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Game Thoughts vs. NMSU.

UTEPDefense

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Oct 8, 2002
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- Overall, I am mad that we lost to NMSU, but I am not as upset as others probably are. We improved tonight, in fact we are improving every week, but we just shoot ourselves in the foot way too much!

- Right now we are the typical team that doesn’t know how to win and it’s hard to blame Dimel right now for inheriting a team that doesn’t know how to win.

- Our O-line has been duct taped together, yet we had a ton of success running the ball today. Locksley also played his best game and finally showed the potential that makes me feel more confident that he can truly play QB at this level.

- Our offense was very effective and put up more than 100 yards tonight(429) than UNM put up against NMSU last week(325) and we put up almost the exact same amount of yards that Utah State put up against them 2 weeks ago. That is a positive change for our offense.

- One area where the coaching staff is losing patience with me is the stupid penalties. That needs to end and the self-inflicted wounds need to stop. Hard to blame the ccoaches for our RB fumbled on first and goal, or our CB not tackling a guy on 3rd and 3 then he slips and runs for a TD, or our QB fumbling and having it also returned for a long TD, but this losing culture of finding ways to lose needs to change. Plus we are not good enough yet to overcome these tye of errors.

- Kalon Beverly is not having a good Senior year and struggling too much thus far. He is just not making plays to help us, like a Senior should.

- Dating back to the Kugler era, we still can’t throw the ball when other teams know that we have to throw it.

- UTEP only punted twice during the entire game.

- UTEP’s defense only gave up one touchdown.

- Overall, I am more positive about Dimel and even Canales after tonight than I was before this game. They need to recruit, which they appear to be doing, but I am seriously feeling better about Dimel at this moment.

- I also generally liked the play calling tonight, but one area where I felt that we should have done better, was that NMSU blitzed off the edge all night long and they generally did it from the wide field side. My question is why was Canales not smart enough to throw this same play below that he used against NAU for a TD, in any of those 3rd down situations tonight? Just flare Wadley out, simply get him outside the blitzing LB, get him in open space with a 1on1 verse the safety and you would probably have the same result as below. Why not try this play below, get Wadley into space and take better advantage of a consistent blitzing LB’s off the edge in the future:

 
I’m serious, I think that Dimel has going in the right direction, it might be a little slow but we are improving.
 
Dimel is the anti-Kugler. He’s positive; he knows the college game. But we had to and should have won this game.
 
That’s cool. ODU is beating Top 25 VaTech at home and we’re 0-2 with losses to NAU and NMSU. Things are great
2 completely different situations. If they were winless last season and their coach was in his 1st season this year, then yes you would have a valid point. But just another bad example like your UCF comparison .
 
I really think they need to throw the ball more. I think the more Kai throws the ball, the better he will be. He did make some good throws tonight. Late in the game when we had to throw the ball, it wasn't that bad.
The OL is just a mess. Can't protect Kai at all. They also are at fault for the blocked punt.

Great post Defense.....dead on
 
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2 completely different situations. If they were winless last season and their coach was in his 1st season this year, then yes you would have a valid point. But just another bad example like your UCF comparison .

This is Old Dominion's 5th year in the FBS and they have already won more bowl games than UTEP has in over 50 years.

Now, they just got a marquee win.
 
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2 completely different situations. If they were winless last season and their coach was in his 1st season this year, then yes you would have a valid point. But just another bad example like your UCF comparison .

ODU got smashed by Liberty, Charlotte, and FIU. Still able to beat an ACC team. UTEP lost to a team no conference wants.
 
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ODU got smashed by Liberty, Charlotte, and FIU. Still able to beat an ACC team. UTEP lost to a team no conference wants.
Well ya still 2 different situations. They didn't have Kugler completely destroy their program and go winless. They won 5 games last season and their coach has been there awhile and has had lots of time to bring in his players. We are coming off a winless season last year, a roster with a lot of players who shouldn't be playing football at this level because Kugler gave them scholarships. And we have a 1st year HC who has gad like half of a recruiting period to recruit. They are in a much better situation than UTEP. But hats off to them for the win tonight and representing CUSA.
 
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I agree about the progress, but wow this team finds amazing ways to lose. The defense which was good all game all of a sudden lost its bearings in the 4th quarter. The fumbles and the blocked punt. Losing opportunities in the red zone.

I'm beginning to think that beyond talent and scheme. These players just dont know how to win and that's going to he really hard to fix.

What happens next week? Will UTEP blow a 20 point second half lead? Will UTEP forget how to tackle? Every week it's a different dysfunction.
 
