Hope is a vanished commodity around UTEP football after a humiliating 61-7 loss at New Mexico that marked the Miners welcome to the Mountain West Conference and left them at 1-4.
This is not the edge of the abyss, this is the middle of the abyss, or perhaps the bottom.
Here, though, is something UTEP fans, who should be use to dreaming of the long game by now, can hold on to. Two years ago, New Mexico's program was a year behind the Miners. UTEP beat these guys in 2021 and through 2024 UNM was in a wilderness of its own.
Why are the UNM Lobos so far ahead of UTEP?
When the Lobos hired Jason Eck from Idaho before last season, he became their third coach in three years for a program that hadn't had a winning
season since 2016. Their turnaround was instant with a a 9-4 debut for Eck in 2025 and now they are ranked second in USA Today's Group of 6 rankings.
Actually, none of that is likely to make UTEP fans feel any better as they watch a once-and-future rival zip by them by playing the type of smart, tough, energetic and consistent football that seems so far beyond (well, 54 points beyond) the Miners.
'Sorry for El Paso'
Here is the question as UTEP approaches the midpoint of Scotty Walden's third year, by all appearances in a worse spot than it has been since the 0-12 season of 2016: Where is the progress? Where is any indication this is any better, and heading in a better direction, than two years ago? Than five years ago? Than ten?
"Embarrassed," coach Scotty Walden said. "Sorry for our fans that made the trip, sorry for El Paso, they deserve better. I told our team at the end: no excuses, no deflection, all ownership. We got beat in every phase, a total team loss − special teams, offense, defense. We knew New Mexico was a really good team but we gave them a lot."
Miners haven't been competitive
UTEP gives a lot to its opponents on a weekly basis and that doesn't seem to be changing.
In four games against FBS competition, the Miners lost three of them in the first quarter. Increasingly, that first 24 minutes against Michigan look like a fluke of a small sample size against a mediocre team that outscored them 52-3 in the final 36 minutes. By the numbers, the Miners have been outscored 59-14 in first quarters, and against FBS competition, they've been outscored 68-7 in third quarters.
UTEP's talent doesn't seem this bad, this uncompetitive. The Miners have built three strong recruiting classes where they were winning battles for the same players the people beating them wanted. As New Mexico (and plenty of other people) has shown, turnarounds don't have to be constructed over a half decade.
The Miners have solid players all over the field, they constantly go into games like the one at New Mexico talking about how good their preparation was all week long, then they just get rolled.
About the best thing that can be said is the players still seem to be on board, they aren't trying to put a bow on all this.
UTEP football seeks answers
"We've got to clean some things up offense-wise," said quarterback Raymond Moore, who rushed for 135 yards on 11 carries but turned the ball over three times in a quarter and a half, including two interceptions and a pick-six against one dump-off completion. "Taking care of the ball is the No. 1 priority. We have to get back and clean that all up."
Said Kode Lowe, who had a first-half interception that marked New Mexico's first turnover of the year: "We have to attack the next week of practice and get ready for Nevada. This didn't go the way we wanted to so we have to focus on what's next."
What's next for UTEP, besides a date with another struggling program from Nevada in the Sun Bowl, is to figure out what it will be putting on the field moving forward.
What's next for UTEP football?
The status of injured quarterback EJ Colson, who is still the team's best bet as it looks for win No. 2, is up in the air, but him getting banged up was inevitable given how many hits he has been taking. He rushed eight times against UNM and was sacked four before coming out of the halftime locker room in street clothes.
Colson appeared to get injured in the second quarter when he sold out his body to successfully pick up a fourth down on a keeper. The type of play that led to him winning the locker room was inevitably the type of play that would sideline him.
If he can't go against Nevada, UTEP may line up and run zone-read option all game with Moore at quarterback and perhaps that can give it a chance. That could at least be interesting and fun, two words that haven't been associated with the Miners for a while.
UTEP was without their top two running backs Tavorus Jones and Lamar Sperling against the Lobos, who are "day to day," though running the ball with backups still may be what the Miners are least bad at. To that end, not being behind by three scores in the second quarter would help matters.
All this heads back to a familiar place.
Why does UTEP get worse each week? Where does UTEP go from here? How does this improve?
Right now there don't seem to be any answers for any of that.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Analysis: Where is UTEP progress after New Mexico Lobos rout?
