Through both a unique mascot and awesome stadium, the UTEP Miners are an especially appreciated football team—which makes their routine struggles such a shame.
The Miners have posted a winning record just once in the last decade (7-6), while that same span has seen several of 2-10 or worse, leaving few FBS programs beneath their worth.
Most would agree that habitual cellar-dwelling of that severity constitutes realignment, so you can guess why UTEP’s shift to the Mountain West is something we should meet with praise…at least until it actually sets in the kind of conference we’re talking about.
I’m aware that much more than football competitiveness is taken into consideration when a university subjects itself to realignment, but when writing for Saturday Blitz, I can’t help but let it run my mind. That is why I shudder at the mere thought of what all this league is sure to unleash on every football fan documented within El Paso’s census.
Oklahoma and Michigan are already looming in the non-con, but UTEP then has to wash them down with scoundrels like New Mexico, North Dakota State and Hawaii? A batch of opposition like that would be difficult for a lot of Power 4 teams, much less the G6 stinker we have in our hands today.
Now it is worth noting that things aren’t too bad beyond those five, but that’s where the stinking really comes into play. For example, look at another non-MWC foe like Oregon State, who went 2-10 last year. Yeah, they were horrible, but most of the horror shined against brutes like Fresno State, Texas Tech, Oregon, Houston, and Wake Forest. With that in mind, pair them with the Miners, who put up the same record against a fraction of the adversity. You really think that won’t make for a mismatch?
I stress this because that general concern appears when holding UTEP next to literally every Mountain West opponent on the schedule that I haven't already addressed, since the league has always been in a visibly heavier weight class than Conference USA.
As a consequence of it all, Texas Southern stands alone in the “likely win” club, making this storyline merely a case of "different conference, same weekly sorrow" for the Miners.
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