UTEP blown out in home finale

Senior day for the Miners was not a memorable one as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane blew out UTEP 57-28 Nov.19 in the Sun Bowl.

UTEP was able to cut the lead to six at the 2:58 mark of the second quarter, seemingly bringing them back in the game after going down 14-0 in the first quarter. Tulsa never let up, taking the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to go up 29-15 before the half. The assault continued in the third quarter scoring three-consecutive times.

"I do think the kickoff return was a big momentum boost for them...I'm still proud of this team," UTEP head coach MikePrice said. "I think we're a pretty good football team with great young people that have a lot of character. I don't want to be anybody else's coach, I want to be this team's coach."

Sophomore quarterback Carson Meger would make his second start of the year in place of the injured junior, Nick Lamaison.

Meger finished the day going 20 -of-34 with 204 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. One was returned for a touchdown during the third quarter onslaught.

"They're a good team all the credit goes to Tulsa. They're a solid team that didn't make mistakes and we did," Meger said. "I made too many mistakes out there, and you can't do that against good teams. Tulsa is going to capitalize and that's on me."

The mistakes forced Price to replace him with senior Tate Smith late in the third quarter.

Smith led UTEP to 14 unanswered points early in the fourth quarter to cut the Tulsa lead to 50-28. But the Golden Hurricane's early lead was too much to overcome.

After scoring on their fisrt two drives, the Miners cut the Tulsa lead to 14-6 with 4:24 left in the first quarter when senior running back Joe Banyard scored from one-yard out. The extra point attempt was blocked by the Golden Hurricane's junior defensive lineman Cory Dorris.

Just as Tulsa seemed to be on its third scoring drive, the UTEP defense came up with a stop when junior corner back Richard Spencer intercepted a pass from senior G.J. Kinne in the end zone for a touchback.

The Miners failed to capitalize on the turnover as freshman kicker Steven Valadez missed a 36-yard attempt. Valadez was in for junior Dakota Warren who was also suffering from a groin injury since their last game Nov. 12 against East Carolina.

Five plays later, Kinne threw his second touchdown of the game when he found sophomore running back Trey Watts on a screen pass for a 53-yard catch and run to go up 21-6.

The Miners would cut the Tulsa lead 21-15 following a blocked punt for a safety and a 1-yard run by Leilyon Myers before the 94-yard kickoff return by Tulsa.

Kinne would finish the day going 19-of-25 for 283 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Senior wide receiver Julio Lopez and redshirt freshman Jordan Leslie finished with career-high 61 and 64 receiving yards, respectively.

"I don't know if it means more (being from El Paso), but when the clock hit zero, it hit me. I couldn't hold back tears. You realize that this is the last game that I'm going to suit up in the Sun Bowl," Lopez said. "The way the game went, we didn't play how we wanted to. It's tough to hold back tears and hold back emotion."

According to Price, Meger would still be the starter if Lamaison doesn't recover in time for UCF.

The Miners still have a chance of earning a bowl berth with a win against the Knights. Players will have little time to vent the loss as they take on UCF Nov. 25 in Orlando.

"We stay mad a little bit and we wake up tomorrow, watch the film and get over it," Meger said. "We move on to next week and work our tails and do everything that we can to get that sixth win for the seniors."

Daniel Ornelas may be reached at propector@utep.edu.