As the UTEP football team looks to right its course as a four-touchdown home favorite against Texas Southern, the Miners have areas they can build on from its 51-0 loss to Oklahoma and other areas they need to burn down and rebuild.
Texas Southern is an FCS and HBCU school. Its record is 1-1 after a blowout loss to Prairie View.
"Against a top 10 team in the country, when you make mistakes, they're going to expose your mistakes," UTEP coach Scotty Walden said. "The want-to is there, but when you have a missed assignment against someone like that — and it can be 10 guys doing right and one guy goes the wrong way — they're going to make you pay.
"I'm very glad to play OU
in Game 1 because it exposed a lot of weakness in our game, as opposed to playing someone you can mask (mistakes). It woke our guys up."
Here is a report card from Game 1.
Quarterback EJ Colson: He's tough, now show off the arm
In certain areas, the debut of EJ Colson showed off why UTEP recruited him. He ran the ball 16 times and never backed down, never shied away from contact, made strong decisions and, if possible, the leadership that everyone raves about actually grew.
What he didn't get much of a chance to do was show off his arm, as he was 6-of-12 passing for 52 yards. He didn't throw an interception, which is a huge improvement from last year, though there were several times the talented Oklahoma secondary came close.
Colson's biggest admirer from the game was Walden. His biggest critic was himself, which is exactly what would be expected.
"I just never found a rhythm for myself," Colson said. "I've got to do a better job of hitting those easy ones. I feel like as a whole we only executed as an offense, doing a hell of a job, about three or four plays. We have to work on that. ...
"At the end of the day, I take accountability for that. I've got to see the whole field, hit those easy ones, get in a rhythm."
While Colson running is part of the offense, the 16 carries reflected a few scrambles, some reads, some taking what the best defense will play this year was giving them and some by design as the most reasonable way for UTEP to attack Oklahoma.
Walden felt Colson did everything asked of him.
"He played extremely tough," Walden said. "I thought he saw the field well. When you slow down and watch the tape, there's probably a few throws that he could have let go as opposed to running. But I thought he saw the game really well.
"There was very little hesitancy in his game. And so I really like what I saw."
What seems quite likely is that Colson will attempt more than 12 passes against Texas Southern, but both he and Walden said how the game develops and what Texas Southern shows will dictate that.
"Coach Walden wants to be as explosive as anybody in the passing game," Colson said. "Whatever coach calls I'm going to run at a high level. I have trust in him."
Offensive line: Better than expected, starting with Tyler Roberts
The No. 1 concern for UTEP this season was how its rebuilt offensive line would hold up, and Oklahoma figured to offer the toughest possible test. Adjusting to the level of competition, the Miner front looked like something UTEP can win games with.
The Miners averaged 2.9 yards per run, but that bumps up to an even 4.0 when the four sacks are thrown out (as NFL statistics do). Four sacks are too many, but two of those came in the fourth quarter with reserves everywhere for both teams.
The standout, who won the Luke Laufenberg hustle award, was the offensive lineman with the most on him, redshirt freshman left tackle Tyler Roberts. He is the only returning player in the starting offensive line, and also the one with the least experience in Division I football. Going into the Oklahoma game Roberts had one career start and four career appearances.
"I liked our ability on first down to run the football last week," Walden said. "As frustrating as not getting in the end zone, as frustrating as losing the game is, there's still a lot of pride. We did some things up front that I have not seen here.
"We didn't win the game and there's no more victories, but there are things as a coach and as a program that we can build upon and grow."
Defensive, special teams standouts: No one
UTEP's leading tackler against Oklahoma was Donovan Howard, a backup safety. The Miners did manage to keep OU out of the end zone on two long second-quarter drives, but didn't keep the Sooner starters from scoring and looked well beaten in the first and third quarters.
The special teams were roundly awful and that can't be entirely attributed to facing Oklahoma's superior talent. The Miners were on the wrong end of a highlight reel that included three missed field goals, allowing a return for a touchdown that essentially ended the game in the first quarter and later had an 8-yard punt that set up another Oklahoma touchdown.
If the game against Texas Southern goes like it's supposed to, the UTEP offense and defense should be vastly improved because, as Walden alluded to, the Miners can mask mistakes with talent. That doesn't apply as much to the kicking game.
UTEP spent all week working on special teams. If the Miners fix that against Texas Southern, there is progress they can unequivocally point to. If they don't improve, it brings into question UTEP's ability to fix anything.
What Texas Southern really represents is a must-win for a UTEP team that has to be 1-1 heading to Michigan.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: OU exposed UTEP's weaknesses. Now comes test at home vs Texas Southern
