UTEP Miners College Football Pregame Quote, 11/15/2021

On playing at North Texas Nov. 13:

Our last two road games have gone down to the wire. We’re not outscoring our opponents by one point or more, we have to do a better job at finding ways to do that. We took an early lead in last week’s ball game and had a couple of chances there at the end of the second quarter to get those big plays that get you that two-score lead at the end of the half, which would’ve been really big for us in that type of ball game. In that type of ball game when our defense is playing so well, a two-score lead would’ve made a huge difference there. The punt [North Texas] bobbled, but we didn’t get the recovery ‚Äì would’ve been a huge game-changing momentum play. And then we get the ball atthe [UNT] 43-yard line and got a chance to get at least three points on the board. We threw three passes and didn’t execute well on third down. We snapped the ball too early on third down. The play that we had called, the receiver was wide open. It’s one of those heartbreakers because you could see the whole play develop.

At the end of the game, we’re playing good defense. Two games ago at Florida Atlantic, we played double-cloud, we play zone and keep three guys deep, keep everything in front of you. But the quarterback scrambled and threw the ball down the boundary. So, this time we decided to play two-man, which means you press every boy up to keep two safeties high. So, you still have two guys in centerfield to play anything deep over the top of their head. And then one receiver ran out of bounds, got shoved out of bounds and ran out. I think our safety lost him for a second and he got behind him. Obviously, that was kind of the deciding play.

On hosting Rice Nov. 20:

Back to the drawing board here with Rice. Again, we have to finish drives better offensively, and we have to score more points. Rice is definitely better that their stats say. It’s a battle of [time of possession], [Rice] is ranked ninth in time of possession and we’re ranked 12th, and it’s two teams that like to keep their defenses off the field as much as possible. They’re doing a good job at possessing the football. I think they have good defensive personnel and really good defensive front. Their four defensive front players are outstanding. All of them are really good football players, physical good players. They’re a little bit young in the secondary. That’s their thing and they’re beat up in the secondary. Offensively, that have most of their offensive line from last year. Across the board, they have good tight ends. They have two tremendous receivers. They’ve been throwing the ball a little bit more this year than they have in the past. And they’re a really well-coached football team. Should be a good battle for us.