Three years ago, the league that has been home to Miner Athletics for 19 years, Conference USA, was at the center of a heart-shattering breakup with nine perennial teams.

At the snap of a finger, the American League took home the University of Texas at San Antonio, North Texas, Rice, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Less than a week after the fall out, Brett McMurphy from Action Network revealed that Southern Miss, and Old Dominion had officially joined the Sun Belt Conference, whilst Marshall was in the process of completing the last steps towards membership.

In less than 10 days, C-USA dropped from a league which had 14 teams, to one scrambling to find enough members to legally compete in the NCAA as a registered conference.

When picking up the pieces, C-USA called on FBS Independent Schools the Liberty Flames, and the Miner’s old rivals the New Mexico State Aggies.

Surprisingly enough, the conference’s most impactful move for UTEP wasn’t bringing back the battle of the 1-10, it was adding hungry FCS schools into the grandest level of college football.

2021 saw the addition of Jacksonville State, and Sam Houston. Three years later, the conference adds its third former FCS school in Kennesaw State, who are soon to be joined by the likes of Missouri State & Delaware in 2025.

It might be easy to dismiss the newbie programs, after all, they’re still minor league teams needing to adjust.  

But upon further inspection, adding teams that come from a lower level of NCAA football means UTEP now must retaliate against programs hungry to prove themselves.

The Miner’s closest example is Liberty University. Back in 2018 the Flames transitioned out of “The Big South,” and FCS conference, into an FBS Independent institution. In its five years as an FBS independent the Flames fought to make three bowl games, winning each of them respectively.

It was then time for the Flames to join C-USA, and after a year of experience, Liberty reigned supreme upon the conference with an undefeated record, a conference championship, a Fiesta Bowl Appearance, and were ranked as the 23rd best team in the nation in the final AP College Football Poll.

Liberty isn’t an outlier. In 2022 James Madison University made the FCS – FBS jump and started play in the Sun Belt Conference. In the two years after the move JMU has won a total of 19 games and have only dropped five.

Similar to Liberty, JMU was poised to play in the SBC Conference Championship, yet, what held them back officially an agreement with the conference that in the two years the university transitioned, they wouldn’t be allowed to play in the Sun Belt Conference Championship game.

The trend is noticeable, and it’s one the Miners have to keep in the back of their mind if they look to avoid being a stepping stone. 

Kennesaw, the State team in C-USA, is not just new to the FBS but almost new to football entirely. As the Owl’s football program only started participating in NCAA play in 2015, meaning that the Georgia institution is barely reaching a decade of play in collegiate football.

In addition, Kennesaw State, Delaware, and Missouri State now have more recruiting leverage over the Miners because of recency bias. Many athletes might be enticed to help build a new powerhouse, rather than joining a storied one, putting UTEP in the back pedal.

The C-USA breakup might’ve ripped the hearts out of football fans nationwide, but UTEP can learn a thing or two from how the conference rebounded, as they now have a fresh opportunity to pick itself back up.

Sebastian Perez-Navarro is a staff reporter for The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected]