EL PASO- UTEP entered Saturday’s game against Louisiana Tech still looking for their first win of the season. But a second-quarter blitz by the Bulldogs and several miscues cost the Miners as they fell 42-21in the final home game of the season at the Sun Bowl.
“We just made some stupid mistakes,” head coach Mike Price said following the game, “I’ve continued to say that whoever makes the fewest mistakes will win and we certainly had our share today.”
Early on, the defense gave the Miners came out inspired forcing two first quarter fumbles from Louisiana Tech wide receivers Rhashid Bonnette and Kam McKnight. But the Miners woes on offense continued as they failed to muster a first down on their first two drives.
After a UTEP punt, the Bulldogs would get on the board first thanks to a 23-yard pass from quarterback J’Mar Smith to Boston Scott for an early 7-0 lead. The Miners looked to respond but three false start penalties and a missed field goal from Brady Viles kept UTEP off the board.
That’s when the Bulldogs would take advantage, forcing a Josh Fields fumble that led to a 54-yard run by Jaqwis Dancy to make it 14-0. Fields would bounce back and finish with 97 yards rushing in the first half but a Ryan Metz pass was intercepted by DaMarion King and taken back 71 yards for another score. Smith would add a late 10-yard touchdown run to make it 28-0 at halftime.
UTEP freshman running back Josh Fields (20) ran for a career high 137 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s game against Louisiana Tech. (Photo: Tony Venegas/TexasHSFootball)
“I’ve never seen a game that was 28-0 in the first half where everything happened so fast,” Price said, “We were in the game and all of a sudden there were three touchdowns in six minutes and being down that much was a difficult situation.”
“We had two bad turnovers and our shots in the red zone early and we have to be better than that,” said quarterback Ryan Metz, “That’s just where execution comes into play.”
The Miners would pick things up in the second half as the Miners put together one of their best offensive drives of the season. 14 plays and 87 yards later, freshman running back Josh Fields ran it in from 11 yards out to get the Miners on the board.
Fields would finish with 137 yards on 23 carries. It was the first UTEP second half offensive touchdown since the September 15 matchup with Arizona. After another defensive stop, Ryan Metz found Tyler Batson down the right sideline and capped it off with an 83-yard touchdown reception to make it 28-14. Suddenly, the Miners had life.
Louisiana Tech quarterback J’Mar Smith (8) finished with 258 total yards and four touchdowns in Saturday’s win at UTEP. (Photo: Tony Venegas/TexasHSFootball)
But, the defense could not make a stop when they needed to. Louisiana Tech controlled the ball on the ground and quarterback J’Mar Smith put the game away with a touchdown pass to Teddy Veal and a running score late in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. The Bulldogs finished with 343 yards rushing on the afternoon. Metz would also find Kavika Johnson for a 33-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring for the Miners.
“It was frustrating out there in the second half,” said linebacker Alvin Jones, who finished with a game-high 15 tackles, “The defense has been the strong point throughout and the offense stepped up and gave us a chance and our unit just couldn’t hold up our end today.”
The Miners will have one last chance for a win next Saturday when they travel to Birmingham, Alabama to play UAB. Even as the season hasn’t gone according to plan, the team will look to end 2017 on a positive note.
“The guys competed the whole game,” Price said, “We haven’t won a game all year but they showed a lot of fight. It hasn’t been easy around here but next we got a chance. It’s a horrible record but we’re not horrible.”
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