- Overall, I am mad that we lost to NMSU, but I am not as upset as others probably are. We improved tonight, in fact we are improving every week, but we just shoot ourselves in the foot way too much!

- Right now we are the typical team that doesn’t know how to win and it’s hard to blame Dimel right now for inheriting a team that doesn’t know how to win.

- Our O-line has been duct taped together, yet we had a ton of success running the ball today. Locksley also played his best game and finally showed the potential that makes me feel more confident that he can truly play QB at this level.

- Our offense was very effective and put up more than 100 yards tonight(429) than UNM put up against NMSU last week(325) and we put up almost the exact same amount of yards that Utah State put up against them 2 weeks ago. That is a positive change for our offense.

- One area where the coaching staff is losing patience with me is the stupid penalties. That needs to end and the self-inflicted wounds need to stop. Hard to blame the ccoaches for our RB fumbled on first and goal, or our CB not tackling a guy on 3rd and 3 then he slips and runs for a TD, or our QB fumbling and having it also returned for a long TD, but this losing culture of finding ways to lose needs to change. Plus we are not good enough yet to overcome these tye of errors.

- Kalon Beverly is not having a good Senior year and struggling too much thus far. He is just not making plays to help us, like a Senior should.

- Dating back to the Kugler era, we still can’t throw the ball when other teams know that we have to throw it.

- UTEP only punted twice during the entire game.

- UTEP’s defense only gave up one touchdown.

- Overall, I am more positive about Dimel and even Canales after tonight than I was before this game. They need to recruit, which they appear to be doing, but I am seriously feeling better about Dimel at this moment.

- I also generally liked the play calling tonight, but one area where I felt that we should have done better, was that NMSU blitzed off the edge all night long and they generally did it from the wide field side. My question is why was Canales not smart enough to throw this same play below that he used against NAU for a TD, in any of those 3rd down situations tonight? Just flare Wadley out, simply get him outside the blitzing LB, get him in open space with a 1on1 verse the safety and you would probably have the same result as below. Why not try this play below, get Wadley into space and take better advantage of a consistent blitzing LB’s off the edge in the future:


I agree 100% with everything you are saying. Great assessment of the game.

I think UTEP’s defense has played valiantly over the last 4 weeks. Giving up 13 points was really impressive, especially when they don’t get much of a pass rush. That goal line stand in the 4th to give the Offense a chance to tie it in the 4th was amazing. I agree that Beverly has played awful this year. He almost singlehandedly put the game out of reach when he gave up the deep play in the 4th and then had the PI in the end zone.

The mental mistakes are sickening. I noticed instances where the offense and defense were still messing up substitutions. Players running onto the field when they weren’t supposed to, players running off when they weren’t supposed to. Also on defense there was one instance where the D-Tackles were lined up incorrectly and the MLB had to tell them to switch. So when they rotated the play started and that allowed the NMSU RB to get a big play.

Ironic that we were cheering when NMSU kept having the penalties and they got themselves into a 4th and almost 30 because of false starts. Meanwhile The Miners did the exact same thing on the last drive of the game and because of sacks and penalties we were in the exact same position to close the game.

The O-line is awful. They couldn’t handle the 4 man rush to close the game out, and maybe teams will bring pressure and force Kai to pass quickly as opposed to letting him run the read option.

I do feel better about the team after week 4 this year as opposed to last year. I do think this team can win a game this year and that one win would be massive down the road.
 
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ODU’s coach is in the 11th year of building his program at ODU, while Dimel is in his 4th game at UTEP. I am not sure that I see that as an accurate comparison. Furthermore, I genuinely hope that if Dimel is here 11 years from now that he will have his program in a much better position than 1-3, which is where ODU is today.

Dimel inherited a program that arguably did not have a single legitimate D1 quarterback on the roster. And he has now lost his 3 best starting o-linemen. Yet despite all of this, his offense put up 429 yards of total offense tonight. By comparison, even with these large hurdles to cross, Dimel has still improved UTEP’s offense more in just 4 short games this season than 2 different UTEP coordinators could produce during all of last year.

After apparently losing Brooks for the season, Dimel now has his 3 best starting o-linemen redshirting this year and all 3 will be returning next season.

I also don’t personally blame Dana Dimel when the player fumbled on 1st and goal. By the way that play started with a bad snap, which sometimes happens when you lose your Senior Starting Center the week before your first game and then while trying to find a replacement, you have to start 2 different Centers in your first 4 games like UTEP has. It’s not Dimel’s fault that his Senior O-line leader tore his ACL right before the season started.

