UTEP’s football team has to be El Paso’s ambassador of “we’re good too” at UT San Antonio Saturday. Because we haven’t been.


In virtually all categories, El Paso is the whipping boy of our so-called Texas rival city. And that includes the upstart UTSA football program having whipped UTEP big time in the schools’ inaugural meeting last season.
San Antonio got the big-car assembly plant we craved. San Antonio has a giant medical center. That’s thousands of jobs. We still can’t get a car assembly plant, although so many of our politicians, over decades, have made that a goal. We are still an upstart in our “Medical Center of the Americas” goal.
And when it comes to public perception across the country, San Antonio is the Mexican food capital of the U.S. (balderdash!) and is the nation’s gateway to Mexico (geographically balderdash!).
Now comes a brewing rivalry in college sports. UTEP and UTSA are in the same sports conference. While so many cities have dropped top-level college football, San Antonio has actually started a program. There’s backing for football success in our rival Texas city.
Here’s the bottom line: UTEP has been playing Division 1 football for nearly 100 years. UTSA has been playing fewer than 10.
Darnit, we have the best Mexican food. We are blocks from the Mexican border and we do ba-jillion dollars worth of trade with Mexico yearly. It’s time for somebody here to kick San Antonio’s butt in something.

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