New Mexico Lobos at UTEP Miners Open Comment Thread

A new era of UTEP football has arrived. Former Miner Sean Kugler takes the reigns, and looks to build upon what previous head coach Mike Price has left behind. A new coaching style brings a new attitude to this team, now its time to see how quickly that can translate to wins on the field.

The Lobos lead the all time series 42-31-3, but the Miners hold the advantage in El Paso with a 21-15-3 mark. UTEP has also taken 3 of the last 4, including the last meeting in the Sun Bowl back in the 2007 season opener, and the last meeting overall, in Albuquerque back in 2010.

New Mexico enters at 0-1 after falling to UTSA last week 21-13. They led 13-0 in that one, early in the second quarter, but were blanked the rest of the way. UTEP comes in off an opening week bye.

The Lobos will try to pound the ball early and often, and it will surely be a test for a Miner defense that makes the switch to the 4-2-5, and is fairly inexperienced in certain spots. The UTEP offense has a ton of weapons to work with and should be able to find their way early.

Its hard to say exactly how this game will go. Despite what we know on paper, this is the first game action for the Miners and we don't really know he they'll come out of the gates. It should be a close one, and the Sun Bowl should be electric. Miners in a close one. Picks up.