UTEP Loses to Southern Utah in Home Opener, 27-24 (OT)

El Paso, Texas- The UTEP Miners football team came up short in their 2024 home opener falling to the Southern Utah Thunderbirds by the score of 27-24 in overtime. The Miners tied the game as the clock went to zeros to send the game into overtime only to lose when kicker Buzz Flabiano missed a 32-yard field goal attempt wide left.

The 41,609 fans in attendance at the Sun Bowl were treated to a roller coaster of a football game that saw UTEP jump out to lead and hang onto it until early in the fourth quarter.

For the Miners, penalties were the biggest issue that plagued them enroute to their second loss of the season. UTEP had 14 penalties for 122 yards. Still, the Miners were able to hang in there and play their FCS opponent toe to toe to the very end.     

Here’s what happened

• UTEP and Southern Utah scored a touchdown on their opening possessions to start the game. The Miners took the opening kickoff 75 yards in nine plays that ended in a five yard reception by Jevon Jackson. The pass was thrown by Skyler Locklear. The Thunderbirds also took their opening drive 75 yards but in eight plays. A roughing the passer penalty on the touchdown play gave the visiting team half the distance to the goal on the point after attempt. Because of this they went for a two point conversion and failed making it 7-6 UTEP with 6:09 left in the first quarter. 
• The Miners scored in two of their next three possessions. Walden’s team scored another touchdown in their second possession, a five yard quarterback keeper from Locklear. Two possessions later UTEP kicker Buzz Flabiano made a 43-yard field goal to make the score 17-6. The score remained the same at halftime.
• Southern Utah kicker Danny King missed a field goal attempt after the Thunderbirds marched down the field to the UTEP 21-yard line with relative ease in the opening possession to start the second half. The Miners proceeded to go three and out in their first possession of the third quarter.
• The Thunderbirds made it a three point game when they scored a touchdown with 6:31 to go in the third quarter and went for the two point conversion, they converted on a wide receiver reverse. The score remained 17-14 at the end of the third quarter. Standout stat for the third quarter was the 100 yards Southern Utah had offensively to UTEP’s 22. The Miners failed to get one first down in the third quarter going three and out in all three of their possessions.  
• The visiting team took the lead for the first time in the game with 12:15 to go in the fourth quarter. Targhee Lambson broke off a 46 yard touchdown run, the extra point was good to make it 21-17 Thunderbirds. On the ensuing possession the Miners went down the field and got to the red zone before their drive sputtered thanks to a pair of penalties and they had to settle for a 26-yard field goal attempt from Flabiano which he missed.
• The Thunderbirds tacked on another field goal to extend their lead 24-17 with 2:39 left in the game. This set up the Miners for one final drive that ended with a touchdown to tie the game, a four yard touchdown pass on trick play.        

What was said

After the game Miners’ head coach Scotty Walden addressed the media and began by thanking the fans and the institution for the atmosphere they put on in the Sun Bowl to start the 2024 home campaign. Walden also quickly acknowledged, “in the end we didn’t didn’t hold our end of the bargain, that’s the bottom line” and was apologetic.

As for the excessive penalties Walden said, “We can’t have the amount of penalties we had in order to beat a team. That is unacceptable and that starts with me”. As for addressing the issue, the first year UTEP head coach called it “priority number one” moving forward.

To sum up the post game presser Coach Walden was asked about the critical comments made by Southern Utah’s head coach Delane Fitzgerald regarding the state of UTEP’s football team coming into the 2024 season and the Borderland in general to which he kept it short and said, “Our fans showed up and responded, unfortunately we didn’t show up with a win. I’m disappointed in the comments, but at the end of the day we need to walk the walk. We didn’t do that tonight. We didn’t defend the Sun Bowl, we didn’t defend our city.”   

What’s next

Next week the Miners will travel to Lynchberg, Virginia to face Liberty. The Flames were also in the Borderland this week as they faced the NMSU Aggies in Las Cruces. Next week’s game against the defending Conference USA champions is scheduled for a 4 p.m. MST kickoff and will be televised on ESPN+.