Utep most likely will not win again this year. We thought this team would be improved after a pretty good last year a d we've found this team is Awful without they're Dynamic player Jones! The defense gave great effort, the offense was just off and Metz came back down to earth in a hard way. No good will come out of this season, except young players getting experience. Kuglers recruiting classes are starting to show now, that they are just not very good! This will be my last post about Football this year, in my opinion, this season is done and we are one of the worst teams in the country. I am a fan so we'll see what happens next year and on to Basketball!!!
Reality...
- Thread starter nattybry
- Start date
Be realistic. The secondary went down due to injury and Higgins sucks. But the players show fight and grit. UTEP has a coaching problem not a player problem. I do hold Kugler responsible for this loss and he should be embarrased.
We lost to a team that was winless. I understand they had a brutal pre conference schedule, however, this was a winnable game at home. The offense failed to show up last night. The offensive line has been a huge dissapointment all year long. They were not able to protect the QB and open holes for the running backs. Metz played a bad game and the receivers dropped a lot of balls. UTEP needed to take control early and not make any mistakes, which they failed to do. There were huge expectations at the start of the season. What a difference a year makes.
I'm not defending what happened, but wasn't this the knock on Metz that he makes bad decisions? I thought there were a couple of passes that were close to being picked off against Incarnate Word. I thought the O-line was supposed to be the unequivocal strength of the team, I don't get what happened there.
Yeah last night was the reason Metz was third on the depth chart.
Our offense was their offense. The score is is a direct result of what the offense did and didn't do. Utep could of won an ugly game, but not with 3 pick six and a int in the end zone when your trynna score and a 4 and out after a huge turnover and u have a chance to be back in it. He's young, but this game is on the offense and Metz Totally!
Huh
I agree. Ironically last night I was thinking if Leftwich was the qb we would have won. He doesnt make mistakes. Leftwich lacks the ability to win a shootout but he wins ugly games. Hopefully Metz bounces back. He is struggling with accuracy and reading defenses. Scary thing right now is i dont know if our qb of the future is on the roster.
I agree. Ironically last night I was thinking if Leftwich was the qb we would have won. He doesnt make mistakes. Leftwich lacks the ability to win a shootout but he wins ugly games. Hopefully Metz bounces back. He is struggling with accuracy and reading defenses. Scary thing right now is i dont know if our qb of the future is on the roster.
I really like Metz and think he will be a good QB for us some day. Metz had a bad outing last night and was lucky that more of his passes were not intercepted. There's a reason Metz was the 3rd string QB in the rotation. The kid is a RS freshman and will continue to make these type of mistakes. He needs to make better decisions and not force passes. He is not there yet. I still believe Simpson is the best QB UTEP has. I know I've asked this before, why is Simpson not playing? We know it's not because of injury. Simpson has the tools to lead this offense. He knows this vanilla offensive scheme and was Showers' back up last year. Simpson looked the best at camp and during scrimmage games. Some say he has a bad attitude. Well, I would be pissed if I was the best QB on the team and not allowed to play. We need to have our best players on the field! As some of you have alluded, Kugler is very stubborn and for some reason will not use Simpson. I want to see our best players on the field. Is that too much to ask?
Simpson's attitude is what is keeping him off the field. Last night he mishandled a snap just being careless. Kugler was very upset. Kugler was also upset about something Simpson did during the NMSU game as well. I think Simpson has one foot out the door. He has all the physical talent, but lacks in attitude and preparation.
They'll win again, but the question becomes what type of progress will UTEP show by the end of the season. What I'm beginning to think is them doing one less in the loss category will be considered progress. That's not the type of progress you want to see from a 3rd year coach.
I agree 2step. This was a combination of problems, injuries to key personnel being central; however, that said, the team appeared to be completely flat and not ready to play. That is a coaching issue and Kugler needs to address it immediately.
The O-line has been a disappointment to this point in the season. Wonder how much of the problem is with the O-line coach?
Running more of a spread-type offense takes pressure off of the o-line, but that's not what Kugler wants to be.
