El Paso, Texas- The UTEP football team suffered its fifth loss of the season, falling to Sam Houston by the score of 41-21 Thursday night at the Sun Bowl. The Miners (0-5) remain winless thus far this 2024 season.  

Penalties and turnovers severely hindered UTEP’s chances in this game as the Miners' penalty yardage reached triple digits (12 penalties for 120 yards) while having three turnovers. Once again UTEP got off to a slow start offensively as they were only able to muster one first down in the third quarter. 

The Miners' defense kept them in the game in the first half by being proficient particularly on third down, where the Miners held them to a 3-for-9 conversion rate on third downs in the first half. The Miners also denied them a first down when the Bearkats decided to go for it once on fourth down.

Then the third quarter came and the visiting team broke the game wide open scoring 21 points to pull away 38-14. From there it was all game management for Sam Houston in the fourth quarter en route to their fifth win of the season, their second in Conference USA.    

Here’s what happened

• The Bearkats opened the scoreline, scoring a touchdown on the opening possession of the game, taking the ball 75 yards in five plays in 2:15. Jay Ducker broke a run for 39 yards down the left sideline for an early 7-0 lead. UTEP’s offense failed to fire in the opening quarter, only producing 21 yards on offense and one first down.
• The second quarter was a stalemate until Sam Houston was able to put together a 10-play, 81-yard drive that ended with a 23-yard run by running back DJ McKinney to extend the visiting team’s lead to 14-0. UTEP punted the ball on the ensuing possession and pinned the Bearkats at their own 2-yard line. On the first play, quarterback Hunter Watson fumbled the handoff in the end zone and it was recovered by UTEP’s Kory Chapman to put UTEP on the board and make the score 14-7 with 3:12 to go in the first half. On the final possession of the half the visiting team would tack on three more points as a result of a 19-yard field goal from kicker Christian Pavon. The team went into the locker rooms at halftime with Sam Houston leading 17-7. 
• The Miners went three and out on the opening possession of the 3rd quarter. Sam Houston State wasted no time going 62 yards in less than a minute over two plays to score a touchdown to make the score 24-7. Wide receiver Qua’Vez Humphreys scored the touchdown on a 33-yard pass. UTEP was putting a nice drive together on their second possession of the 3rd quarter but fumbled the ball on the Sam Houston 10-yard line. The Bearkats then proceeded to take the ball 90-yard in 11 plays to score another touchdown. The 34-yard touchdown pass was caught by Michael Phoenix II to make the score 31-7. Sam Houston added one more touchdown prior to the end of the third quarter, a 59-yard touchdown run by DJ McKinney, to make it 38-7.
• The Miners reached 100 yards in penalties with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter (11 penalties for 105 yards). The Miners were able to get their second touchdown of the night just before the end of the third quarter. Quarterback Cade McConnell connected with Marcus Vinson for a 52-yard touchdown pass to make the score 38-14 Sam Houston.
• The Miners got the final touchdown of the game, a 4-yard rush by Ezell Jolly, while the Bearkats added a 42-yard field goal by Christian Pavon.   

What was said

The postgame comments by UTEP quarterback Cade McConnell and head coach Scotty Walden focused on the white elephant in the room, the penalties the Miners had on Thursday night. McConnell relayed the message he gave to his teammates in the locker room after the loss to the Bearkats, “We cannot shoot ourselves in the foot, we cannot make mistakes. This is FBS football and it takes everything to win at this level and if you go out and make mistakes you’re going to get beat.”

Despite the Miner’s current winless record, McConnell reminded the media that, “There is still a lot of fight in this team.”

Walden echoed the same sentiments saying, “We are making way too many mistakes to win Conference USA, FBS football games. The thing that has to happen is to get to that tape and clean up our mistakes. I thought our mistakes were critical tonight and not minor.”

The first-year UTEP head coach also shared what he said to his team, “I am so proud of this team’s effort. I know people can’t see it, people on the outside who aren’t in these walls (of the UTEP facility) can’t see it, but we are slowly turning the corner. I truly believe that with our effort, attitude and approach to games.”  

What’s next

Up next will be a trip to the “Bluegrass” state as the Miners will travel to face Western Kentucky in Bowling Green next Thursday night. Western Kentucky will go into the contest with a record of 3-2 and will be coming off their bye week. That game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. MST kickoff and will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.