If they had called the game at halftime, my prediction would have been right. A shit show by both teams tonight. If UTEP wins more than three games this year it will be a miracle. When does basketball start?
Predictions on Utep's first win of the season vs NMSU
- Thread starter nattybry
- Start date
We have certainly regressed from last year. No excuse for this pathetic performance on year five with Dimel. The aggies almost beat us under their first year coach. Totally unacceptable! GA Southern, App State and Marshall are getting the job done and we Still Can’t.
It's maddening. You can't win with a qb with sub 50% completion percentage. A qb needs to have a 70% completion percentage. This team would be better off letting Brownholtz run the read off option with some RPO's. As someone mentioned earlier Dimel's offense is made for a running qb. The offense needs to be stripped down. 12-27 ain't gong to cut it. We got real lucky tonight.
This should have been the over by the first half. Dimel needs to step down.
UTEP was 3 for 3 on 3rd downs on the 1st drive. No 3rd down conversions after that. UTEP had 17 first downs to NMSU's 2 at one point. They both finished the game with 17 first downs.
Ronald Awatt did not throw anyone under the bus but when asked what was the difference in the 2nd half, he said NMSU made them throw on the RPO.
Ronald Awatt did not throw anyone under the bus but when asked what was the difference in the 2nd half, he said NMSU made them throw on the RPO.
We have to fire Senter first. There are 128 fbs AD'S. Senter is the only one who who would've hired Dimel. I don't even want to know who he would replace him with.. Senter is several fries short of a happy meal. You can't change the athletic department without cutting the head off the snake.
It’s Sunday morning and after church reflection and looking on last nights win to a very bad but rebuilding NMSU team, it’s best Dimel step down. Please coach, do the right thing.
Dimel ain’t stepping down when UTEP owes him more than a million bucks. Keep on living in fantasy land.
So yes there were questionable calls and I don't love the way the end of that half or second half was handled. Dimel doesn't have a killer instinct, he just likes to manage the game and play it safe which can backfire like it almost did last night. With that said the ugly win is squarely on Hardison. He had open receivers running free all night and could've moved the sticks and scored more. He was plain awful and that's why it was closer than we'd all like. However it's a win moving on to the other NM school!
The basic thesis of Dimel football. UTEP's best stat is T.O.P..
So when does basketball start?
Stop asking coaches to step down. It happens a lot on this board. How often do coaches step down due to bad performance? If anything they want to finish the season and get fired to collect their contract payout knowing they're about to get paid.
My worthless thoughts on the game:
Positives:
1. We won
2. The first half was fun
3. The crowd was a lot bigger than I expected
4. We finally got the run game going even though we got away from it
5. The tailgate I was at
6. We caused turnovers including one that won the game
Negatives:
1. QB play
2. Getting away from the run game
3. Tackling
4. The second half
5. I have no problem with the game being closer than expected in a rivalry game. I do have a problem with us being up 17-0 at the half and letting a bad team back in it. This leads to #6
6. Bad coaching. We are consistently outplayed in the second halves in all of our games. We make no adjustments and our play calling is uninspiring.
7. Only scoring 3 points in the second half
8. The muffed punt. This gave them life then that life gave them momentum. How is it that Dimel has not been able to recruit someone that can catch a punt in 5 years? It feels like receiving punts is always an adventure
9. I think we have taken a step back from last year
10. Our D Line still hasn't been the strength that we thought it would be.
11. Hardison hangs on to the ball too long
12. I know we are UTEP fans and should be thankful for every win we get but it's hard to be happy after what we saw yesterday.
