UTEP vs. NMSU Film Review.

[UTEPDefense]

I went back last night and re-watched the game on the ESPN 3 replay and here are a few obvservations:

- Coach Dimel did a lot of good things that should have translated into success. For instance, on the Kai Locksley sack that he fumbled for a NMSU TD, Dimel went max protect on that play, Dimel put 7 guys in to block for Locksley and we only ran 3 WR’s in that pass route. Dimel tried to throw the ball down the field on that play and he did everything that he could to try and get his QB time. But when a coach calls a max protect and leaves 7 guys in to block, yet the QB still gets sacked, then that can’t be blamed on coaching, the coach was foreseeing the problem and doing all that he could to combat it, but it still didn’t work.

- Following up on my first point, Dimel mentioned today in his news conference how he felt like there were some good moments where he would have normally taken some shots down the field, but he had to restrain his play calling simply because he didn’t know if we could protect long enough to throw it down field. Again, our coach is having to work around the limitations of his team.

- Late in the 4th quarter, on 3rd down during our second-to-last drive, Locksley got sacked and we had to kick a Field Goal. On that 3rd down sack, Warren Redix was wide open for a Touchdown. Again, you can’t blame the coaches for running a route scheme that placed a WR wide open. But this missed opportunity sometimes happens when a QB is only playing his 4th D1 game and has been on campus less than a year. Hopefully as Locksley gains more experience, then he will learn from this and hit this route next time.

- Watching our two freshman Left Tackle and Left Guard is fun. These two freshman were solid and the left side of our line performed much better than the right side. I am starting to think that one of Dimel’s biggest recruiting jobs will be keeping Henry here for four years. He’s not perfect and he had a holding call as well, but I am impressed with how well he is progressing. He is physical and physically looks like an upperclassmen. De Haro also has a bright future for us and pulls really well on the QB iso’s. The biggest potential positive here is that Henry is one of Dimel’s first high school recruits to play and if Dimel’s recruiting/evaluation continues to be as close to good as Henry, then we should have some much brighter days coming.

- We had a new center(Hosseni) come in only a couple of plays before the bad snap that led to the fumble on the goal line. Our starting center(Lujan) appeared to have a shoe issue and had to go out, then our 3rd different center that we have used in only 4 games this season had a bad snap. Again, it’s hard for me to blame coaching for a situation as extremely odd and unique as that.

- Overall, I feel even better about things after watching the film. We still have a long ways to go, but when viewing through a long term perspective, I am seeing areas of improvement.

 

[unihorn]

I went back last night and re-watched the game on the ESPN 3 replay and here are a few obvservations:

- Coach Dimel did a lot of good things that should have translated into success. For instance, on the Kai Locksley sack that he fumbled for a NMSU TD, Dimel went max protect on that play, Dimel put 7 guys in to block for Locksley and we only ran 3 WR’s in that pass route. Dimel tried to throw the ball down the field on that play and he did everything that he could to try and get his QB time. But when a coach calls a max protect and leaves 7 guys in to block, yet the QB still gets sacked, then that can’t be blamed on coaching, the coach was foreseeing the problem and doing all that he could to combat it, but it still didn’t work.

- Following up on my first point, Dimel mentioned today in his news conference how he felt like there were some good moments where he would have normally taken some shots down the field, but he had to restrain his play calling simply because he didn’t know if we could protect long enough to throw it down field. Again, our coach is having to work around the limitations of his team.

- Late in the 4th quarter, on 3rd down during our second-to-last drive, Locksley got sacked and we had to kick a Field Goal. On that 3rd down sack, Warren Redix was wide open for a Touchdown. Again, you can’t blame the coaches for running a route scheme that placed a WR wide open. But this missed opportunity sometimes happens when a QB is only playing his 4th D1 game and has been on campus less than a year. Hopefully as Locksley gains more experience, then he will learn from this and hit this route next time.

- Watching our two freshman Left Tackle and Left Guard is fun. These two freshman were solid and the left side of our line performed much better than the right side. I am starting to think that one of Dimel’s biggest recruiting jobs will be keeping Henry here for four years. He’s not perfect and he had a holding call as well, but I am impressed with how well he is progressing. He is physical and physically looks like an upperclassmen. De Haro also has a bright future for us and pulls really well on the QB iso’s. The biggest potential positive here is that Henry is one of Dimel’s first high school recruits to play and if Dimel’s recruiting/evaluation continues to be as close to good as Henry, then we should have some much brighter days coming.

