The Stat Shack: Examining Where the UTEP Miners Stand Statistically

by Adrian Mac on Sep 12, 2010 2:35 PM MDT in UTEP Miners Football

It's never too early too see what trends are developing for the Miners statistically. Each week, Miner Rush will post a breakdown (bullet style) of where UTEP stands in team and individual statistics as compared to the rest of the nation and the C-USA.

As the season progresses, we'll see some patterns develop that will shape the narrative that defines the 2010 UTEP Miners. As more games are played some of these extremes will balance out. Two things stand out the most, and should concern Miner fans the most. First, UTEP is dead last in the C-USA in tackles for a loss with only 4 and only has 1 sack all season (Ruben Munoz and Bernard Obi have shared it). UTEP's defensive line is really struggling out of the gate. There is some good news, UTEP is moving the ball with the run and pass. And, punter Ian Campbell has proven to be a diamond in the rough.

Team Stats & Rankings

Special Teams

23: The Miners are ranked 23rd in the nation (3rd in the C-USA) in kickoff returns with a healthy 25.6 return average. Marlon McClure has six returns for 165 yards to lead the way for the Miners.
32: The Miners are 32nd in the nation in Net Punting. Ian Campbell has been stellar with a 43.4 yard net punting average (5th in the league).

Offense

22: The UTEP passing attack is off to another stellar start. The Miners are ranked 22nd in the nation in passing offense with 284.5 passing yards per game. (4th in the C-USA)
55: UTEP is ranked 55th in the nation in rushing yards with a healthy 167 yards per game. Obviously, the Miners have leaned on the pass more with Donald Buckram out of the picture but its worth noting that the offensive line is paving the way for 5.48 yards per rush. UTEP is ranked 5th in the C-USA in passing offense.
28th: Speaking of the offensive line, Alex Solot, Anthony McNac, and Co. have only given up 1 sack this season. That's incredible and good for 28th best in the NCAA.
66: Trevor Vittatoe and company have the 66th best scoring offense in the country with a 27.5 ppg average (5th in the C-USA).
TOTAL OFFENSE: The Miners are ranked 27th in the country with 451.5 yards per game (4th in the C-USA).

Defense

102: Two games in the Miners defense is ranked 102nd in the nation against the pass. UTEP is giving up 275 yards per game so far. Case Keenum, obviously, can have that effect. UTEP is ranked 8th in the C-USA against the pass.
3: Interceptions by the UTEP secondary so far. Good for 3rd in the C-USA.
95: The Miners defense has been terrible against the run giving up an incredible 192 yards per game (obviously the Bryce Beall/ Michael Hayes show effects that). UTEP is ranked 11th in the C-USA against the run only ahead of Marshall who has played Ohio State and West Virginia to open the season.
100: UTEP is ranked 100th in the country in scoring defense by giving up 32 points per game. That's 7th in the league.
1: UTEP's defense has one sack this season. One. (Tied for 10th in C-USA)
4: UTEP's defense has 4 tackles for a loss this season. That's dead last in the C-USA.
TOTAL DEFENSE: UTEP is ranked 108th in the country in total defense and is giving up 467 yards per game so far (9th in the C-USA)

Individual Player Stats & Rankings

Joe Banyard: Banyard is averaging 65.5 yards per game (90th in the NCAA; 8th in the C-USA)
Vernon Frazier: Frazier is right on Banyards heels with 61.5 ypg (10th in the C-USA)
Trevor Vittatoe: TV is ranked 17th in the NCAA in total offense with 298 ypg.
Kris Adams: Kris is off to a hot start and is ranked 82nd in the nation in receptions per game (4.5) and 45th in the NCAA in yards per game (81.0)

Those are the numbers. Comments?

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Comments

Basketball!!!

ESPN has released a really nice article about Tim Floyd and El Paso.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=5551010

Dana O’Neil of ESPN has some really nice comments about Floyd, UTEP, STull, and of course Haskins.

by JACELP on Sep 12, 2010 7:46 PM MDT reply actions

Ha! Too early to move on but that is a great article.

Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans

by Adrian Mac on Sep 12, 2010 8:00 PM MDT up reply actions

Not trying to move on.......