I also don’t personally blame Dimel for getting one of his best defenders into position to make a tackle short of the sticks on 3rd and 3, yet one of our top players misses the tackle and NMSU goes down the sideline for a TD. That is an “out-athleted” issue, not a coaching or blown coverage issue. Again, your job as coach is to get your best players in a chance to succeed, which he did on that play, but still got burned.

I also don’t blame Dimel who has had to adjust and reduce his playbook for a first year D1 QB, while both Dimel and our QB have both been on campus less than 1 year. That QB then shows a lot of improvement in only his 4th D1 game, yet fumbles the ball which is returned for a TD. Again, a fumble returned for a TD is genuinely harsh to blame on a head coach.

Overall, what I see is that there appears to be some solid structure being built with our football team. I also see a defense playing about as well as we have played in the last 15 years.
 
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ODU’s coach is in the 11th year of building his program at ODU, while Dimel is in his 4th game at UTEP. I am not sure that I see that as an accurate comparison. Furthermore, I genuinely hope that if Dimel is here 11 years from now that he will have his program in a much better position than 1-3, which is where ODU is today.

Dimel inherited a program that arguably did not have a single legitimate D1 quarterback on the roster. And he has now lost his 3 best starting o-linemen. Yet despite all of this, his offense put up 429 yards of total offense tonight. By comparison, even with these large hurdles to cross, Dimel has still improved UTEP’s offense more in just 4 short games this season than 2 different UTEP coordinators could produce during all of last year.

After apparently losing Brooks for the season, Dimel now also has his 3 best starting o-linemen redshirting and returning next season.

I also don’t personally blame Dana Dimel when the player fumbled on 1st and goal. By the way that play started with a bad snap, which sometimes happens when you lose your Senior Starting Center the week before your first game and then while trying to find a replacement, you have to start 2 different Centers in your first 4 games like UTEP has.

I also don’t personally blame Dimel for getting one of his best defenders into position to make a tackle short of the sticks on 3rd and 3, yet one of our top players misses the tackle and NMSU goes down the sideline for a TD. That is an “out-athleted” issue, not a coaching or blown coverage issue. Again, your job as coach is to get your best players in a chance to succeed, which he did on that play, but still got burned.

I also don’t blame Dimel who has had groom and adjusted his playbook for a first year D1 QB who has still been on campus less than 1 year. That QB, then shows a lot of improvement in only his 4th D1 game, yet fumbles the ball which is returned for a TD. Again, a fumble returned for a TD is genuinely harsh to blame on a head coach.

Overall, what I see is that there appears to be some solid structure being built with our football team. I also see a defense playing about as well as we have played in the last 15 years.

So when is UTEP going to win a game?
 
That mess of an O-line, which I said earlier is currently being duct taped together, blocked the way for 235 rushing yards tonight and was largely responsible for over 40:48 minutes in Time-Of-Possesion.

Again, if our new coaching staff’s offensive system is getting that type of production this early, with 3 first time o-line starters, including an all freshmen left side of the line and a true freshman Left Tackle, then in my opinion this is a solid reason for hope for the future.
 
I actually think Mike Simmonds is doing a very good job with the o-line. He was dealt a terrible hand and yes they give up sacks but they are actually improving.

Winston Dimel has disappointed this far. He made some nice plays catching the ball tonight, but he had that huge momentum shifting fumble on the five. That's the second time hes fumbled this season. That play and kai's fumble and the block punt decided the game. I actually think McKee has been the better fullback to this point.

I'm baffled tonight they didnt call any screen passe. The all out blitzes from NMSU were just asking to get burned by a screen pass. They need to work Dawn Jr into the game plan.

I was impressed with KAI he made great strides in the passing game. I've been down on him but he showed alot of improvement. If he can work on getting the ball out of his hands quicker he could be really dangerous.

The play calling in the fourth quarter was as bad as you'll ever see. I dont know what Canales was thinking.

That's a tough loss to swallow NMSU is a bad team and we beat ourselves. They've got to learn to win and play with much more discipline. The discipline part is in the coaching staff.
 
I actually think Mike Simmonds is doing a very good job with the o-line. He was dealt a terrible hand and yes they give up sacks but they are actually improving.

Winston Dimel has disappointed this far. He made some nice plays catching the ball tonight, but he had that huge momentum shifting fumble on the five. That's the second time hes fumbled this season. That play and kai's fumble and the block punt decided the game. I actually think McKee has been the better fullback to this point.

I'm baffled tonight they didnt call any screen passe. The all out blitzes from NMSU were just asking to get burned by a screen pass. They need to work Dawn Jr into the game plan.

