College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the UTEP Miners season with what you need to know.
CFN in 60 Podcast: 2020 UTEP Miners
UTEP Miners preview in 60 seconds
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– UTEP Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 1-110 overall, 0-8 in
Head Coach: Dana Dimel, 3rd year, 2-22 overall
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 128
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 128
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 130
NOTE: Obviously, no one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: UTEP Miners Offense 3 Things To Know
– The offense only scored 235 points, was 116th in the nation in total yards per game, 119th in scoring O, and … it was the best showing by the attack in three years.
Baby steps.
The team could’ve really used an offseason full of practices to figure out the quarterback situation and finally settle in on one. Transfer Gavin Hardison saw time in two games last season, but he retained his sophomore status. He’s a 6-3, 205-pound passer, but he’ll have to fight off former JUCO transfer Isaiah Bravo and good-looking 6-5 mobile redshirt freshman TJ Goodwin.
CFN in 60 Video: UTEP Miners Preview
– The top two receivers return, but more options have to emerge. Jacob Cowing is the deep threat – averaging close to 18 yards per game with a team-leading 550 yards on the season – and senior Justin Garrett is back after leading the way with 40 catches.
Coming in to add a little more pop is New Mexico transfer Q Drennan, who missed most of the last two seasons but was a big play threat – averaging 21 yards per catch – when over his first two yeas with the Lobos.
– Senior Quardraiz Wadley ran for a team-high 627 yards and seven scores in 2018, but he missed all of last year with a toe injury. He’s back, along with Deion Hankins, shifty senior Joshua Fields, and a slew of other backs for the rotation. The Miners will go with the hot hand behind a line that returns three starters and has the veteran options at tackle to hope for just a wee bit more production.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: UTEP Miners Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: UTEP Miners Defense 3 Things To Know
– There wasn’t any pass rush, there weren’t enough plays in the backfield, and the run defense got hammered for over 200 yards per game. Can anyone step up for a D that finished dead last in the nation in tackles for loss?
Sophomore Praise Amaewhule returns after tying for the team lead with three sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss, but he didn’t exactly take over games. Now as one of the few veterans back up front, he’s got to be more of a factor. He’ll be on one side, and JUCO transfer Dakari Bickham needs to emerge on the other. 6-3, 320-pound junior needs to be a tough anchor on the inside.
– The top three tacklers are gone, and they’re all safeties. There were way too many plays needed to be made by the defensive backs both corners are back. The safeties in the 3-3-5 are really, really young around former JUCO transfer Dy’Vonne Inyang, a reserve with good range who came up with 14 stops.
– The linebackers have to start bringing a little thump. It doesn’t help that size is walking out the door with 240-pound Sione Tupou transferring. He was the team’s leading tackling linebacker, but 52-tackle Jayson VanHook returns. There’s little bulk in this group if 240-pound JUCO transfer Tyrice Knight doesn’t make a big early impact.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top UTEP Miners Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top UTEP Miners Players
Best UTEP Miners Offensive Player
RB Quardraiz Wadley, Sr.
The offense desperately needs a player to take over, and that might just be Wadley after his year off. The 6-0, 220-pounder got bigger and stronger in his off-year – missing the season with a toe problem – and now he should be even more of a workhorse. Staying in one piece has been a problem, but he’s got the ability to push for a big year if the blocking is even mediocre.
2. WR Jacob Cowing, Soph.
3. PK Gavin Baechle, Jr.
4. WR Justin Garrett, Sr.
5. OT Darta Lee, Sr.
Best UTEP Miners Defensive Player
DE Praise Amaewhule, Soph.
Can he be the one to lead the Miner defense out of the doldrums? He got his feet wet for four games as a freshman, kept his year of eligibility, and was one of the few bright spots as a decent pass rusher. He’s a rising leader for the team with the upside to be an all-star to build around.
2. CB Josh Caldwell, Sr.
3. DT Dedrick Simpson, Jr.
4. S Justin Prince, Jr.
5. S McKel Broussard, RFr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The UTEP Miners Offense
Start completing passes. Of course, it all ties together. The offensive line hasn’t been giving the Miner quarterbacks any time to work over the last several seasons and the running game hasn’t been along for the ride, but the QB play has to be a whole lot better.
Last season, UTEP quarterbacks combined to hit a Conference USA-low 54% of their passes … and that was an improvement. The Miner passers failed to connect on half of their throws in 2018, hit 46% in 2017, and cut down the interceptions from 19 to 8.
They still have to start connecting with their wide receivers with the forward pass.
Biggest Key To The UTEP Miners Defense
Pass rush, pass rush, pass rush. The Miners just don’t generate pressure into the backfield – ever. It’s all a trickle-down effect with too much time for opposing backfields to work, few third down stops, and no big plays to change games around. Changing around the alignment to a 4-3 is a good start, but the Miners don’t have the parts.
The D generated a minuscule 12 sacks and a nation-low 39 tackles for loss. Get better at this, and the Miners won’t be the second-worst in college football at third down stops.
Key UTEP Miners Player To A Successful Season
QB Gavin Hardison, Jr.
Or TJ Goodwin, or Isaiah Bravo, or Calvin Brownholtz. No matter who it is, the Miners are painfully overdue for steady quarterback play – injuries and inconsistencies have been the main problem.
The 6-3, 205-pound Hardison came over from New Mexico Military Institute last year and got in a little bit of work, but he sat out enough to keep two years of eligibility. No matter who’s handling the passing game, anything more than the nine touchdown passes and 2,292 yards from teh position last year
Key Game To The UTEP Miners Season
New Mexico State, Sept. 26
Just for the program’s mental health, it needs to win this game after losing three in a row in the series.
The two schools are just 45 miles apart, they go after a lot of the same players, and they’ve been equally bad for a long, long time.
After starting out the season with almost-certain losses to Texas Tech, at Nevada, and at Texas, UTEP gets the home date against the Aggies with a shot at the program’s first win over an FBS program since taking down Rice in early November of 2018.
– UTEP Miners Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 UTEP Miners Fun Stats
– 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 9-of-10 (90%) – UTEP 18-of-25 (72%)
– Passing TDs: Opponents 27 – UTEP 9
– Penalties: UTEP 80 for 738 yards – Opponents 62 for 549 yards
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: UTEP Miners Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: UTEP Miners Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
Once again, there’s just SO much work to do.
UTEP can’t seem to pull up out of the nosedive, winning just two games – just one FBS game – in the last three seasons, and with just one winning campaign since 2005.
The team needs to find a quarterback, it needs to come up with more receivers, it needs to redo the O line, it needs to find more of a pass rush, it needs to overhaul the safeties …
It needs a whole lot of things, and it needed a spring session most of all to try to figure out the puzzle pieces as head coach Dave Dimel goes into Year Three.
Set The UTEP Miners Regular Season Win Total At … 2
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 2
The Miners will finally break the losing streak against New Mexico State, and they should be able to find a way to pull off another win somewhere along the way.
But where?
North Texas is an option, and the other main winnable games are on the road against Charlotte, UTSA and Rice. They’ll win one of them, but it’ll be yet another struggle in a season without any FCS games to rely on.
