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One game left in the Sun Bowl for our seniors.
Just one more chance to support and cheer on a winning football team.
One last opportunity to beat Marshall and claim the #1 spot in league attendance. We both finish the season at home, and we are trailing by just a few fans. A good crowd and we take the title.
We have one foot in the New Mexico Bowl, and one foot out of the entire bowl picture.
The season finale versus Middle Tennessee has now became a must win for the program. At the start of the season seven wins would have sounded ridiculous and homerish.
But now that we are just one win away from our first winning season in nine years, there is no backing down.
A win means more than just a winning record (7-5, 5-3) that looks pretty, but it would also give us sole possession of fourth place in C-USA and a guaranteed bowl bid. We were picked to finish dead last in conference, so six wins in itself is a massive improvement.
A loss and we finish 6-6 (4-4) and anywhere between fifth and eighth in the conference. The Bowl Bid would be on hold depending on how everything else plays out.
If Marshall doesn't receive the at large bid for a NYB, C-USA would have four teams with a winning record for five guaranteed bowl bids. Right now there are two bowl eligible teams (WKU, UTEP,) and as many as four teams (UAB, ODU) could be competing for one spot.
It's still a lot better than we expected but we are so close to glory that anything other than a win Saturday evening would be painful.
Jason Kirk from SB Nation has us in the New Mexico Bowl against (9-3) Utah State no big surprise there.
| New Mexico | UTEP | Utah State | 12/20/2014 | Albuquerque, NM | C-USA vs. MWC 2-7 |
Mark and Brett mutually placed UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl. McMurphy has us in an even game vs the (6-5) San Diego State Aztecs. While Mark would like to see the revival of an old WAC rival vs (8-3) Air Force. I'm not sure how excited we are about that game seeing as the Falcons have had the Miners number holding a 14-1 advantage in the overall series.
| 2014 Bowl Projections - Week 13 | ||
| BOWL (MATCHUP) | Mark Schlabach | Brett McMurphy |
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R+L Carriers New Orleans (MWC vs. Sun Belt) |
California vs. Louisiana-Lafayette | Akron vs. Louisiana-Lafayette |
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Gildan New Mexico Bowl (MWC vs. CUSA) |
Air Force vs. UTEP | San Diego State vs. UTEP |
If you're getting bored with everyone selecting us in the NM bowl then you'll like the change of scenery from CBS Sports. Jerry Palm pits us against (6-5) Nevada in another equal matchup between C-USA vs MWC foes. The Miners are 1-2 vs the Wolfpack with an average score of 31-31.
| Hawaii Bowl | Dec. 24 | Honolulu, Hawaii | Mountain West vs. C-USA |
Nevada vs. Texas-El Paso |
Phil Steele seats us back in Albuquerque versus a really good (9-3) Utah State team that just received one vote in the USA Today Top 25 Poll. The Aggies joined the WAC the same year UTEP left for C-USA so we haven't played recently, but they do own the 2-0 overall series with a pair of wins in the early 60's.
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NEW ORLEANS BOWL
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NEW MEXICO BOWL | LAS VEGAS BOWL |
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DEC 20 • 11:00 AM ET • ESPN
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DEC 20 • 2:20 PM ET • ESPN
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DEC 20 • 3:30 PM ET • ABC
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| MW vs Sun Belt | CUSA vs MW | MW vs Pac-12 |
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San Diego St vs UL Lafayette
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UTEP vs Utah St | Boise St vs Stanford |
College Sports Madness forecasts UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl against #21 (9-1) Colorado State. If this holds true then that means Marshall and C-USA received the at large bid for the New Year’s Bowl. I guess someone has to take one for the conference.
| Camellia Bowl | New Mexico Bowl | Royal Purple Bowl | |||||||||||||||
| 12/20/2014 | 12/20/2014 | 12/20/2014 | |||||||||||||||
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| Central Michigan | Texas State | Colorado State | UTEP | Boise State | Washington | ||||||||||||
| MAC | Sun Belt | MWC | C-USA | MWC #1 | Pac-12 | ||||||||||||
| Cramton Bowl: Montgomery, AL | University Stadium: Albuquerque, NM | Sam Boyd Stadium: Las Vegas, NV | |||||||||||||||
| Buy Tickets | Buy Tickets | Buy Tickets | |||||||||||||||
Athlon Sports repeats the same as last week for the Miners. Placing us in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl vs Utah State.
New Mexico Dec. 20 C-USA vs.Mountain West
UTEP vs. Utah State
To give everyone a reality check of what could happen if UTEP doesn't beat the Blue Raiders, Scout.com does not project UTEP in a bowl game. I bet the New Mexico Bowl doesn't sound so bad anymore.
Gildan New Mexico Bowl
University Stadium, Albuquerque, NM
Saturday, Dec. 20, 2:20 ET ESPN
C-USA vs. Mountain West No. 4
Prediction: Marshall vs. Air Force
Bill Bender of Sporting News comfortably returns us to the usual New Mexico Bowl this time against (6-5) San Diego State. The Aztecs hold a 18-4 overall lead over the Miners but UTEP did win the last encounter in San Diego eight years ago.
Dec. 20: Gildan New Mexico Bowl: San Diego State vs. UTEP
Dave Miller of the National Football Post sends us to Hawaii to face off with Nevada.
Dec. 24 Hawaii (Honolulu): Nevada (MWC) vs. UTEP (C-USA)
A lot can still occur in the next two weeks. We hold our own destiny and host the final game of the season.
There's not much left to say for the core 20-24k that show up every game, this team has proven themselves to us. If some were waiting for a winning team until they joined the bandwagon.....well here's the perfect opportunity.
After Saturday night's game with Middle Tennessee only one team will be guaranteed a bowl bid. The other will sit around and wait for their name to be called similar to the NCAA Tournament's Selection Sunday.
Lets gather 40,000 deep at the Sun Bowl and welcome the Blue Raiders to El Paso for the first time.