I was impressed with KAI he made great strides in the passing game. I've been down on him but he showed alot of improvement. If he can work on getting the ball out of his hands quicker he could be really dangerous.

The play calling in the fourth quarter was as bad as you'll ever see. I dont know what Canales was thinking.

That's a tough loss to swallow NMSU is a bad team and we beat ourselves. They've got to learn to win and play with much more discipline. The discipline part is in the coaching staff.
Yep
 
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Well congrats to utep for officially becoming the worst Division 1 football team in the country again. You can talk about the offense improvement but nmsu defense sucks so I take it with a grain of salt. Agree too many stupid mistakes seems like they are just cursed. looks like it might be another year with 0 wins.
 
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Folks we can blame Dimel all we want but he has a team that has NO D1 TALENT. Fuss all you want but you cant win without talent. I dont care who the coach is, you have to have players. Yea we have a new coach but we still have Kuglars recruits. The guy couldnt recruit and didnt care to recruit and knew he was on his way out and really destroyed the team after that. It's going to be a long 2 seasons not just 1 season from the mess Kug left. Folks we can belly ache all we want but we are what Kuglar left us to be. We are showing improvement but our main improvement will come during recruiting season.
 
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Folks we can blame Dimel all we want but he has a team that has NO D1 TALENT. Fuss all you want but you cant win without talent. I dont care who the coach is, you have to have players. Yea we have a new coach but we still have Kuglars recruits. The guy couldnt recruit and didnt care to recruit and knew he was on his way out and really destroyed the team after that. It's going to be a long 2 seasons not just 1 season from the mess Kug left. Folks we can belly ache all we want but we are what Kuglar left us to be. We are showing improvement but our main improvement will come during recruiting season.

I agree. Dimel and the staff are getting more out of Kugler’s recruits as well, so you have to commend that. Juniel went deep, which was unheard of. Reddix got some key third down catches. The defense played a great game, especially considering they were having trouble with the packages, and lining up correctly at times.

If Kugler would have stayed I can’t imagine we would have have had a shot to win it.
 
It will be a longer rebuild but I would prefer they go with high school kids. JUCOs are just so hit and miss.
 
Utep had it's chances, but proved why they're the longest losers in D1 at the time. They just don't know how to win. If they would have won, I would've gave them a shot at 3 wins. Now rice will be their best chance at getting in the win column. Looked better overall, but idk really how much, cause NMSU is equally as Awful!
 
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Utep had it's chances, but proved why they're the look Gest losers in D1 at the time. They just don't k ow how to win. If they would have won, I woulda have them a shot at 3 wins. Now rice will be they're best chance at getting in the win column. Looked better overall, but idk really how much, cause NMSU is equally as Awful!

I think you need to go to sleep now and prepare for your next week of 3rd grade. Yikes.
 
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Folks we can blame Dimel all we want but he has a team that has NO D1 TALENT.

I thought Dimel was recruited by other big schools, but he chose to come to UTEP?

Locklsey was with the Longhorns, so you can't say there is no D1 talent on this team.
 
I thought Dimel was recruited by other big schools, but he chose to come to UTEP?

Locklsey was with the Longhorns, so you can't say there is no D1 talent on this team.

The talent on defense is really solid. They are in the top half of c-usa. Wadley is great running back.dawn jr is a weapon not be utilized. The recievers has seen last night are fine if you can get them the ball they can make plays. I think there was only one on target drop last night. This team has the talent to win games especially in cusa west. This staff has to get some wins.
 
I think you need to go to sleep now and prepare for your next week of 3rd grade. Yikes.
Lol I post in my phone sometimes real quick and Auto correct, isn't always accurate. I don't post through a PC and have time to proof read bro. Oh and Go Fk Yourself
 
Lol I post in my phone sometimes real quick and Auto correct, isn't always accurate. I don't post through a PC and have time to proof read bro. Oh and Go Fk Yourself

It takes 5 seconds to proofread a message. It's funny how you say you don't have time, but yet you have time to post multiple replies.
 
I post from my phone too and I don’t type like an ESL student
Lol it's just a matter of typing quickly and sometimes not proof reading. I'm sure my intelligence level is much higher than yours. Anyways enough of your derailing of another post, get back on subject or don't respond, that post was already fixed Jack Ass!
 
Lol it's just a matter of typing quickly and sometimes not proof reading. I'm sure my intelligence level is much higher than yours. Anyways enough of your derailing of another post, get back on subject or don't respond, that post was already fixed Jack Ass!

You still can't write a complete sentence.
 
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