UTEP Defensive Line

[UTEPDefense]

Tonight, UTEP’s defensive line put up one of the top single game performances that I have ever seen from a UTEP D-line, so I just wanted to quickly recognize them:

Keenan Stewart had 12 tackles tonight. Twelve Tackles from a DT/DE is just incredible! I stated 3 weeks ago, that I thought he had the potential to possibly develop into a second team all-conference type of player......but I wasn’t expecting that this year. The sophomore just keeps getting better in only his 5th ever D1 game.

Kelton Moss had 7 tackles tonight and it is amazing(and extremely rare) to have 2 of your top 3 tacklers in a game be your 2 DT’s, which is exactly what happened for UTEP tonight.

Then Praise had his way with La. Tech’s back-up tackles, with 3.5 sacks and 4 pass break-ups. These stats are also incredible and one of the better single game individual DE stats that I have seen a UTEP DE produce. He is just a sophomore as well.

I thought Taylor showed some improvement tonight, but if we could just add one more high quality DE, then I think we could really have something here.

I will also say that Dimel made an interesting point in the post game show. It is odd that UTEP’s defensive line could dominate so much.....yet the La. Tech offensive line was not called for one holding call against them in the entire game. That does seem odd.

Finally, in a non D-line thought, Dimel also stated in the post game that our running game just wasn’t good enough tonight. But Dimel needs to take responsibility for that, as through the majority of the game, Fields led the team in carries. Of course the running game is not going to be effective with Fields, everybody knows that, yet Dimel wasted so many plays tonight running him. And of course as mentioned, Awatt and Eldridge had zero carries.

 

[JCorona]

Do you think LT missing two starting tackles and then the other injuries to the o line during the game contributed or is this what we can expect from the dline going forward?

 

[Dmanminer]

Both, will they be that dominant against everyone else? Probably not. Will they continue to get pressure and sacks. Hell ya. These are not the old miners with no talent.
Shame the game coaching hasn’t caught up to their recruiting.

 

[minermx07]

That defensive line has been an absolute pleasure to watch. I wonder how those guys fell to us. Either way, kudos to the D-Line.

 

[MineroFanatico]

That defensive line has been an absolute pleasure to watch. I wonder how those guys fell to us. Either way, kudos to the D-Line.

Overlooked JC guys. And regardless of how we view his coaching abilities, Dimel has made some “friends” along the way. Some are possibly guys he was looking at when he was at KSU that didn’t have the grades or test scores at the time.

However it was that they arrived, damn glad to have them.

 

[JCorona]

Everyone likes to blame coaching. LT has won 6 bowl games in a year and their fans are complaining about Holtz coaching. Here’s a quote from one of their fans.

“Holtz couldn't coach someone out of a phonebooth. He is clueless, stuck in his old ways, unable to adapt, change.”

 

[minermx07]

I’ll never complain of competitive football. Fluctuate between 4-8 wins every year, keep UTEP out of the bottom 10 and here’s your lifetime contract.

 

[utep2step]

It was interesting hearing Golic call this game. I was always thought the guy was an echo chamber for ESPN but his picking out the details of UTEP & La Tech mistakes was nice to listen, too. He gave kudos to both when justified and ripped both equally over plays, too.

For what it's worth, that Trent Thompson tippy toe catch that was not over turned was a game changer. That was clearly a catch. But heck, the penalties probably would have reared their ugly head to kill the drive anyways.

Dimel, do not take 3 off the board ever again on 4 and 1 and in range, unless 3 is not enough late in the 4th. A 7 minute drive and nothing to show for it is a soul killer.

 

[JCorona]

I’ll never complain of competitive football. Fluctuate between 4-8 wins every year, keep UTEP out of the bottom 10 and here’s your lifetime contract.

Exactly our only team with a winning record in the last 15 years got pummeled 55-3 in Ruston. That’s the same LT that lost at home to an FCS team a week prior. I’m very satisfied with the direction we’re going.

 

[UTEPDefense]

My concerns are always the structural issues. For instance we had another delay of game penalty last night and our offense burned 2 of our second half time-outs and one was because we couldn’t get the play call in quick enough. How many games this season have we had a delay of game? I believe that it is all but one game. And regardless of QB, how many delay of games have we had during Dimel’s 2.5 years?, it is way too many and happens way too often under Dimel.

Last night we were leaving the backs in to block on passing downs, which is not giving Hardison the normal check-down option. Fields just doesn’t have the speed to make a check down anything more than a minimal gain anyway, so if he is in the game, I guess just go ahead and leave him in to block, but that is only giving the defense 3 receivers to cover.

So for the second half last night, Dimel’s offense got the ball first, it burned two of our three second half time-outs and it only produced a total of 3 second half points. Has Dimel’s offense ever produced a good point scoring performance against a “good” team, during his time at UTEP(maybe the UNT game his first year?) We have said it before, but Dimel really need to hire an OC that he can turn the offense over to and then he can just focus on being the Head Coach and recruiting.

La. Tech just starting bring people every passing down and UTEP kept throwing it deep, where there were always a safety back with the deep routes. There had to be so much open field available in the shorter vacated areas where the blitzers were coming from. Why could we not take advantage of that?