- We had a new center(Hosseni) come in only a couple of plays before the bad snap that led to the fumble on the goal line. Our starting center(Lujan) appeared to have a shoe issue and had to go out, then our 3rd different center that we have used in only 4 games this season had a bad snap. Again, it’s hard for me to blame coaching for a situation as extremely odd and unique as that.

- Overall, I feel even better about things after watching the film. We still have a long ways to go, but when viewing through a long term perspective, I am seeing areas of improvement.

Does Dimel call plays on offense?

 

[UTEPDefense]

That’s a good question because Canales has been getting a lot of focus, but at minimum it appears that Dimel is heavily involved if he isn’t actually making some calls. Dimel mentioned the late 3rd down pass to Winston in the post game show and it sure sounded like he was involved in that play call as he talked about the set-up of it. Then the quote about taking shots deep indicated that again he is involved with at least some of the play calling. Personally, I would be happy to see Dimel involved and not just completely handing that over to Canales.

 

[unihorn]

That’s a good question because Canales has been getting a lot of focus, but at minimum it appears that Dimel is heavily involved if he isn’t actually making some calls. Dimel mentioned the late 3rd down pass to Winston after the game and it sure sounded like he was involved in that play call as he talked about the set-up of it. Then the quote about taking shots deep indicated that again he is involved with at least some of the play calling. Personally, I would be happy to see Dimel involved and not just completely handing that over to Canales.

During the Tennessee broadcast, it sure looked like Dimel called some of the plays from the sidelines. Is Canales in the booth?

 

[unihorn]

I went back last night and re-watched the game on the ESPN 3 replay and here are a few obvservations:

- Coach Dimel did a lot of good things that should have translated into success. For instance, on the Kai Locksley sack that he fumbled for a NMSU TD, Dimel went max protect on that play, Dimel put 7 guys in to block for Locksley and we only ran 3 WR’s in that pass route. Dimel tried to throw the ball down the field on that play and he did everything that he could to try and get his QB time. But when a coach calls a max protect and leaves 7 guys in to block, yet the QB still gets sacked, then that can’t be blamed on coaching, the coach was foreseeing the problem and doing all that he could to combat it, but it still didn’t work.

- Following up on my first point, Dimel mentioned today in his news conference how he felt like there were some good moments where he would have normally taken some shots down the field, but he had to restrain his play calling simply because he didn’t know if we could protect long enough to throw it down field. Again, our coach is having to work around the limitations of his team.

- Late in the 4th quarter, on 3rd down during our second-to-last drive, Locksley got sacked and we had to kick a Field Goal. On that 3rd down sack, Warren Redix was wide open for a Touchdown. Again, you can’t blame the coaches for running a route scheme that placed a WR wide open. But this missed opportunity sometimes happens when a QB is only playing his 4th D1 game and has been on campus less than a year. Hopefully as Locksley gains more experience, then he will learn from this and hit this route next time.

- Watching our two freshman Left Tackle and Left Guard is fun. These two freshman were solid and the left side of our line performed much better than the right side. I am starting to think that one of Dimel’s biggest recruiting jobs will be keeping Henry here for four years. He’s not perfect and he had a holding call as well, but I am impressed with how well he is progressing. He is physical and physically looks like an upperclassmen. De Haro also has a bright future for us and pulls really well on the QB iso’s. The biggest potential positive here is that Henry is one of Dimel’s first high school recruits to play and if Dimel’s recruiting/evaluation continues to be as close to good as Henry, then we should have some much brighter days coming.

- We had a new center(Hosseni) come in only a couple of plays before the bad snap that led to the fumble on the goal line. Our starting center(Lujan) appeared to have a shoe issue and had to go out, then our 3rd different center that we have used in only 4 games this season had a bad snap. Again, it’s hard for me to blame coaching for a situation as extremely odd and unique as that.

- Overall, I feel even better about things after watching the film. We still have a long ways to go, but when viewing through a long term perspective, I am seeing areas of improvement.

Good post. Hopefully the players are staying confident in their coaches, too.

 

[Roy_Bigwood_05]

From what I heard, Dimel calls the play, and formations, Canales set ups the personnel in terms of who lines up there....I'll try to get more details.

 

[miner1liner]

I went back last night and re-watched the game on the ESPN 3 replay and here are a few obvservations:

- Coach Dimel did a lot of good things that should have translated into success. For instance, on the Kai Locksley sack that he fumbled for a NMSU TD, Dimel went max protect on that play, Dimel put 7 guys in to block for Locksley and we only ran 3 WR’s in that pass route. Dimel tried to throw the ball down the field on that play and he did everything that he could to try and get his QB time. But when a coach calls a max protect and leaves 7 guys in to block, yet the QB still gets sacked, then that can’t be blamed on coaching, the coach was foreseeing the problem and doing all that he could to combat it, but it still didn’t work.