13. I know it's early but I don't know if we become bowl eligible this year.
14. The game against Oklahoma gave me hope. The offense moved the ball well. Maybe that was fluke.
Hopefully UTEP makes me eat my words. Just hard to find a lot of good in what I saw last night. Please beat the Lobos
Positives:
1. We won
2. The first half was fun
3. The crowd was a lot bigger than I expected
4. We finally got the run game going even though we got away from it
5. The tailgate I was at
6. We caused turnovers including one that won the game
Negatives:
1. QB play
2. Getting away from the run game
3. Tackling
4. The second half
5. I have no problem with the game being closer than expected in a rivalry game. I do have a problem with us being up 17-0 at the half and letting a bad team back in it. This leads to #6
6. Bad coaching. We are consistently outplayed in the second halves in all of our games. We make no adjustments and our play calling is uninspiring.
7. Only scoring 3 points in the second half
8. The muffed punt. This gave them life then that life gave them momentum. How is it that Dimel has not been able to recruit someone that can catch a punt in 5 years? It feels like receiving punts is always an adventure
9. I think we have taken a step back from last year
10. Our D Line still hasn't been the strength that we thought it would be.
11. Hardison hangs on to the ball too long
12. I know we are UTEP fans and should be thankful for every win we get but it's hard to be happy after what we saw yesterday.
13. I know it's early but I don't know if we become bowl eligible this year.
14. The game against Oklahoma gave me hope. The offense moved the ball well. Maybe that was fluke.
Hopefully UTEP makes me eat my words. Just hard to find a lot of good in what I saw last night. Please beat the Lobos
I was with a couple friends (not UTEP fans), one of which isn’t much of a football fan, but we were switching back and forth between the UTEP game, the Baylor game and the UFC fights.
At one point we came back to the Miner game in the 2nd half and the not-so-much-fb-fan compared the energy, or lack there of, to the NPR girls from Saturday Night Live. I had to laugh because he was right. Everything about that game lacked buzz and excitement. Anyway…
At one point we came back to the Miner game in the 2nd half and the not-so-much-fb-fan compared the energy, or lack there of, to the NPR girls from Saturday Night Live. I had to laugh because he was right. Everything about that game lacked buzz and excitement. Anyway…
What i noticed from where I sat last night is that NMSU had no Defensive Players deeper than 9-10 yards. They sold out on the run and went man on the receivers.
They basically said Hardison needs to beat us. The NMSU LBs didn't drop at all vs the RPO and played the run. It was like a Goal line/Red Zone Defense.
You've got a QB that completes 2 out of every 5 passes. Either you change the QB or you spread out the Defense with 4 wide receiver sets.
They basically said Hardison needs to beat us. The NMSU LBs didn't drop at all vs the RPO and played the run. It was like a Goal line/Red Zone Defense.
You've got a QB that completes 2 out of every 5 passes. Either you change the QB or you spread out the Defense with 4 wide receiver sets.
It's all rainbows and unicorn's when this place lights up during the hiring process but here we go with the fighting between the fan base and Senter/Dimel supporters just like what happened with Floyd. At least Floyd won some games.
Dimel is not a good coach. If he doesn't want to step down or Senter pulls an Uncle Bob and keeps him for seven long years like he did with Price, so be it. Just spare us the "It's your team El Paso". I carried the water. Wore my UTEP shirt every Friday during the seasons. Went toe to toe against aggie alums. Wore my shirt proudly in Norman and took the barrage of verbal abuse.
Don't make this personal Fan Committee members. Dimel is a good man but not the right coach. He has a fat retirement. Step down and give a young and up and coming coach a shot.
That was ugly last night.
Dimel is not a good coach. If he doesn't want to step down or Senter pulls an Uncle Bob and keeps him for seven long years like he did with Price, so be it. Just spare us the "It's your team El Paso". I carried the water. Wore my UTEP shirt every Friday during the seasons. Went toe to toe against aggie alums. Wore my shirt proudly in Norman and took the barrage of verbal abuse.
Don't make this personal Fan Committee members. Dimel is a good man but not the right coach. He has a fat retirement. Step down and give a young and up and coming coach a shot.
That was ugly last night.
