Rice's 31-14 win at the Sun Bowl is another home-team loss in style

MINER ILLUSTRATED

UTEP football has never lacked style under Sean Kugler.

Having showcased uniform combinations with helmets first honouring throwback Paydirt Pete and then embracing the new-era lone pickax, the Miners donned another uniform with a lone-pickax helmet Saturday.

How you look while doing something is less important than what you’re doing, though.

Coming off a 56-7 throttling on national TV, and facing a Rice team that lost its season opener 62-7, hope was alive that the Miners’ home-field advantage would provide the edge in an early Conference USA matchup.

19,136 Sun Bowl observers instead saw UTEP not able to overcome the Kugler-trademarked cautious approach that guided early game management, and the Miners fell to the Owls 31-14 -- loss number 33 in the last 51 games.

While the Miners showed an offensive spark in the 4th quarter that would be needed for a comeback, the first big decision in game management set the tone for a losing journey.

As the Miners faced a 4th and 5 at the Rice 37 yard line on their first possession -- 4:06 on the 1st-quarter clock, Owls leading 3-0 -- a call to punt ended in a touchback: Rice was gifted possession 17 yards down the field.

With a yielding tone set for the UTEP offense as the defense played through Alvin Jones’ first-half suspension, the next 19 minutes saw the Miners sputter to two more punts and a lost fumble -- moving the ball 38 yards on the next 19 plays.

After Rice took a 10-0 lead into the second half, UTEP punted away its 3rd-quarter opening possession, and the Owls went up 17-0 off a four-play drive that was capped with a 52-yard catch and run -- 11:32 on the clock.

The Owls then took their fifth punt of the game with 9:56 in the 3rd quarter, UTEP accepted a Rice punt back as the clock read 8:42 -- and the Miners used the ensuing possession to finally start attacking.

On 4th and 1, Ryan Metz took advantage of his first chance to go for it -- hitting Warren Redix in stride off play-action for a 44-yard strike.

MINER ILLUSTRATED

MINER ILLUSTRATED

MINER ILLUSTRATED

Within 10 points was as close as the Miners would get.

Despite a newfound and welcomed disposition to air it out, the Miners punted again at the start of the 4th quarter, Rice took advantage with a 10-play, 87-yard, TD-ending drive -- and fans began heading for the exits with 8:27 to play (Rice 24 UTEP 7).

UTEP responded by going 75 yards on 10 plays through the next 3:31 -- ending with a 1-yard Ryan Metz run on 4th down -- but the ensuing drive ended in a Rice touchdown, silencing thoughts of a comeback as the clock read 3:15.

•The Owls finished with 306 yards rushing on 49 carries (6.2 YPC) to UTEP’s 26 yards on 24 carries (1.1 YPC).

•While Ryan Metz completed 18 of his 33 passes, Sean Kugler is now 18-33 as head coach.

•Alan Luna finished with seven punts and now has 15 punts in two games.

MINER ILLUSTRATED