- Following up on my first point, Dimel mentioned today in his news conference how he felt like there were some good moments where he would have normally taken some shots down the field, but he had to restrain his play calling simply because he didn’t know if we could protect long enough to throw it down field. Again, our coach is having to work around the limitations of his team.

- Late in the 4th quarter, on 3rd down during our second-to-last drive, Locksley got sacked and we had to kick a Field Goal. On that 3rd down sack, Warren Redix was wide open for a Touchdown. Again, you can’t blame the coaches for running a route scheme that placed a WR wide open. But this missed opportunity sometimes happens when a QB is only playing his 4th D1 game and has been on campus less than a year. Hopefully as Locksley gains more experience, then he will learn from this and hit this route next time.

- Watching our two freshman Left Tackle and Left Guard is fun. These two freshman were solid and the left side of our line performed much better than the right side. I am starting to think that one of Dimel’s biggest recruiting jobs will be keeping Henry here for four years. He’s not perfect and he had a holding call as well, but I am impressed with how well he is progressing. He is physical and physically looks like an upperclassmen. De Haro also has a bright future for us and pulls really well on the QB iso’s. The biggest potential positive here is that Henry is one of Dimel’s first high school recruits to play and if Dimel’s recruiting/evaluation continues to be as close to good as Henry, then we should have some much brighter days coming.

- We had a new center(Hosseni) come in only a couple of plays before the bad snap that led to the fumble on the goal line. Our starting center(Lujan) appeared to have a shoe issue and had to go out, then our 3rd different center that we have used in only 4 games this season had a bad snap. Again, it’s hard for me to blame coaching for a situation as extremely odd and unique as that.

- Overall, I feel even better about things after watching the film. We still have a long ways to go, but when viewing through a long term perspective, I am seeing areas of improvement.

Appreciate your very thorough report and analysis. I'll try to regenerate my attitude.

 

[UTEPDefense]

A couple of other thoughts that I didn’t mention in my original post above:

- I don’t know if we are just taking his performances for granted or if he is just getting lost in our winless season, but AJ Hotchkins is having a great year! When you watch him on film, he is all over the field. He is another Dimel recruit and huge upgrade in talent.

- Conversely, Trace Mascorro plays hard but was not effective against NMSU. He appears to be stuck in-between not being big enough to play DT and not fast enough to play DE. He plays hard and is very tough but he also struggled in certain situations.

- Guerra has helped our team all over the line this year, but he has had better games than his performance against NMSU.

- Continuing with the earlier theme of our freshmen LT and LG showing potential. When UTEP ran the smashmouth QB sneak on 4th and 1, they ran behind the two freshman on the left side and got the first down.

 

[unihorn]

A couple of other thoughts that I didn’t mention in my original post above:

- I don’t know if we are just taking his performances for granted or if he is just getting lost in our winless season, but AJ Hotchkins is having a great year! When you watch him on film, he is all over the field. He is another Dimel recruit and huge upgrade in talent.

- Conversely, Trace Mascorro plays hard but was not effective against NMSU. He appears to be stuck in-between not being big enough to play DT and not fast enough to play DE. He plays hard and is very tough but he also struggled in certain situations.

- Guerra has helped our team all over the line this year, but he has had better games than his performance against NMSU.

- Continuing with the earlier theme of our freshmen LT and LG showing potential. When UTEP ran the smashmouth QB sneak on 4th and 1, they ran behind the two freshman on the left side and got the first down.

Weekly feature?

 

[UTEPMiners8106]

A+ breakdown UTEPDefense.

I went over the stats for the last 4 games and compared them to the average for last year, and you can see where UTEP is making progress in some areas as well.
The Miners are averaging almost 2 more PPG (13.5 compared to 11.75) and they are giving up a little more than 3 ppg less than last year (33.25 - 36.75). We are averaging almost 60 YPG more on offense (295.0 - 230.5) While giving up almost 30 YPG less as well (418.5 - 446.6). Granted, these numbers should not make anyone scream hallelujah but at least they are improving especially given how bad we were last year and also in week one.

Offensively passing yards are down this year as opposed to last year (120.75 - 134.92) but UTEP did show a willingness to throw it downfield vs NMSU as they got 194 yards through the air. The run game is averaging way more yards pg (174.3 - 95.6) and have posted better YPC (4.2 - 3.3) and they have 5 TD on the ground through 4 games as opposed to 9 all of last year.

