UTEP vs. Memphis preview

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this year to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA football coverage. Today, our UTEP Correspondent Robert Robles gives you a preview of the UTEP Miners visit to Memphis, TN to face Memphis on November 25th.

It is going to be senior night down in the Sun Bowl on Saturday night. While the fans are thinking eager to see another with the Miners current seniors, the players will be playing in an insane mood to go out with a win to become bowl eligible.

Memphis

The Memphis Tigers have been going through an extremely rough season, and losing superstar DeAngelo Williams at running back does not help in the least. The Tigers, despite having Conference USA’s worst record at 1-10, almost pulled out a major upset in the Liberty Bowl last Saturday against the Houston Cougars, who are 9-3 and are already set to play in the conference championship. This little surprise that Tommy West and his Tigers pulled out of their hat is something that may worry the Miners when Memphis takes the field against them.

The Tigers record can be misleading at 1-10, as 4 of their losses have been decided by 6 points or less, including their overtime loss to Houston. Injuries have plagued the defensive side of the ball for them as well, while losing Safety Wesley Smith for a couple of weeks weakened their pass defense immensely.

The Tigers defense is obviously not playing at the level and efficiency that Tommy West would like, giving up a whopping 409.1 yards per game and having 16 takeaways total on the season.

The Tigers offense has somewhat of a rhythm, and a balanced one at that, averaging 332.7 yards of total offense per game, 107.5 rushing and 225.2 passing. They are averaging 30 rush attempts per game, so that should give the Miners poor rushing defense an incentive to win if they want to become bowl eligible.

The Tigers are to be reckoned with, taking on and almost beating the (arguably) best team in Conference USA. If Memphis can get their running game going behind running back Joseph Doss, who has 196 carries for 828 yards and is averaging 4.2 yards-per-carry, it may be a long and high scoring night for senior night at the Sun Bowl.

UTEP

The Miners have been somewhat resembling Sybil in their performances lately. After blowing out the University of Alabama-Birmingham 36-17, they failed to show up in Huntington, West Virginia and took a beating and losing the game 49-21, quite possible the worst game in the Mike Price era at UTEP.

The incredibly young offensive line at UTEP is learning, and fast, but it is near the end of a 12-game season and playing time may be finally catching up to the three freshman, Colby Meek, Anthony McNac, and an injured Cameron Rashke who is out until next season. Chemistry and consistency is what a productive and successful offensive line need to have, and they are developing that.

When the Miners took the Red Raiders of Texas Tech to overtime, and lost by a freakish field goal that hit the upright and bounced down to the cross-bar and bounced in to win the game, the fans seemed to agree with one another that UTEP as a football program was on the right track. Two weeks later, when the Miners went up to Albuquerque to take on the New Mexico Lobos and lost in an extremely sloppy performance, adjustments were obviously needed to be made and fast. Once again, the Miners seemed to have fixed the problem with three consecutive wins at home against the New Mexico State Aggies, SMU Mustangs, and Tulane Green Wave, only to go on to lose 4 of their last 5 games.

The Miners are coming back to the Sun Bowl after a blowout loss to the Marshall Thundering Herd hungry for a win. On paper, they may get what they need badly, and that “need” is UTEP’s third consecutive bowl game.

The offense needs to click, and click early, because if the offensive line can’t protect Jordan Palmer, it will be a scary night for the Miners since Palmer is a pocket passing QB towering at 6’5” and weighing in at 230 pounds and not very mobile. Palmer seems to be doing a phenomenal job considering the youth and inexperience on the offensive line in front of him. Palmer on the season has gone 259-of-391 attempts for 3,278 yards, 25 touchdown passes, and 14 interceptions. If the Memphis defense has trouble stopping Palmer from surveying the field and having enough time to find an open receiver, then it will be a blowout in favor of the Miners, especially with the chemistry of the Palmer-Higgins equation.

The Miner defense has been struggling all year, and it didn’t help at all that OLB Jeremy Jones, who was Conference USA’s leading tackler last season, was hurt during practice with a broken leg and is supposedly out for the rest of the season. The Miners' bane has been their rush defense, which is giving up a very lethargic 151.9 yards on the ground per game and an addition of 244.7 yards passing per game, totaling in at 396.6 yards per game given up.

Prediction

UTEP may turn the ball over early in the game while it is trying to find its groove, but come the second half there will be adjustments made and Palmer-Higgins are too much for the poor Memphis defense to handle.

UTEP – 35
Memphis - 20