Rocky Road: The UTEP Miners 2011 Football Schedule
by Adrian Mac on Feb 11, 2011 12:45 PM MST
in UTEP Miners Football
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UTEP has released their 2011 football schedule and at first glance the slate looks to be far more difficult than the Miners somewhat flimsy 2010 slate. The major difference is that the bottom of the C-USA East division (Marshall, Memphis, and UAB) have been replaced with three East powers that I expect will all be favored to beat the Miners. The schedule now includes East Carolina, Southern Miss, and a season ending trek to Orlando against the defending league champions Central Florida.(Full schedule after the jump here). UTEP will play six teams that played in bowl games last season.
The schedule fits the mold that Bob Stull has stated he wants for UTEP football schedules. Stull likes to play one BCS conference school, one FCS squad, an FBS school outside the BCS, and New Mexico State. The Miners meet that criteria with a road trip to South Florida, an opening night game against Stony Brook (FCS), and a late October matchup against the Mountain West's Colorado State. The Battle of 1-10 is set for September 17, 2011.
A few things jump out to me right away. First of all, UTEP travels to SMU on September 2, an early week 2 matchup. That spot was filled with the Houston game this season that was featured on ESPN2. Hopefully, this game has been moved up for television purposes like the UH game was.
Also, I'm relieved to see that UTEP will have a bye week next year in Week 6. Last year, the Miners never had an open date and as we all know, the team could have used a week off to help rehab mounting injuries during the middle of the season.
Just like last year, UTEP will close the season with a treacherous slate. UTEP will host East Carolina, Tulsa, and travel to C-USA Champion UCF to close the season. Ending the season on senior night in Orlando is about as tough as it gets in the C-USA.
Here's the Full Slate:
| Date | Opponent |
|---|---|
9/3/2011 |
vs. Stony Brook (FCS) |
9/10/2011 |
at SMU Mustangs |
9/17/2011 |
at NMSU Aggies |
9/24/2011 |
at South Florida Bulls |
10/1/2011 |
vs. Houston Cougars |
10/8/2011 |
OPEN DATE |
10/15/2011 |
at Tulane Green Wave |
10/22/2011 |
Colorado St. Rams |
10/29/2011 |
Southern Miss. Golden Eagles |
11/5/2011 |
at Rice Owls |
11/12/2011 |
East Carolina Pirates |
11/19/2011 |
Tulsa Golden Hurricane |
11/26/2011 |
at Central Florida Knights |
This schedule is far more difficult than what we saw in 2010. UTEP's final two opponents both ended the 2010 season ranked in the AP Poll (Tulsa #24, UCF #21) and both return plenty of stars. G.J. Kinne is back. So is budding superstar Jeff Godfrey.
Last year, Memphis finished the season #1 in the ESPN Bottom 10. New Mexico finished #4. UTEP won't play either in 2011. Colorado State isn't great, they were 3-9 last year, but the Rams are definitely better than New Mexico. They beat the Lobos 38-14 last season.
I'm not going to guess as to how many wins UTEP will have next year. The truth is that we have no idea how good this team will be until we see what Nick Lamaison looks like in the spring.
Thoughts?
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quick thoughts...
We gain nothing by playing and beating fcs schools and everything to lose if we lose. We are no longer the 1-win miners of the 90s so lets act like it. I rather play a weak fbs school than those sis’s of da po’.
I think cmp goes back on the hot seat. If he performs like lately he might be forced into early retirement. Maybe its stull’s way of say u need to win and win late or else. Dont make me do it!
by MinerManiax on Feb 11, 2011 1:38 PM MST via mobile reply actions
No doubt CMP is on the hot seat now
The bowl berth may have pleased Stull, but the performance in it was one of the worst I’ve ever seen from a UTEP team and I think it left a bad taste in all of our mouths.
I think Price’s haul of JUCO’s was designed to help UTEP compete in 2011 for exactly that purpose. WIthout the JC’s, the team might have been a 2-3 win team at best. Now, with Lamaison and others, there is hope for something better than that.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
No Bowl means
no CMP come 2012. He must have a problem with motivating these players since they play well (or a weaker schedule) in the first 6 weeks of the year and then take a nose dive to finish the year. Playing a FCS team just adds another win (we hope) towards a bowl eligible year. We will never be ranked so a FCS team every year can never hurt until this program gets turned around.
i dont think fcs wins count towards bowl elgibilty
by MinerManiax on Feb 11, 2011 4:01 PM MST via mobile up reply actions
1 FCS win counts
like uapb last year; Its a new rule the NCAA changed the policy when they went to 12 games.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
I think 1 win does, i.e. Ark Pine Bluff was part of our 6 wins last season to get bowl eligible....
other than that this schedule looks pretty rough as stated in the headlines…I think if we can get to the bye at 3-2 we’ll be in good shape to at least contend for bowl eligibility…seriously threre is no reason we should lose to NMSU and S.Brook…the UH game is wildcard because we always play them tough at home….after the bye….4 games at home is a nice deal and for God’s sake we need to handle either Tulane or Rice on the road…so my overall prediction goes…
Stony Brook- W
at SMU-L
NMSU-W
at USF-L
HOU- (the game that will determine our season IMO) what the hell, I say W, we owe those bastards…
At Tulane-L (classic Price meltdown here)
Colo St. W (these guys havent been good for some time)
USM-L
At Rice-W
ECU-W
Tulsa-L
at UCF-L
after furthur review…hopefully we end up 6-6…Here we come New Mexico Bowl for a second crack at it!
IMO...
The only way to turn the corner is to start playing tougher schedules period. We can’t continue to try to build false confidence in our programs if we want to make the leap. At least if we go 6-6 next season we can say we were a better team than last year due to the tougher schedule. Our teams aren’t dumb and they know when they’re beating up on little tommy or facing his big brother. I say, LETS GET UGLY!
UGH
I say bring it on!
I love the “there’s nothing against El Paso but” prelude….this happens right before they begin to talk about your Mom! Pastner is a chode!
It is crazy how delusional Memphis fans are. They come off as ignorant, self-righteous, bigots, who believe the CUSA (and the CBB as a whole) revolves around them...
I think it is hilarious how they feel entitled to the Tournament. I also find their arguments against El Paso to be very hypocritical. They like to pull the “Juarez” card, and then they pull the travel card. Not only is Memphis one of the most crime ridden cities in America, but UTEP has to travel far no matter where we play. We rarely ever get good road crowds outside of Texas (Alumni Mostly), and you don’t see us bitching to the rest of the league about it. I am starting to think that Memphis doesn’t feel comfortable playing on the road.
just to be positive
stony brook is automatic, lets say we catch smu off guard and continue our streak vs nmsu. now were 3-0. we lose at usf come back to upset houston again. 4-1. we return the favor to tulane n defeat rams at home. 6-1. we drop southern miss but pick up win at rice. 7-2. hopefully huge crowds of 50k boost us over ecu n tulsa 9-2. setting up a huge road game at ucf hopefully playing them for the right to host c-usa championship game!!!
I agree...
I feel good about this incoming class and how they will compliment what we already have. Our defense and the Mt. SAC triplets are going to pay huge dividends with their winning experince and mentaility. This attitude will resinate throughout the program.
utep vs ucf
looking at the schedule i really think we have a good advantage. UCF will be at tulane on 2-16, at UAB on 2-19, and then in El Paso on 2-21. Us on the other hand at Southern Miss on 2-16, at home vs UH on 2-19, n at home on 2-21. I hope those $9 tickets sell
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