Hardison must get better at setting his feet and throwing the ball. His mechanics were poor last night and he missed a couple of open deep passes short, simply because he didn’t set his feet when he threw it.

I understand the frustration towards La. Tech not getting many penalties, but I thought almost all of our penalties were legit calls. You can’t act like an idiot and throw a guy 5 yards out of bounds. That is the same undisciplined type of football that Dimel allowed for most of last season. I was disapointed in Dimel in the post game show, by not accepting that our enormous amount of penalties last night is a major issue that he needs to fix now! Instead, he appeared to be pasisng it off as unfair that they got called for so many.

For us to take the next step on offense, we really need our O-line to continue to improve and then we need to upgrade a better RB to take Fields carries and also find one more high quality WR with speed. Imagine our offense, if a healthy Q Wadley from two years ago was getting all of Fields carries this year. I think our offense would look much better and we probably would have won last night.

 

[MineroFanatico]

To each their own. I think complaining about last night’s coaching is completely justified.

I said it all night, the first half’s play calling was creative and showed off our diversity and talent. 2nd half play calling lacked a plan. It seemed like backyard football. It wasn’t methodical. We had about 150 yards in the first half on 5 possessions. We had about 115 yards in the second half on 8 possessions. What happened? Why’d we abandon what we were doing?

I am not down on this team because of last night’s loss, but by the same token I am hyper aware of how winnable of a game it was. I think it was kickball that said something along the lines of we’ve come a long way but we’re not there yet. Completely agree. However this team is a formidable opponent now.

I’m proud of the way our guys played, especially on defense. What an effort!! We shut La Tech down most of the night. Last week I said at this point I’d hang our hat on the defense and last night made me even more of a believer. We held La Tech, at their home to 210 total yards. A team averaging 360 yards per contest.

C’mon coaches. Put our guys in better position to win these kinds of games. Everything from play calling to the personnel being used, to calling off the dawgs instead of trying to block a punt in final 4 minutes, to drilling into these kids heads there will be hell to pay on Sunday for dumbass penalties, especially the personal foul type where it can be avoided. Details, details, details!

 

[MineroFanatico]

Let it be said, with all the bitching and moaning I’ve done since last night’s loss, I am excited to see what this team can do the rest of the way. Aside from some open field tackling issues, I love the way our defense attacks the ball. The offense has potential.

I haven’t been this excited about UTEP football in a long time.

 

[Voice of the Mosquito]

Give a bit of credit to our secondary as well, for the most part they were in good position and made a few killer hits on their receivers early in the game. Really this game came down to execution a few more completed plays, a call or two swinging our way, and a few less penalties and we win. But overall we played solid football just not enough of it. Our opponent had much the same type of game just a few more breaks they we did. Two things I like about this years teams so far (1) we don't seem to be giving up the backbreaking big plays we did in years past. Last few years we always seem to be doing OK, then make a turnover, give up a long run or long pass and we collapsed. (2) We seem to be holding our own physically in games (sans UT). I don't see the massive gap in athleticism between us and our opponents and in a few positions we actually are dominant.

 

[MinerInWisconsin]

I'm really enjoying reading this board today. For the first time in quite a while this board resembles one that follows a real college football team. It feels great. I'm looking forward to the espn2 broadcast of the USM game and looking for a Miner victory in that one. Picks up!

 

[Voice of the Mosquito]

Same here, no politics, no covid, just football (and not the type of football you want to gouge your eyes out watching, which Miner fans have been exposed too, over and over) If we can get basketball rolling, time to ditch those paper sacks we've been wearing over our heads.

 

[picks up]

Same here, no politics, no covid, just football (and not the type of football you want to gouge your eyes out watching, which Miner fans have been exposed too, over and over) If we can get basketball rolling, time to ditch those paper sacks we've been wearing over our heads.

Also good to see the trolls go MIA instead of derailing threads

 

[axingfools1]

Miners had a few great chances at interceptions in the 4th quarter as well. Things just didn't fall our way with the penalties, missed deep passes and poor offense in the 2nd half. I think we win that game more often then not if played multiple times.

This COVID year and changes in schedule have given Dimel some breathing room, however I'm still dissapointed in his inability to adjust on offense. It really does remind me of Terry last year. He is either being stubborn in forcing a square into a round hole, or he doesn't trust his players in being able to adjust. I say its a combination of bith just because of how the kids are always looking towards the sideline for direction AND how Dimmel is unable to trust better plays and run with them.

I know we don't watch practice, but we've seen enough game play to know who should be getting the ball and which simple in-game adjustments can be made.

 

[minermx07]

Check down options are limited due to a weakness at the slot WR position, TE, and QB. The guys at those spots aren’t getting it done.

Hardinson is a C- QB right now. Which is a Massive upgrade from what we had in the past. He has the physical tools. Needs to be quicker with the ball, use his eyes better, set his feet, make better pre-reads. That’s a lot of stuff to
Improve. If he can do just one of those things better going forward we might be .500. If he can do all of it, we might be legit good, but that’s a lot of Improvement to ask for in just 1 year.