As much as their was still a scintilla of hope for this UTEP football team at the midpoint of a season that was lost some time ago, it showed up in the Sun Bowl in the form of 1-3 Nevada for the Miners' first-ever Mountain West Sun Bowl game.
One way to get better is to play someone worse, and that held to a point for UTEP in a 30-13 loss to the Wolfpack Saturday where, for a major change, they were somewhat competitive into the second half. The bad news from a Miner perspective is that playing someone worse worked even better for Nevada, which destroyed the hapless Miner offense and left El Paso with its eighth win in the last three seasons, its 12th in the last five.
The UTEP
defense was legitimately good before it allowed Nevada to convert a second-and-24 with a 68-yard touchdown in the third quarter, for the most part good enough to win until it got worn down. That didn't matter after the offense hit a new nadir, going under a bar that seemed impossibly low after the last two and a half years.
UTEP was using backup quarterback Raymond Moore this week as starter EJ Colson is in concussion protocol, but he never had much of a chance against a previously mediocre Nevada defense that was dominant this day. He did have some nice scrambles and zone-read runs where he looked like a deer galloping through a field, but some of those came back on penalties and others were buried amidst all the misery.
In the first half, the Miners had eight possessions. Seven were three-and-outs with a punt, with the average distance to go on third down at 10.3 yards. They did convert a third-and-13 with a 16-yard touchdown pass after their defense forced a turnover, accounting for seven points in the final score (the other touchdown came with 1:07 left) and the only first down of the first half.
In the opening two quarters the Miners rushed for minus-7 yards as part of their 40 yards of offense, and while there was marginal improvement in the second half, they didn't string two first downs together on a possession the fourth quarter when the game was decided.
UTEP was within 10-7 late in the second quarter after their touchdown and was within 16-7 (baby steps) very late in the third quarter before Herschel Turner's 68 yard jaunt with 42 seconds left in the third quarter put the game well beyond the reach of the Miner offense.
Up next
UTEP hosts San Jose State on Saturday, Oct. 17 on "Innovation Night" that will include a rally towel giveaway. Kickoff, as decided by a fan vote, is 7 p.m. with the game broadcast on MW+ and 600 ESPN El Paso.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Nevada exposes UTEP football's offensive rock bottom as Miners go 1-5
