Fresh off of a bye week, UTEP interim head coach Mike Price is all about looking forward and not looking back. He met with the media on Monday afternoon to talk about the Miners’ upcoming game with UTSA. Both teams played a thrilling game in the Alamodome last season, with the Miners prevailing in a 52-49 five-overtime thriller.
Both teams are in a much different position this time around. UTSA bounced back against Rice after two straight conference losses while the Miners were shutout by Southern Miss two weeks ago. Either way, the Miners will be looking to get their first win of the season.
Here are some takeaway’s from Monday’s press conference:
Finding An Answer On Offense
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After losing 24-0 to Southern Miss, the Miners continue to struggle on offense averaging just 12 points a game and just under 220 total yards per game. The Miners have also failed to score in the last six quarters, dating back to their game against Western Kentucky on October 7.
Price indicated he would have a bigger hand in the offense this time around, calling it an “evolving process.” He also indicated that the Miners just need to execute better.
“These players were recruited to a particular type of offense,” Price said, “The terminology is professional in its nature, having come from professional football, and real wordy. It’s a little hard to change horses in the middle of the race, but hopefully, and that’s on my part, what I’d like to do is help the offense produce more yardage and touchdowns and be a more-wide open scheme. We’ll see how that goes on Saturday night.”
Injury Questions To Key Players
Photo: Danny Wild/USA Today Sports
As has been the case for most of the season, there are still questions about the quarterback position, this time with injuries. Starting quarterback Zack Greenlee left Saturday’s game with a groin injury and Ryan Metz has been constantly battling injuries in his junior season. Price wasn’t ready to name a starter yet, but should know more later in the week.
“Quarterback is still kind of up in the air,” Price said, “I don’t know how Zack [Greenlee] is, I haven’t seen him since Wednesday. He has been in for treatment. I think his groin is fine, but he’s still got a high ankle sprain. We’ll just have to see how that goes. Ryan [Metz] is better every day too. He was kind of a winged warrior when he was in that last game.”
Price also did not rule out the possibility of Mark Torrez seeing action as well, saying that he wants to see more of an opportunity in what he can do.
Meanwhile, one of the other top playmakers, running back Quardraiz Wadley, has been dealing with his own injury problems and is questionable for the game. Even though he’s only played in three games, Wadley is the team’s leading rusher with 271 yards this season.
Miners Mental State
Photo: Chuck Cook/USA Today Sports
With the Miners at 0-7, Price was asked about how his team’s morale was moving forward. He noted that the team came out with good energy against Southern Miss and believes that they’ll be in a good frame of mind for Saturday’s game against the Roadrunners.
“I think team morale is good,” Price said, “They want to win as bad as anybody. But their heads aren’t down, their heads are up. And their heads could be down. It hasn’t been a real fun year. But we’re trying to instill some fun.”
He also had a message for the fans to keep the faith.
“This is a really good team. I’m asking the fans to have faith in us. Faith is belief without evidence. We haven’t given you a lot of evidence. But we’re going to,” Price said, “You wouldn’t want to miss this Saturday night as being the one where the Miners catch on fire. I’m asking more of the players than what they’re giving, but they are definitely responding well to the adversity that they have had. They’re not hanging their head, they’re not pouting, they’re not pointing fingers at other people. None of that. That’s hard to control when you’re going through what they’re going through.”
Can The Streak Be Snapped?
Photo: Ivan Pierre Aguirre/ USA Today Sports
This will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs and the 2016 result further solidified one of the strangest statistics heading into this matchup: the home team is 0-4 in the series. When informed of this stat, Price kept it simple.
“I didn’t know that,” Price said, “We’re going to have to change that, even if it takes six overtimes to do it.”
The Miners take on the Roadrunners at 6 p.m. MST on Saturday at the Sun Bowl.
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