The Texas-El Paso Miners and the Utah State Aggies will clash head to head in the ninth-annual New Mexico Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 20, at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
UTEP started the 2014 season a bit slow, limping to a 2-3 record before the Miners won three straight games to get back on the winning side. They finished the regular season with wins in two of their last three games, including a season finale victory over Middle Tennessee, 24-21.
Utah State enjoyed a strong season under second-year coach Matt Wells, who drove the team to a 9-4 campaign which included a 6-2 mark in Mountain West Conference play. The Aggies had a five-game win streak snapped, however, in their regular season finale clash against Boise State, 50-19.
This will be the third time these two programs have ever met on the football field before. The other two meetings both went to Utah State, the first in the 1960 campaign (20-7) and the next a year later in 1961 (21-6).
Utah State played dominant defense all season long, but the team's offense consistently stepped up when it was needed. And that was after the Aggies were forced to throw in their fourth-strong quarterback later on in the schedule after season starter Chuckie Keeton went down. It was Kent Myers who was the most recent man under center, and the signal caller completed just shy of 70 percent of his pass attempts for 798 yards and five touchdowns.
Although the quarterback position was a rocky one for Utah State this season, Hunter Sharp always provided a solid outlet as a pass catcher. The receiver caught 63 passes this season for 918 yards and seven touchdowns - all team highs. Jefferson Court was the next closest to Sharp's touchdown total, adding three receiving scores this season.
The run game for the Aggies was primarily by committee, which was led by LaJuan Hunt (524 yards, 40.3 rushing ypg average) and Joe Hill (457 yards, three touchdowns). The run game, which averaged 172.5 ypg, helped the Aggies to gain 381.2 total offensive ypg and score 27.4 ppg.
Defensively, Utah State had plenty of stellar moments this season. In the team's five-game win streak toward the end of the campaign, Utah State never allowed an opponent to score more than 21 points. In fact, the Aggies held three of those challengers to 14 points or less. Utah State brings in a 20.8 ppg allowed average to the New Mexico Bowl.
Look no further for individual defensive production than the top of Utah State's season stat sheet. Zach Vigil's 145 tackles were by far the most for the Aggies, as the linebacker also registered 19.5 tackles for loss, nine sacks, five quarterback hurries and three pass breakups. Then check brother Nick Vigil's line. The linebacker accumulated 116 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, seven sacks, six quarterback hurries and five forced fumbles in 12 games played. Against a strong UTEP run game, both will need to be active once again.
"We're very excited to accept this invitation to go play a very good UTEP team down in Albuquerque at the Gildan New Mexico Bowl," Wells said. "I'm very happy for our players that we're able to reach this goal that we've had as a program to continue to play in bowl games. Obviously, we want to win them and this is our chance to go win our third straight bowl and set another school record. It's a tremendous challenge, as well as a motivating factor for us."
UTEP is 5-8 all-time in bowl games. The Miners will be hoping a strong offensive attack, led by a running game that averages 212.7 ypg, will be the deciding factor. Aaron Jones was stellar all season long, rushing for 1,233 yards and 11 touchdowns in 11 games, averaging 112.1 ypg on the ground. Nathan Jeffery (513 yards, five touchdowns) and quarterback Jameill Showers (four rushing touchdowns) have contributed heavily throughout the season to a very effective run game.
Showers under center has been the leader and effective passer a team would hope for, completing 55.7 percent of his pass attempts for 1,732 yards and 12 touchdowns against just five interceptions. With a strong run game, Showers was simply asked to get the job done, and he did by leading his team to a solid 28.3 ppg average.
There really was no go-to receiving threat for UTEP this season. Instead, Showers spread the wealth around to top targets such as Autrey Golden (263 yards, two touchdowns), Jones (284 yards, three touchdowns) and Ian Hamilton (500 yards, two touchdowns). Only Hamilton gained more than 40 receiving ypg on average, but as a unit the Miners still managed 357.0 total offensive ypg.
Especially early in the season, the team's defense struggled to keep opponents out of the end zone. In consecutive weeks against Kansas State and Louisiana Tech, the Miners allowed the Wildcats to rack up 58 points and the Bulldogs to score 55. But toward the end of the season things came together, and UTEP enters this clash allowing 28.7 ppg to opponents.
Wesley Miller tops the team in tackles this season with 74 on the year, and has been a menace to try and throw on. The defensive back has seven pass breakups and an interception , which are both tied for the team leads in each category. Roy Robertson-Harris, the big 6-foot-7 defensive lineman, will need to be active in this contest after racking up 8.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks on the season - both team highs. But with just 19 total turnovers gained this season, the Miners will need a strong effort defensively to hang with the Aggies.
"Our senior leadership is why we are in the bowl game this year," head coach Sean Kugler said. "It was a group of young men who came together in January, right after last season and decided they were going to stop the bleeding on eight straight losing seasons. They made a commitment to each other and they fought through some adverse situations this year."
[SportsNetwork.com]