Maybe so, but it's not like he has a "Steeler" like line... Jones is truly out of this world, because since his departure, nobody can run. That's on the O line. Metz looked way off, but that happens. He did cost the game, but he also won the previous 2... Still a lot of games to be played. regroup and figure this crap out, and Kugler stop being so stubborn. I hate the 2-3 yard passes, they are horrible.
UTEP is now ranked #167 in Sagarin's ratings, #128 in schedule strength:
http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm
http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm
The irony is Kugler's luck with the scheduling gods continues. Last year UTEP's schedule was galactically pathetic (it was, do the research), and this season he avoids three best football teams in C-USA.
If ever - IF EVER - there was a game UTEP SHOULD have won, it was last night. Kugler built this team to be one dimensional, to win games in bad weather against smaller, less physical teams (especially those that were winless), run straight at 'em, ram it down their throats, etc. Jones or not, you could have put ME at tailback at the Oline should have done the rest. Jones or no Jones, it didn't happen. Instead, you ask guys to pass block who were recruited to play "Sean Kugler football". And you wonder why they can't pass protect the QB? Under this regime, 65% of all plays have been handoffs, mostly five yard deep handoffs, running the ball straight at smaller, less physical teams. Having the fattest offensive line on the field doesn't get you a lot these days. And anybody who says different has never played offensive line.
Wheels are coming off, last night = Exhibit A...
The Miners will still win the Conference. Alot of teams lose 1 conference game and win the rest. This will be the case.
We'll see. Western Kentucky is way more efficient with their offense than UTSA. UTEP hasn't beaten Rice since the first Roosevelt was in office (joking) and LA Tech had UTEP's number last season and UTEPs defense was better last season. But the power of positive thinking has done great things before.
It sure didn't appear that the players had any fight and grit at all last night. That has to be on the coach.
There's always hope. LOL!
If UTEP looks crappy next week in Florida like they did Saturday. Kugler needs to do a serious reevaluation. During the spring and into fall camp UTEP was bringing in all these tough and gritty recruits, Jones was bigger, leaner and faster, Left was the future (even though outside observers were saying Metz actually looked better), the OLine was the anchor, deepest and strength of the team, secondary were gritty veterans and deep to (but then all went down one by one as fall camp came to an end), the two WR's Odham and Juneil were going to lift the passing game up several notches.....and so on and so forth...
This was all out of Kugler's mouth and the UTEP websites and local sports media ate up like a hobo on a ham sandwich and are now backtracking while the fans saw the Toledo vs Arkansas score and asked WTF? Something is up. Anyways. That's the past and I honestly think Kugler lost a ton of sleep, slept in office, and looks like Grizzly Adams and is brutally honest with himself. He will try to fix it. Just wish he was more open to a passing game. If the run game is so damn critical and the only way to go, why isn't Georgia Tech (or even UNM) winning the conference year after year?
Yea, Metz had 2 great games against high school teams....then we saw why he was 3rd string. I feel for the kid, the media (which his dad is part of) built him up so high....an icon, a legend, magical Metz, eagle eye Metz, the best player on the offense Metz.....I think he started drinking his own kool aid. At least someone had the good sense to remove that post game presser of his total emotional breakdown before too many saw it. Leftwich ain't fancy but I do think he's likely the smartest qb. I hope Metz can get his nervous emotions in check this week.
We praised Metz in the NMSU game because he won the game for UTEP. You have to give credit where credit is due. I don't think it has anything to do with his ego.
They were playing a team that utep should have won if he could have settled down. He lost the game last week.
"That was a bad performance, I'm not hiding anything, that's probably the worst game I've ever played my whole life," Metz said.
This is why I like Metz- he takes accountability.
This is why I like Metz- he takes accountability.
Our recruiting classes were bad TXST NT UTSA were most likely above us. Kruger is about to learn how important recruiting is as Floyd has. BB is El Paso so hopefully we have a good one.
I agree, but I hope the accountability religion everyone is now proclaiming in the program after the UTSA disaster leads to wins. This is football, not T.E.A. Party central.
