock and receiver Tru Edwards, who is the third-leading receiver in CUSA.
“Their quarterback is a really good player who makes good decisions with the football,” Walden said. “They have been so close and for whatever reason the ball hasn’t swung their way. They could easily be sitting here with one or two losses. They are dangerous and they play really well at home.”
UTEP hasn’t played well enough to win at Louisiana Tech in two decades. In the aftermath of a week that was all about trying to bury negative history, the Miners will take another swing at this Tuesday in Rustin.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on X.
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