After a strong win against Old Dominion at home, the Miners find themselves alive in conference play with a 1-1 record, and a 3-3 record overall. The 42-35 win over Old Dominion was bigger than just a homecoming win, more importantly, it was a win that could possibly turn the season around.
Now the Miners will enter their second bye weekend of the season, which will give the team time to recover and rethink their strategy going into the next game against UT San Antonio on Oct. 25.
“We are at the bye juncture and we all need it,” head coach Sean Kugler said. “We are 3-3 and 1-1 in the conference, and I think our kids are energized and I love the way they
fought back.”
There is no doubt that after a promising start to the season in games where the Miners won convincingly against New Mexico and NMSU and had a moral victory against Texas Tech, they went into a slump with two humiliating losses to Kansas State and Louisiana Tech, where both of the winning teams scored 50-plus points.
At homecoming, the Miners found themselves fighting through even more adversity.
The Miners blew a 14-point lead and nearly the game against Old Dominion.
But the Miners sustained the Monarch blow and went back to the game plan and controlled the clock by running the ball. Despite mishaps, coach Kugler is glad the Miners had to fight for the win.
“To be honest with you, I’m glad the game played out the way it did,” Kugler said. “We had to fight through adversity again and these guys refused to lose in that game.”
With a favorable schedule ahead, the Miners will look to gather momentum in the closing stretch of the season. The next four opponents that UTEP will face are all 0-2 in conference play and all hold sub .500 records. It will not be until they play Rice that the Miners will play a school with a .500 record overall.
For a school that lost by a margin of 113- 31 in its past two games, the Miners’ win against Old Dominion could make fans forget about the tough losses that once seemed to have the season destined for doom.
The Miners find themselves at the midway point of an otherwise up-and-down season—where the highs are very high and lows are very low. The biggest challenge for the Miners this year has been putting together consistent play.
“We always try to remind ourselves how 2-10 felt last year,” said specialist Autrey Golden. “We don’t want to go through those types of things again, so that’s our motivation. We dig within and that gives us our motivation.”
If UTEP can gather steam and take this win with them the rest of the season, then the win against Old Dominion could be the game that lit the fuse on the rest of the Miners’ season.
The Miners have two weeks before they head to San Antonio to face UTSA for the first time ever at the Alamodome. Last year, the Miners lost to the Roadrunners 32-12 at home. Coach Kugler believes that the win against Old Dominion should spark the Miners going into San Antonio.
“Winning heals a lot of things,” Kugler said. “It energizes players, guys aren’t as hurt, and they come back and practice harder because they’re energized. The players are excited right now and they’re looking forward right now to the prospects of the rest of the season.”
Juan Carlos Navarrete may be reached at [email protected].
