Through one of the most brutal non-conference schedules in the FBS, UTEP coach Scotty Walden has insisted that’s what now in front of him right now is what this is all about.
Part of the point of the Miners’
33-7 loss to Oregon State in the Sun Bowl was to get his team ready for Mountain West play — that starts Saturday in Albuquerque against the favorite to win the conference, New Mexico.
Lesson learned: 3 areas to improve
What UTEP learned is that it needs to better protect the quarterback, which goes beyond the struggles of the offensive line, communicate better on defense and start games with a greater sense of urgency.
Most obviously, the Miners need to keep quarterback EJ Colson clean. UTEP gave up seven sacks against Oregon State and it would have been double figures if not for several escapes from Colson that turned a potential sack into a short gain.
The obvious place to assign blame is to a rebuilt offensive line with five new starters (four transfers and a freshman), but Walden said the problems run deeper. He points to an area UTEP needs to fix immediately before it plays New Mexico: communication.
“It’s not just the offensive line,” he said. “There were mis-protections from other positions. Quarterback-wise we could be better. I could put us in better positions from a play-call standpoint. There is a myriad of things that led to each of those deals. So it’s full ownership on everybody."
Translation: Everything about the offense needs fixing.
More generally, Walden said communication issues also showed up on defense.
"We have to all be on the same page and same accord," he said. "There were a couple of touchdowns that were great plays by them. There were a couple that were a critical missed assignment by a position, and it wasn’t just one spot.
”The best defense is a loud defense from a communicative standpoint.”
Another area where UTEP has to be better going forward is its urgency to start games. UTEP was down 17-0 on Oregon State in the first quarter and that has to get better heading to New Mexico.
“That to me has been something, and we’ve worked on it in practice, come right out of the gate swinging,” Walden said. “You get what you emphasize, so continue to harp on that, ‘Fast start, fast start, fast start.’ Then our captains take ownership of that message."
New Mexico will punish errors
That’s notable because UTEP will be facing a 3-1 New Mexico team (it’s loss was by seven points to the Oklahoma team that beat UTEP 51-0) that is in prime contention for the playoff berth out of the group of six. USA Today’s rankings has them No. 2 on that list behind Boise State.
This is coach Jason Eck’s second year at UNM and at this point the Lobos are the Mountain West favorite. Walden said what makes them good are the very things he’s trying to instill in his program. New Mexico looks like what he wants UTEP to become.
"The biggest thing with them is they do not beat themselves,” Walden said. “A ton of credit to their coaching staff and how hard they play.
"They’re disciplined, they don’t allow explosive plays on defense. Statistically they are the best defense in the league, they are holding people to 10 points per game and there’s a reason for that. They tackle well in the opener field, they rarely mis-leverage the ball carrier and they are assignment sound."
New Mexico had a rough run-in to the start of the season when starting Jack Layne was lost for the year, leading to two quarterbacks fighting for the job, Toa Fa'avae and Luke Moga. Now it appears Fa'avae has won that competition.
"He’s a kid you have to contain him, he can tuck that ball and run,” Walden said of Fa’avae, who averaged 5.2 yards per rush in the blowout win against New Mexico State last week. "He does a fantastic job of understanding their offense and orchestrating and managing it. He’s an explosive player. We have to know where he’s at from a containment standpoint because he can tuck and run.”
Is New Mexico a rival?
A common question when UTEP plays New Mexico is if this is still a rivalry. It’s certainly set up to be one, as the Mountain West has made this a protected game, meaning it will always be played (under the current MWC schedule format UTEP plays eight of the other nine MWC teams).
This is UTEP’s second oldest rivalry, dating back 80 games to 1919, but has only been played twice (2021 and ‘22) in the last decade and there is little familiarity between the programs. The players are strangers to each other and even fans have only two games to draw on since the early part of the last decade. Nonetheless, Eck has floated the idea of a traveling trophy, suggesting "Border Trophy" or "Sun Trophy" as potential names.
The person this "rivalry" likely means the most to is Miners senior captain Jayden Wilson, who began his career at UNM before transferring to his hometown UTEP last season. Wilson is an El Pao Austin High School alum.
”This is a blessing,” Wilson said of getting to play New Mexico. “I told my parents, this is the first time I’ll be in the stadium and be a visitor. I’m so excited about that. I’m so excited to take on the role of a bad guy.”
Wilson also said he has strong memories of his time in Albuquerque.
”It played a major role in who I am today,” Wilson said. “The situation there my sophomore year, how I started as a starter, then some unfortunate events happened where I became a 2 and didn’t play much, developed me and my character as a player, a person, a teammate, a leader.
"I have nothing bad to say about that place, that program.”
Walden said there are rivalry elements to the game.
”We haven’t really talked about it with these guys, but I do view it as a rivalry,” Walden said. “When you have two teams in this proximity, that’s what rivals are built on: proximity, who earns the turf, the territory. I know our fan base is excited about, their fan base is excited about it, but it’s not part of our message this week.”
One measure of a rivalry is if a team takes a bus to the game and yes, UTEP will be bussing to Albuquerque as it looks to start Mountain West play with a much-needed win against the best the league has to offer.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Mountain West opener against UNM will reveal how much UTEP has learned
