In The Dig: He's Baaaaaack... Donald Buckram isn't wearing a no-hit jersey. He's practicing at full speed with the first team's offense. It looks like Buckram will make his 2010 debut Saturday at home against Memphis.
THE UTEP MINERS
Mike Price's Key Quotes:
"I think it's going to be a physical game. This will be one of the toughest defensive teams that we play against all year."
CMP on Buckram:
"(Buckram) looked good."
Tight End Jonny Moore on Memphis:
"I don't think we've ever beat Memphis since Price has been here. They got a big, physical defense. We like to run the ball. We love to run the ball. One of our offensive goals is to average 5 yards a carry and I think we've done a pretty good job of that."
He's Baaaaaack
Donald Buckram has returned to practice and is running with the first team offense. Who else but Bret Bloomquist with the story. Bloomquist also notes on his blog that Mike Price worked UTEP hard at Tuesdays practice.
Donald Buckram passed two more tests Wednesday: His bruised knee didn't swell after Tuesday's workout, then he had a full practice on the Sun Bowl's artificial surface. He was not wearing a no-hit jersey and took first-team reps
What a Pick-Up:
Joe Banyard has been one of the biggest revelations of UTEP's first three games. He's done an admirable job of replacing Donald Buckram. His home-town paper in Sweetwater, TX, is giving him a shout-out. Nice words from Coach Price on JB.
"We’ll take 100 Joe Banyards, on and off the field" Price said. "He is a great person and player. He is the essence of what you expect from a student-athlete."
Don't Park Your Car at Chicago Street Food on Gameday:
KVIA has an interesting story on how the managers at Chicago Street Food told their customers they could park their car during the game as long as they placed their receipt on the dash of their vehicle. Then, they allowed their towing company to tow away all the cars during the game. Tough break and CSF should make this right.
"The owners were telling everybody that even if you wanted to park in front of the restaurant and go to the game that that was fine. All we had to do was put our receipt in the window to prove we're customers so we could leave the car there for the game," explained Torres. Turns out the towing company employed by the building's landlord, Mimco, had different instructions. The owner for El Paso Towing told ABC-7 he was given permission to tow the cars of customers who left the lot to go elsewhere.
UTEP Athletics: Taking the Fun Out of College Football
Wanna Tailgate? Don't show up until 2:00 p.m. A full post on this is warranted in the coming days. Why does UTEP insist on killing the game day atmoshpere at the Sun Bowl? Is it the trash? Put out more dumpsters. This is D-1 College Football. Let the fans have some fun.
UTEP officials told ABC-7 on Wednesday afternoon that tailgating will not be allowed on inner-campus until 2 p.m. on game days instead of noon.
Keeping an Eye on the Tigers
I Beg to Differ
Memphis receiver Marcus Rucker wants to remind El Pasoan's that Memphis can beat anybody, including UTEP. After all, they did it last year. I'm not saying UM can't beat Memphis, but we already know they can't beat everybody.
Memphis receiver Marcus Rucker said, "I feel that if we play to our ability, we can beat anybody. Like last year when we beat them, they were coming off a win against Houston, and they came down here and we beat them. I actually scored my first touchdown against UTEP."
Some Numbers
The Austin American Statesman has a small game preview up. Good raw data.
Memphis will try to stop an eight-game skid on the road, having last won at SMU in 2008. UTEP hopes to extend its home winning streak to four games. The Miners are 5-0 in Conference USA home openers and have averaged 46 points in those wins.
A Family Feud
The Memphis Commercial Appeal has a nice look at the Price vs. Price storyline from theUM Point of View.
''He's very professional in that way,'' Eric said. ''He doesn't bring football home much anyway. It hasn't been an issue at all. He's not trying to get any information out of me and I'm not trying to get any information out of him.
Only two quick links today.
First, SB Nation's Holly Anderson is now covering mid-major athletics at the mothership. Check out this piece on Non-AQ's which includes her top 10 non-AQ teams.
Violently Subjective Mid-Major Top 10 1. TCU (3-0) 2. Boise State (2-0) 3. Utah (3-0) 4. Nevada (3-0) 5. Temple (3-0) 6. Air Force (2-1) 7. Fresno State (2-0) 8. Houston (2-1) 9. Idaho (2-1) 10. East Carolina (2-1)
No 6th Year for Case
Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel was asked in his Mailbag if Case Keenum could have a 6th year of eligibility. It's highly unlikely says Mandel.
Unfortunately, it's extremely unlikely Keenum would get a sixth year. I think perhaps you're getting confused with the graduate-school waiver Jeremiah Masoli used to become eligible at Ole Miss. Masoli was only entering his fourth year of eligibility. Keenum is in his fifth, and while he got injured early enough that this year would theoretically qualify for a medical redshirt, it's negated by the fact that he already used up his redshirt year as a freshman. The general rule is you have "five years to play four," and it takes some pretty drastic circumstances to be granted a sixth year, like missing two full seasons to injury.