Old Dominion is beatable but...

[jdubb66]

UTEP is going to have to cut down on stupid mistakes and continue to play tough defense. If the offense can be someone efficient, the Miners can overcome the long travel and time change.

The new Miner passing strategy is being used to set up the run and keeping the opposition off balance. Finally.

Defense is playing much better because of Ish Hamiltons health and better understanding among the freshmen of what they have to do.

We need to find a guy that can field punts. Move Golden to punt team and let him just catch the ball to shore up the punt game.

UTEP and ODU are very close statistically. The big advantage ODU will have is the homefield.

ODU's QB is a QB turned wide receiver turned QB again. They are going to air it out deep to try and hit some long shots so we better be able to track the ball. On the other hand, his short passes might create some opportunity. If the Miners can generate some type of pressure, it might lead to turnovers for us.

 

[Firstdowndash]

UTEP is going to have to cut down on stupid mistakes and continue to play tough defense. If the offense can be someone efficient, the Miners can overcome the long travel and time change.

The new Miner passing strategy is being used to set up the run and keeping the opposition off balance. Finally.

Defense is playing much better because of Ish Hamiltons health and better understanding among the freshmen of what they have to do.

We need to find a guy that can field punts. Move Golden to punt team and let him just catch the ball to shore up the punt game.

UTEP and ODU are very close statistically. The big advantage ODU will have is the homefield.

ODU's QB is a QB turned wide receiver turned QB again. They are going to air it out deep to try and hit some long shots so we better be able to track the ball. On the other hand, his short passes might create some opportunity. If the Miners can generate some type of pressure, it might lead to turnovers for us.

This is a must win game for UTEPIA.

1) The Miners have never won a game in the Eastern Time Zone. Idk if UTEP will ever again play a game in Australia, so the Austalian Time Zone is not so much of a concern right now, as the Eastern Time Zone is. This stat is ridiculous an unacceptable. Let's get this monkey off, now is the chance.

2) There appears to be a shortage of bowl eligible teams. UTEP needs 2 wins out of 3. La Tech will kill UTEP 59-20 or somewhere along those lines, but UNT will not, and that my friends leaves ODU as a toss up and a chance for Kugler to make a mark on the program.

Go Miners!

 

[JCorona]

I expect a win on Saturday. If Appalachian St (a team who wasn't even playing FBS football two years ago) can beat them 49-0 at ODU I think we can sneak out with a 3 point victory. This is essentially a playoff game. Last year we won these type of "play-off" games. It's not going to be easy but if Kugler is headed in the right direction we should win.

 

[PositivelyPete]

Excellent point JCorona. Appalachian St only lost by 31 to #1 Clemson, while UTEP lost by 49 to Texas Tech. UTEP will beat ODU by at least 80 points.

 

[unihorn]

Excellent point JCorona. Appalachian St only lost by 31 to #1 Clemson, while UTEP lost by 49 to Texas Tech. UTEP will beat ODU by at least 80 points.

The transitive property of sports says so.

 

[JCorona]

Excellent point JCorona. Appalachian St only lost by 31 to #1 Clemson, while UTEP lost by 49 to Texas Tech. UTEP will beat ODU by at least 80 points.

You're suppose to be the positive one here. I'm not saying by 80 but it's not an unthinkable act for us to snake away with a victory.

 

[allminer]

I watched most of the second half of the ODU UTSA game last night. Both teams offenses stopped themselves with bad throws and silly mistakes. Stoker has the Miners playing far better defense than what utsa gave odu last night. ODU's QB is good at buying extra time and hurt utsa with that. But he was also awfully inaccurate at times. utsa had the game won but made some really bad decisions on their last drive. We need to show up focused and prepared, then break the eastern time zone jinx.

 

[Voice of the Mosquito]

ODU quarterback is fast and has a good arm, but he really takes chances with his throws. Hopefully the Miners can take advantage of this. I watched a bit of the UTSA-ODU game last night before heading to the basketball game and all I could think about was "what the hell happened to UTSA?, they looked really good when they were here, now they look like a different team. mistakes, blown coverage, bad tackling the whole package. I wish we could have that game back. Something else which maybe the Miners can exploit..

In the Rice game, Rice put two return guys back to handle Luna's ground punts. After our gunners cleared the line and headed down field it left the sidelines wide open. I don't know how fast Luna is, but when teams do this it really looks ripe for a fake. Luna already is up and running when he punts, so it would be hard to detect until it's too late. I know coach isn't much of a gambler, but this situation is really tempting.

 

[jamasterj]

STCarlosEP aka Chunks aka MinerManiac is slowly oozing out of Pete.

Thinking the same thing, he just can't help it.

 

[jdubb66]

In case you didn't know, Hayden Plinke has NFL hands. Our defense has not been relying on delayed blitzes lately and have been covering the pass better as a result. What was surprising against Rice was how well they played the run. The D really has come a long way.

 

[allminer]

"what the hell happened to UTSA?, they looked really good when they were here, now they look like a different team. mistakes, blown coverage, bad tackling the whole package. I wish we could have that game back.

Was thinking the same thing.

 

[usmstud]

I picked you guys to beat Rice and doing the same this week. Key stats for me are ODU against D1 teams are allowing 208 rushing yards per game and teams are converting on 51% of third down attempts. Miners should be able to run the ball and dominate time of possession.

 

[winstoneptx]

Goodluck FB team and bring back a victory.

GO MINERS

 

[utep2step]

I picked you guys to beat Rice and doing the same this week. Key stats for me are ODU against D1 teams are allowing 208 rushing yards per game and teams are converting on 51% of third down attempts. Miners should be able to run the ball and dominate time of possession.

UTEP's backfield took another hit with Luafasa having knee problems and we lost backup Dowell during Rice game. UTEP's emergence of a pretty decent passing game could not have come at a better time. It gave Rice fits and had no answer for it really. Hopefully it will against ODU. UTEP sucks major rocks playing on the east coast.