With a little luck and a few prayers, Texas-El Paso might reach a bowl game this season.
But don’t bet on it.
The Miners (4-5, 2-3 Conference USA) need to win two of their final three games to become bowl eligible, but they won’t have a shot if their defense puts up more putrid performances such as the one showcased in Saturday’s 56-48 loss to Rice.
To say the Miners struggled defensively would be a huge understatement; they were massacred.
UTEP gave up an eye-popping 558 yards of offense. The Miners were torched by Rice junior quarterback Chase Clement, who threw for 395 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for 103 yards and two scores.
The Miners saved their worst performance for the fourth quarter, where they surrendered 28 unanswered points that allowed the Owls to rally from a 20-point deficit.
To be fair, the defense did some good things, corralling seven Rice turnovers.
But that meant little to UTEP head coach Mike Price, who saw his team lose its third consecutive game following a promising 4-2 start to the season.
"We were crummy," Price told the El Paso Times following the game. "We didn’t play well at all. Giving up 56 points against anybody is unacceptable."
It’s a wonder Price hadn’t seen this debacle coming. After all, the Miners have been getting progressively worse on defense since a 52-12 victory over Texas Southern on Sept. 22.
In the five games since that win, UTEP has surrendered an average of 45.4 points and nearly 550 yards. The Miners have surrendered 40-plus points in four of those contests.
Entering this week, UTEP ranks 117th among 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total defense (502.7 yards per game). The Miners also rank 117th in pass defense (319.2 yards) and 104th in scoring defense (35.4 points per game).
So where does UTEP go from here?
"I don’t know," Price told the El Paso Times. "I’ve had it. I’m p.o.’d. I was p.o.’d before the (Rice) game; I’m p.o.’d after the game. We didn’t come to play."
The Miners have games against Tulane (2-7), Southern Miss (5-4) and Central Florida (6-3). UTEP will play Tulane and Central Florida on the road, where the Miners are only 1-3 this season.
The prospects look daunting, but the Miners aren’t ready to throw in the towel.
"There’s nowhere to go except up," senior linebacker Jeremy Jones told the El Paso Times. "This is the low point. But the great thing about this team is it’s got a lot of fight. We can still have a good season."
Holding down the Forte
There are few teams this season that can say that they were able to shut down dynamic Tulane running back Matt Forte.
However, Tulsa can add its name to that exclusive list after limiting Forte to 103 yards and zero touchdowns on 26 carries in its 49-25 win on Saturday.
Rest assured, 103 yards would be no small number for most running backs. However, it was for Forte, who entered Saturday’s contest with four straight games of 200-plus rushing yards and five 200-plus-yard outings on the season.
A 200-yard performance against Tulsa would have given Forte five consecutive 200-plus yard rushing games and tied the NCAA record.
The Golden Hurricane, however, was determined not to let Forte, who leads the nation with 182.4 rushing yards per game, run circles around its defense.
"His numbers speak for themselves. He’s one of the best in the country, but we got after him tonight," Tulsa head coach Todd Graham told the Tulsa (Okla.) World. "(Defensive coordinators Keith Patterson and Paul Randolph) did a great job of game planning and I think we confused him."
Chase chases records
Rice junior quarterback Chase Clement might never have as spectacular a performance as the one he had in the Owls’ 56-48 homecoming win over UTEP on Saturday.
Clement completed 32-of-58 passes for a career-high 395 yards and six touchdown passes and rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. He had a hand in all of Rice’s touchdowns.
Clement, who set school records for total offense (498) and touchdowns accounted for, was named C-USA Co-Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. He shares the award with East Carolina senior running back Chris Johnson, who rushed for a career-high 301 yards and four touchdowns in the Pirates’ 56-40 win over Memphis.
Clement also threw three interceptions in Saturday’s win but offset the turnovers by engineering four touchdown drives in the fourth quarter that helped the Owls overcome a 20-point deficit and snap a three-game losing streak.
"Chase threw three interceptions, but at the same time, he went out there with an amazing confidence and amazing swagger that he was going to lead this team to victory," Rice first-year head coach David Bailiff told the Houston Chronicle.
‘QB Hunter’
Houston junior defensive end Phillip Hunt was named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after putting up some impressive numbers in the Cougars’ 38-28 win over Southern Methodist on Sunday.
Hunt finished with six tackles, three tackles for loss, 2Ω sacks and a forced fumble. He and senior linebacker Brendan Pahulu came up huge during the Mustangs’ next-to-last drive with the Cougars ahead by 10 in the fourth quarter, sacking sophomore quarterback Justin Willis on consecutive plays to force a punt that put a severe dent in SMU’s comeback bid.
Hunt had a solo sack on a second-down play and was credited with half a sack on the third-down play.
With Saturday’s performance, Hunt increased his team-leading sacks total to seven. He also has 42 tackles, 12Ω tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and one interception.
