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| Friday, September 29 UTEP enjoying time in first place By Stephen Tsai Special to ESPN.com | |||||
The magic number for the Texas-El Paso football team is 2000.
After Saturday night's 39-7 rout of Hawaii, the Miners are 2-0 -- and in a
tie for first place with TCU -- in the Western Athletic
Conference for the first time since 1987.
"It's a great feeling," UTEP tight end Brian Natkin said. "It hasn't
happened here in a long time."
While it's still just first month of the season and the Miners, who
lost non-conference games to Oklahoma and Texas A&M, are just 2-2 overall. But for a team that has not won a football title in 32 years of WAC membership, even modest success is worth raising a glass and toasting in El Paso.
"We knew this would be a good year," Natkin said. "But we're still hungry
for more."
The Miners have a storied history usually found in Stephen King novels.
Their last winning season was in 1988. In eight of those 11 seasons, the
Miners did not win more than three games.
In the now-defunct nationally syndicated "Bottom 10 Poll," the Miners were
repeatedly referred to as "Texas-El (Intercepted) Paso."
But the seeds of change were planted by Bob Stull, a former Miner football
coach who was hired as athletic director in 1998, and nurtured by Gary Nord,
UTEP's first-year head coach.
UTEP is building eight dormitories. Work already has started on a $12.5
million athletic complex and neighboring football practice field.
Next year, grass will replace the artificial turf at the Sun Bowl.
"We'll have the nicest facilities as anybody in the WAC," Nord said.
At Stull's urging, the Miners launched a marketing program targeting the 2
million people living south of the border in Ciudad Juarez.
Thanks to discounted "family plan" season-ticket packages, attendance at
the Sun Bowl increased from an average of 20,000 per game in 1998 to 36,000
last year. Nord said UTEP sold 15,000 season tickets this year, nearly 6,000
more than it sold in 1999.
Perhaps the biggest improvement has been in the on-field product. NCAA
sanctions restricted the number of scholarships the Miners could offer in the
previous three recruiting classes. This year, the Miners have 83 scholarship
players (two below the NCAA Division I-A limit, but 12 more than last year)
and a full roster of 105.
Fresno State In a dominant season debut at Bulldog Stadium, Fresno State held California to 14 first downs in a 17-3 victory. The Bears were four of 18 on third-down conversions. Tim Skipper, who, at 5-foot-7, is the league's shortest starting linebacker, made a season-high 12 tackles, including two for negative yards. Skipper's father was a former offensive coordinator for the New York Giants. ... A Bulldog Stadium record crowd of 42,285 attended the game. ... The Bulldogs will use their second bye in two weeks to prepare for Rice's triple-option offense and rest bruised players. Hawaii The 39-7 loss to UTEP marked only the second time in head coach June Jones' career as a pro and college coach that his run-and-shoot offense did not score a touchdown. The other time was against Southern California in 1999. The Warriors, who lead the WAC in passing yards, crossed midfield only three times. Their lone touchdown came when Matt Wright recovered a fumbled punt return in the end zone. ... True freshman Timmy Chang replaced starting quarterback Nick Rolovich at the start of the second half. Jones said he will decide this week which quarterback will start against Tulsa on Saturday. ... Strong safety Dee Miller (deep hamstring pull) and defensive end Joe Correia (ankle injury) are listed as questionable for this week's game. Defensive tackle Mike Iosua has a broken thumb, but will play. Nevada The Wolf Pack's 35-28 victory at Wyoming did not come easily. The bus ride from Denver to Laramie was delayed 3 1/2 hours because of a snow storm and a 12-car pileup. Kickoff was at 8:07 p.m., an hour later than originally scheduled. The Wolf Pack trailed 14-0 and, at the half, 21-10, before rallying with 22 fourth-quarter points. Quarterback David Neill completed 15 of 27 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for 47 yards and two touchdowns. ... Brad Lindstrom leads the WAC in interceptions with two in three games. ... Del Bates leads the WAC in kickoff returns with a 23.5-yard average. ... Nevada's plus-five turnover margin is the 10th best nationally. Rice Ben Wulf, who was a running back in training camp, started at quarterback in a 42-14 loss to Oklahoma. As a junior last year, Wulf was the No. 2 quarterback, but was moved to running back in the spring. In the first game, starting quarterback Jeremy Hurd broke a finger on his left (non-throwing) hand and third-stringer Kyle Herm sustains a broken collar bone. Wulf was elevated to No. 2 quarterback for the second game, and he threw a scoring pass against Michigan. In the third game, quarterback Corey Evans suffered a mild concussion, leading to Wulf's start last Saturday. Wulf will start in a platoon role with Evans against San Jose State on Saturday. ... Starting defensive linemen B.J. Forguson (knee) and Jarrett Erwin (shoulder) won't play because of injuries suffered against Oklahoma. Defensive back Greg Gatlin also is likely to sit out because of a shoulder injury. San Jose State The Spartans will learn Tuesday about the status of running back Deonce Whitaker, who played sparingly in the second half against Southern California because of a possible neck injury. Whitaker, who underwent surgery in March to correct a vertebra pressing against his spinal cord, was examined in Los Angeles yesterday by Dr. Robert Watkins, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in spinal injuries. Whitaker, who also has a turf toe, is sixth in the country in rushing, averaging 149.2 yards per game. He averages 8.5 yards per carry. ... A victory over Rice would improve the Spartans to 3-2, their best September 1990. ... The Spartans are last in the country in total defense, but sixth in turnover margin and in the top 20 in fumble recoveries, takeaways and interceptions. SMU The Mustangs have struggled on offense and special teams in the three games since the season-opening victory against Kansas. In particular, the Mustangs have had difficulty converting field-goal attempts. "Sooner or later, you have to put them through the uprights," Cavan said. ... Jonas Rutledge leads the WAC in pass breakups with six. TCU Although he rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns against Arkansas State, LaDainian Tomlinson fell to second nationally in rushing (186.3 yards per game). He is fifth in the country with 188 all-purpose yards per game. But Tomlinson still is No. 1 in scoring, averaging 14 points per game. He is fifth on the WAC's career rushing list with 3,664 yards. ... TCU has won eight in a row, its longest winning streak since 1938. ... The Horned Frogs have scored 40 points in each of their three games this season. ... Aaron Schobel leads the WAC with six sacks. UTEP UTEP and neighboring New Mexico State meet in the longest-running series in Miner history. At stake are two trophies (Silver Spade and Brass Spittoon). Adding fuel to the rivalry is the WAC rejected the Aggies' application for league membership last year.UTEP did not vote for New Mexico State. Tulsa The Golden Hurricane won its WAC opener two weeks ago, marking the first time it has had a winning record during its five years of WAC membership. ... Chris Earnest is ranked third nationally in field goals with 2.25 per game. He has not missed any of his nine field-goal attempts this year. He entered the season with a 43-percent conversion rate. ... Tulsa has allowed only two touchdowns in the last 10 quarters. ... Josh Blankenship passed his father, Bill, on Tulsa's career passing list. Josh, a sophomore, has thrown for 2,338 yards in 13 career games; Bill had 2,113 yards in three seasons (1977-1979). Stephen Tsai covers the WAC for the Honolulu Advertiser. | ALSO SEE Big Ten notebook Big 12 notebook Big West notebook Conference USA notebook MAC notebook | ||||
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