3rd Down conversion is up (35% - 26.88%) as well as T.O.P (32:42 - 27:34). Unfortunately UTEP already has 9 fumbles through 4 games as opposed to 10 all of last year. And they are averaging over 12 yards more via penalty than last year (64.5 - 52.08).

Defensively the overall yardage is down (418.5 - 446.6). They are giving up less Passing Yards Per Game (163.25 - 212.25) but more Rushing Yards Per game (255.3 - 234.3). But The Miners also have 7 sacks through 4 games as opposed to 11 sacks all of last year.

Wadley is averaging 6.6 YPG. That guy needs to be fed the rock a la Aaron Jones.

I know these numbers don’t get fans excited because let’s face it: last years team was awful even by UTEP standards. But even after those big losses to Tennessee and UNLV, and the disaster that was NAU this team is improved over last year. Is that saying much? Probably not. But this really tells me how bare the cupboard was when Dimmel took over. His offense is improved, the defense is playing better. Yes they are giving up more penalties and the passing game has been a little worse. But they did hit a 74 yard pass last week, which was a massive shock. But UTEP has improved almost every major statistic and they still can’t win. The gap is that wide.

 

[minermx07]

That's a really good analysis 8106. I see the improvement too. The team heeds to stop putting the ball in the ground and It'll have a chance to steal a game or two this year.

 

[UTEPMiners8106]

As bad as UTEP was last year they had a chance to win the game vs WKU. There will be a game or two that comes down to the wire this year. Big question is whether The Miners are disciplined enough to not blow the game. Do they have enough fight to take a win in a dog fight?

 

[utep2step]

I went back last night and re-watched the game on the ESPN 3 replay and here are a few obvservations:

- Coach Dimel did a lot of good things that should have translated into success. For instance, on the Kai Locksley sack that he fumbled for a NMSU TD, Dimel went max protect on that play, Dimel put 7 guys in to block for Locksley and we only ran 3 WR’s in that pass route. Dimel tried to throw the ball down the field on that play and he did everything that he could to try and get his QB time. But when a coach calls a max protect and leaves 7 guys in to block, yet the QB still gets sacked, then that can’t be blamed on coaching, the coach was foreseeing the problem and doing all that he could to combat it, but it still didn’t work.

- Following up on my first point, Dimel mentioned today in his news conference how he felt like there were some good moments where he would have normally taken some shots down the field, but he had to restrain his play calling simply because he didn’t know if we could protect long enough to throw it down field. Again, our coach is having to work around the limitations of his team.

- Late in the 4th quarter, on 3rd down during our second-to-last drive, Locksley got sacked and we had to kick a Field Goal. On that 3rd down sack, Warren Redix was wide open for a Touchdown. Again, you can’t blame the coaches for running a route scheme that placed a WR wide open. But this missed opportunity sometimes happens when a QB is only playing his 4th D1 game and has been on campus less than a year. Hopefully as Locksley gains more experience, then he will learn from this and hit this route next time.

- Watching our two freshman Left Tackle and Left Guard is fun. These two freshman were solid and the left side of our line performed much better than the right side. I am starting to think that one of Dimel’s biggest recruiting jobs will be keeping Henry here for four years. He’s not perfect and he had a holding call as well, but I am impressed with how well he is progressing. He is physical and physically looks like an upperclassmen. De Haro also has a bright future for us and pulls really well on the QB iso’s. The biggest potential positive here is that Henry is one of Dimel’s first high school recruits to play and if Dimel’s recruiting/evaluation continues to be as close to good as Henry, then we should have some much brighter days coming.

- We had a new center(Hosseni) come in only a couple of plays before the bad snap that led to the fumble on the goal line. Our starting center(Lujan) appeared to have a shoe issue and had to go out, then our 3rd different center that we have used in only 4 games this season had a bad snap. Again, it’s hard for me to blame coaching for a situation as extremely odd and unique as that.

- Overall, I feel even better about things after watching the film. We still have a long ways to go, but when viewing through a long term perspective, I am seeing areas of improvement.

Solid D. Thank you. The O line is a mess, however, they are doing their best despite lack of experience and losing two to three of your best sucks rocks. Fans who follow closely know the truth, Coach Strong at UT (at that time) knew Kai belonged in the WR corp and literally told him to change his focus to a WR. Kai didn't like it and left and now here we are. My point? From what D has stated two things appear to happening: 1)The line is not give Kai that extra few tenth's of a second to check down when passing. 2) In relation to #1, Kai mental check down is literally shot to hell due to line break down all the while Redix is making S'mores down the field.