UTEP football program will turn out with a good year——they should take a win this Saturday in the Sun Bowl what will probably be a thriller. Then UNM & Memphis. I predict UTEP to be 3-1 going into October.

i just wanted to bring up the great article recently released by ESPN.

by JACELP on Sep 12, 2010 8:44 PM MDT reply actions

At least from the article--------we learned that-----

Floyd’s prize recruit Rashanti Harris will not be eligible at Minerland this year due to not being academically eligible. This is the first to disclose this fact publically. However, no word what so ever out of UTEP about Ranshanti Harris not being academically eligible.

by JACELP on Sep 12, 2010 10:37 PM MDT up reply actions

And yet, at least we're not....

Ole Miss, Va Tech, Kansas or Minnesota. No, I’m not attempting to divert our dismal perfomance against Houston by comparing the miseries of others, rather tryinng to add some perspective to the present. Lest we forget, there’s a lot of football yet to played. Are there some legitimate concerns on the defensive side of the ball? Sure, but I’d venture to say that this squad and scheme will end up producing far better than last season. Not to forget that our Special Teams are far better as well. We got beat on Friday by the better team, and would further remark that we got beat by the better prepared team. It was obvious that we prepared for an aerial attack and were far less prepared for the ground. This was compounded by a poor game plan and in-game adjustments by the coaching staff. Poor play calling and execution also aided in some of this self inflicted drubbing. I’m not suggesting that we would’ve won this game, but do believe that had we taken advantage of some of the many opportunities that were presented to us, the complexion of this game would have faired differently. One cannot understate what momentum does in a football game and we failed to keep or steal the momentum on several occasions. In the end…..we’re only 1-1.

by MinerMike on Sep 13, 2010 11:22 AM MDT reply actions

And more to this point...

As also noted by CollegeFootballNews.com columnist Matt Zemek in his Monday Morning QB segment:

Mike Price of UTEP kicked a field goal when trailing by 20 points in the second half at Houston. In case you didn’t know, 20 minus three equals 17, which doesn’t trim your deficit from three possessions down to two. Price needs to re-learn basic math.

by MinerMike on Sep 13, 2010 11:47 AM MDT up reply actions

Great find from CFN

The defense is just learning the ropes and losing Amy isn’t going to help. I agree that they were better prepared all the way around. Hopefully, this weekly post on stats will allow us to track some defensive improvement by drawing attention to the areas where we are struggling.

I think its good for everyone to see, statistically speaking, that the offensive line is playing extremely well and that the defensive front 7 is struggling to pressure the quarterback. I think Bernard Obi is going to have a monster of a game this week. It’s going to take time for the defense to come around but I think we both know that we have the talent to play a lot better than we did Friday. it will take time though.

Luckily, the schedule eases up for the next month. No reason why UTEP can’t figure things out against NMSU, UNM, and Memphis, and rely on the offense to get them some wins.

Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans

by Adrian Mac on Sep 13, 2010 12:11 PM MDT up reply actions

And loved this

In the end…..we’re only 1-1.

The sky isn’t falling! That was a Top 20 team we lost to on Friday. I think UTEP’s young defenders will learn from the speed of that attack they faced.

Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans

by Adrian Mac on Sep 13, 2010 12:12 PM MDT up reply actions

I think that the 1 Sack and 4 tackles for loss....

Just highlights what we talked about during the game and that is that there was not enough preassure. Not enough blitzes and stunts if the front four is not going to be able to get it done on their own. Maybe they were playing too conservative out of fear of not having enough coverage for UH’s underneath pass attack, but in the end, giving them all day to look for someone to throw to provided more opportunity for coverage to break down and people to get open. Someone has to be consistently in the QB’s face for the D to work effectively IMHP.

by Dru68 on Sep 13, 2010 1:12 PM MDT reply actions

I agree with everything that is being said

You can change schemes all you want but if you can’t get consistent pressure on the quarterback and your tackling is awful you’re going to end up with these same results. It seems like UTEP hasn’t been a good tackling team since 2004 – 2005. There are just too many broken tackles out there, and watching that Houston game I just feel like if they could just tackle some of those Houston drives would have ended in punts or fields goals and UTEP would have had a better chance in the game just because of that.

by DefinitelyMaybe on Sep 13, 2010 4:16 PM MDT reply actions