UTEP Miners:

Dana Dimel was handed a carabiner from Dollar Tree and a partially torn rope to try to climb out of the hole that the UTEP football program has been in for a long time. Former Austin Peay head coach Scotty Walden is now the guy staring up looking for a solution, but maybe the fresh-faced 34-year-old has some out-of-the-box thinking to bring to the table.

Dimel did lead the Miners to a bowl game in 2021 — their first bowl appearance since 2014 and just their fifth since 2000. They haven’t won a bowl game since 1967. So, this is a good spot for Walden to get his feet wet because, frankly, it’s hard for things to really get any worse.

 

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Offense

Walden very much gets a clean slate here. He has a QB in Cade McConnell if he wants to use him and keep him atop the depth chart. McConnell had a 6/4 TD/INT ratio and threw for 1,437 yards last season. But, he is the only true returning starter on the roster. Honestly, Walden may go with the guy he knows in Skylar Locklear, who was his QB for the Governors last season.

Kam Thomas will be getting the ball in as many ways as possible, but the 5-foot-7 spark plug may have a hard time with all the abuse. As bad as things were on offense last season, and they were bad for the 119th-ranked scoring offense, the Miners did muster a 1,000-yard receiver in Kelly Akharaiyi. Unfortunately, he’s gone and so are the top two leading rushers.

Defense

Not surprisingly, Walden brought his DC with him in J.J. Clark and nearly all of his defensive coaching staff. The Miners have some Austin Peay transfers to work with here, which is good because there are only three returning starters from UTEP’s defense. Sadly, leading tackler Tyrice Knight is not among them, as he took 140 stops to the NFL in hopes of making it with the Seahawks.

Leading sack man Maurice Westmoreland is a good starting point with 7.5 sacks and corner AJ Odums led the team with eight pass breakups. If the Austin Peay guys are legit, this could be a decent defense. The Miners were good against the pass last year, but were also one of six teams to give up more than 200 rushing yards per game.

Outlook

TSI projects just 4.9 wins for the Miners, projecting them sixth in the conference with the sixth-best offense and fourth-best defense. A five-win debut for Walden should actually be considered a win given the exodus of talent and the lack of it to begin with. The betting market is clearly very low on this team and the continuity between the coaching staff and Austin Peay transfers might help the overachieve.

Pick: Over 4 Wins

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