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Yes, he stepped down but it wasn't his choice. He was "encouraged" to step down so he could save face and not be fired. I'm sure he still got his payout
I agree 100%. The reality is we have a center who can’t snap the ball, a quarterback so can’t hit the broad side of a barn and WRs who can’t catch. I don’t care if you have Dana Dimmel, Steve Spurrier, Bill Walsh or Urban Meyer running the offense we’re not moving the ball.
Dimel was the right guy to build a roster and regroup from what Kugler left behind. But I agree with most people who say this is his ceiling. Floyd inherited a talented NCAA tournament roster. It was 2 different scenarios.
I dont like coaches getting fired or quitting midseason because you get a lame duck situation with a staff who knows they're putting their houses for sale.
See what happens but The Football program can be a quick turnaround for the next , hopefully in the Spring.
I dont like coaches getting fired or quitting midseason because you get a lame duck situation with a staff who knows they're putting their houses for sale.
See what happens but The Football program can be a quick turnaround for the next , hopefully in the Spring.
That’s your opinion and we won’t know if he was the “right guy”. If you go back and look at when he was hired, nobody here was excited or happy with the hire initially, especially since it was Senter’s first hire and we thought it would be “different” because he had no UTEP ties.
If Senter would have hired a young assistant or someone other than a retread with a POOR head coaching record and 16 year gap in doing so, things might have been different. Not sure how much worse it would have been in 2018-20. He beat awful Rice and ULM teams and 3 FCS opponents. No other coach could have done that???
I agree. Step back and think about active CFB coaches in tiers (list is just examples — not meant to be exhaustive):
A + Saban
A Smart; Dabo
B+ (good but no or no recent natty) Day, Riley, Jimbo, Harbaugh
B Gundy
Quibble with the tiers or names, but where does Dimel grade out on a list like this? D? F? Literally no other D1 program would want him.
Good points. But in my opinion the program talent level wasn't good enough for a quick turnaround. Dimel was right that it was a 5-6 process. Not sure if a young assistant would have the experience or patience to take on that kind of overhaul.
I just feel like right now the Miners are in better shape for a change then they were when Kugler left.
Can we trust Senter to hire a second head football coach? He'd better be looking right this minute for a replacement for Dimel. Dimel was adequate to the moment when he was hired. He built the kind of team he wanted from scratch. He wanted five years to do it. From his point of view, that was the deal he needed to come to UTEP. But we are seeing that he reached his peak last season. We are seeing why no one ever kept him more than three or four years. UTEP shouldn't keep him after this season. Baring a miracle, the Miners won't win more than three games this year and that only because New Mexico and Florida International are even worse than we are.
**** no! Senter needs to go as badly as Dimel needs to go. No way in hell I’d trust his judgement in hiring another fb coach.
Wasn't there negotiations with an assistant from a large program but a figure could not be reached?
When have we been anything other than last? The first two seasons under Price? Because I remember after that he suffered big time once he was bringing in bums.
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I was responding to the “Dimel has rebuilt out roster” narrative. I’m not so sure.
There was definitely talk on this board that we passed on an up and coming coach (or two). This board is the only place I heard that. Every other source and place said that we could not give the UTEP job away. That’s how bad the program was in at the end of the Kugler reign. A losing program didn’t describe it. Nobody wanted the stink of an unfixable program on their resume. Hence the hiring of Dimel and the promise of 5 seasons.
The job was offered to Mike Houston. He would have taken it but he wanted 1.5 million per season. He wouldn't take a penny less. I heard our best offer was 1.1 million. He turned down the job. A year later he went to ECU for 1.5 million a year. He got an extension last year that now pays him 2.1 million a year.
Mike Canales was another name rumored at the time. Of course he became the OC under Dimel.
Jim Mora Jr now the coach at UCONN also applied for the job. I don't think he was ever seriously considered but he wanted the job.
Colby Carthell, the coach at SFA lobbied for the job. He was coming off a d2 national title at A&M Commerce. Several big time Texas high school coaches called Senter lobbying for him to hire Carthell. I don't think he was a finalist
