UTEP senior Kory Chapman brings leadership to Miners football
UTEP senior Kory Chapman brings leadership to Miners football
UTEP coach Scotty Walden constantly preaches consistency, belief in the process and adherence to standards.
Thus, the Miners’ performance on the road to Colorado State is similar to their performance last week at Liberty and the week before that when they hosted Southern Utah.
UTEP comes in expecting to win. It wants to continue its improvement. It needs to focus on itself. It will simplify its plan of attack to emphasize its strengths. This week’s buzzword is “precision,” a week after it was “intentionality,” so the changes are minimal at this point.
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The question remains: Will all this be enough for the Miners to claim their first win of the season as nine-point underdogs, despite having an overall record of 3-14?
The odds say no, but realistically, UTEP has a chance in this game, unlike Liberty or Nebraska. According to the money line, the chance is about 30%.
In other words, if UTEP can get turnovers, fix its third-down and red zone mistakes, and keep its defense on the path it was on last week, things can get better before a period of even more winnable games begins.
That left linebacker Nate Dyman walking a tightrope: staying true to his mantra while also stating the obvious about what’s at stake this week.
“We want to win, we want to win at all costs, that’s what drives us,” he said Tuesday. “We want to win, our coaches want to win, we do everything we can to win. But honestly, we don’t think about the game; we think about today. And then tomorrow we think about tomorrow.”
“But we definitely want to win.”
That task might be made a little easier if Colorado State’s all-conference receiver Tory Horton is unable to play, and Colorado State has listed his participation as questionable. UTEP is preparing as if he will play, and game-planning accordingly for an offense that also has other dangerous skill players.
“They have a great quarterback (Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi). He has as good a throwing arm as we’ve ever seen,” Walden said. “He can really throw. No. 14 (Horton) is one of the best G-5 receivers in the country, better than most of the Power Five players.”
“First, you have to pressure the quarterback. You can’t just sit back and let him get comfortable, you have to know where (Horton) is. We can’t just sit there and lose sight of him because they do a good job of moving him — they put him in the slot, they put him on the outside.”
That task is difficult because the Rams can also run the ball behind tailback Justin Marshall, who had a 100-yard game in the season opener against No. 1 Texas. UTEP will need to repeat its performance in the running game, when it limited Liberty to the second-lowest rushing percentage in the last 17 games.
“I liked the response from Game 2,” Walden said of his defense. “We didn’t play at our level at all in Game 2, but I liked the response from Game 2 to Game 3. What they’re learning is that level of consistency. They gave us a chance to stay in the game.”
“This shows us: ‘Hey, we can do this. We have to do our best every day and be consistent.'”
Walden wasn’t finished with that quote as he moved to the other side of the ball.
“On offense, you can sometimes see signs of explosiveness, but we need to use it more consistently,” he said. “It’s about making the routine plays well and not trying to do too much. Sometimes we try too much. Calm down and do the 5-yard run.”
For all of UTEP’s talk about simplifying and executing, it ultimately comes down to an offensive line that has only been playing together for less than a month. As they get better, and generally, as with all brand new lines throughout the year, everything about the offense will get better.
Colorado State’s defense ranks 112th nationally. It was mediocre against the run and weak against the pass, so there could be a chance. However, this is probably a better defense than Southern Utah’s, which shut down UTEP’s defense for 29 minutes, 59 seconds in the second half in this game.
If UTEP wants to turn its offense around, it will need to show improvements, especially up front.
“Keep practicing,” guard Bennan Smith said. “Repetition makes perfect. We did a phenomenal job all week. Last week we emphasized it, this week I felt like we perfected it.”
“Every week is a big week for us. We have to start strong, hit the first shot and then finish the second half. We have to dominate in the red zone and score points. We’re going up against a phenomenal team, but we have a good game plan.”
Presumably, this is a game plan that will continue to be refined as UTEP tries to perfect a smaller playbook.
“We’re going to simplify our game plan,” quarterback Skyler Locklear said. “We’re going to make sure everyone knows what we’re doing. We’re going to repeat the plays over and over and make sure we know exactly what we’re doing. When we execute that, we’re a great offense.”
As for Locklear, he could run more this week. If you ignore the (unacceptable) eight sacks, he has 124 rushing yards on 24 carries. That’s 5.2 yards per carry, more than double the 2.3 yards UTEP has averaged as a team.
“He’s really good at zone reading, reading the edges,” Walden said. “He’s a guy you can plan runs for, he can keep you on your toes in the zone read, and what he does best is extend the play. He’s the guy that gives us a chance on third down.”
Locklear can give his team better chances by avoiding interceptions. He had two last week against Liberty, and there was a point in the third quarter where the Miners could have taken the lead without interceptions. The important thing is that Locklear learns from this and moves on.
“I feel like I’m getting better every week, just like the whole team is getting better,” Locklear said. “As a quarterback, you make mistakes, but I’m going to use those mistakes to learn from them and get better.”
“I would love to go out there and be perfect; that’s what I want to accomplish every time, but that’s not going to happen. But I feel like I’m using those things to grow as a player.”
Growth is the most realistic goal for this rebuilding UTEP football team before moving to Colorado State.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on X.
