A lot of Miners fans have been saying that they can't wait until the start of football season. Besides the usual optimism, college football analyst Phil Steele just gave UTEP fans another big reason to believe that the 2016 Miners will be the best team of the Sean Kugler Era. Steele's Spring Football Guide ranked UTEP 128th in strength of schedule. That is dead last in Division 1.

If you add up the combined records from last season for all of the Miners' opponents in 2016, it totals 52 wins and 94 losses. That is a win percentage of just 35.6%. None of their 12 opponents on the schedule were ranked last season and only two teams finished with winning records and postseason appearances.

Obviously a lot can happen from one season to the next, but UTEP's light strength of schedule is a good indicator that the fourth season under Coach Kugler has potential to be the best yet.

More From 600 ESPN El Paso