New Mexico Bowl 2010 UTEP vs. BYU: 10 Things You Need To Know
The New Mexico Bowl is a relatively new bowl game. The first game was played in 2006 when San Jose State beat New Mexico 20-12.
SInce then, the game has been played every single year.
Last season, Wyoming beat Fresno State 35-28 in double overtime. This year, the teams competing for the title will be UTEP and BYU.
The game will be played on December 18th at 2:00 PM EST and broadcasted on ESPN.
Read on to learn a little bit more about these two football teams.
New Mexico Bowl History
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UTEP Miners
The Miners have never played in the New Mexico Bowl, so they have a chance to win in their first appearance and hold an undefeated record in the bowl's history.
In fact, only six teams have ever played in the New Mexico Bowl going into this year's contest.
BYU Cougars
The Cougars also have yet to play in a New Mexico Bowl, so this will be a first for the program.
Now that BYU and UTEP will have played in one of the contests, they join New Mexico, Fresno State, Colorado State, San Jose State, Wyoming and Nevada as the teams to have competed for the New Mexico Bowl title.
Overall Bowl History
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UTEP Miners
In UTEP's history, the Miners have been to just 12 bowl games.
Of those 12, five have been victories while seven have resulted in losses. That's good for a winning percentage of .417.
UTEP's last bowl game came back in 2005 when they secured an invitation to the GMAC Bowl. Facing off against Toledo, UTEP got crushed and lost 13-45.
Under current head coach Mike Price, the Miners have been to just two bowl games. Just like the 2005 GMAC Bowl, the 2004 Houston Bowl saw UTEP lose, but this time 28-33 to Colorado.
BYU Cougars
In BYU's history, the Cougars have been to 28 bowl games.
10 games resulted in victories, 17 in losses, and one ended in a 13-13 tie.
Their first bowl game was a 6-16 loss to Oklahoma State in the 1974 Fiesta Bowl.
Since 2005, BYU has played in a bowl game every year, but this will be the first year since the current streak began that the bowl game will not be the Las Vegas Bowl. Most recently, the Cougars won the 2009 Las Vegas Bowl by beating Oregon State 44-20.
All of the bowl games since 2005 have been during the reign of current head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who has a 3-2 record in those games.
This Season
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UTEP Miners
The Miners didn't have too great of a season, finishing fourth in Conference-USA with a mediocre 6-6 record.
Their season began with a 31-10 win over Arkansas Pine-Bluff and the team continued to roll to a 5-1 record in the first half of the season.
UTEP would lose five of their next six games though, the sole win coming against Southern Methodist. The losses were against UAB, Tulane, Marshall, Arkansas and Tulsa.
Considering that Tulane won the West Division of Conference-USA, the 28-31 loss to the Golden Hurricanes to end the season really wasn't all that bad.
BYU Cougars
The Cougars finished with an identical 6-6 record and placed third in the Mountain West Conference. However, the way they got there was entirely different.
BYU won their first game against Jake Locker and the Washington Huskies, but struggled to a 2-5 record to begin the season. Many of the losses, including those to Florida State, Nevada and TCU, were quite acceptable though.
After the loss to the Horned Frogs, BYU went on to win their last four games before closing with a 16-17 loss to Utah.
Their biggest win of the season was a 55-7 win against UNLV.
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Offensive Stats
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UTEP Miners
It's hard to mistake the Miners for a good offensive football team, but they aren't a terrible one either.
When UTEP has the ball, they employ a fairly balanced attack. Led by Trevor Vittatoe, the passing attack has gained an average of 221.5 yards per game through the air. That's good enough for the offense to rank 60th in the nation in terms of passing yards.
As for the rushing game, the Miners have gained 149.5 yards per game on the ground. Those numbers place them 69th in the country.
All of that adds up to 26.2 points per game scored by the offense, 70th among all college football teams.
BYU Cougars
Similarly, BYU hasn't exactly lit up the scoreboards offensively.
They aren't really the greatest passing team in the country either, throwing for an average of 190.3 yards per game through the air. Those numbers are the 86th best in the country.
As for the running game, the Cougars, led by JJ Di Luigi, have gained an average of 163.8 yards per game on the ground. That's good enough for them to rank 46th in the nation.
The Cougars have scored 24 points per game this year, the 84th most in the country.
Defensive Stats
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UTEP Miners
When the Miners have won games this season, it's been primarily because of their defense.
In UTEP's six wins this year, they've allowed 10, 10, 13, 20, 24 and 14 points to their opponents. However, in their six losses, they've occasionally been blown out. Week 2 saw Houston score 54 points while Arkansas scored 58 in the penultimate game of the regular season.
All in all, the Miners have allowed 25.4 points per game this year to their opponents. That places them 58th in the country in terms of points allowed.
BYU Cougars
BYU is also a much better team on defense than they are on offense.
In fact, the Cougars haven't allowed more than 20 points in a game in the five games since they lost 3-31 to TCU.
Despite the early season struggles when they allowed over 30 points four times in a seven-game stretch, the Cougars are still only allowing 21.4 points per game. That average is the 32nd best one in the nation.
Quarterbacks
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UTEP Miners
Trevor Vittatoe, a senior, has led the Miners from the quarterback position this season. He's started all four years in his collegiate career, but this has been the most disappointing of the bunch.
Vittatoe has completed 206 of his 378 passes, good for a 54.4 percent completion rate. Those passes have gone for 2,511 yards and 19 touchdowns. He's also thrown 10 interceptions this year.
On the ground, Vittatoe has rushed 47 times and picked up an additional 141 yards.
His best game of the season came in the third week of the season against New Mexico State when he threw five touchdown passes. As for the final portion of the year, his last two games have been disappointments as he's failed to throw any touchdown passes while turning the ball over twice.
BYU Cougars
Counterattacking the experience of Vittatoe is the youth of Jake Heaps for BYU. The freshman quarterback is nearing the end of a decent first season.
He's completed 55.6 percent of his passes, 194 completions on 349 attempts. Those completions have gone for 2,052 yards and 11 touchdowns, but he's also thrown eight interceptions.
Heaps' running abilities are quite bad though, as the freshman is practically immobile. In 34 rushing attempts, Heaps has gone backwards 100 yards, but has still scored a touchdown.
He's been on his best stretch of the season as of late, throwing 10 touchdown passes in his last five games. Heaps' best game came against Colorado State, completing 15 of his 20 passes for 242 yards and four touchdowns.
Skill Positions
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UTEP Miners
The Miners' starting running back this year is Joseph Banyard, a junior out of Sweetwater, Texas. Banyard has carried the ball 107 times this season for 612 yards and eight touchdowns. He's also caught 17 passes for 107 yards.
UTEP's only real receiving threat this year has been Kris Adams, a 23-year-old senior from Fort Worth. Adams has caught 44 passes for 917 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. His best game came against Rice when he hauled in five passes for 134 yards and three scores in a 44-24 win.
BYU Cougars
The Cougars have had three running backs carry the ball quite a bit for them this season.
JJ Di Luigi has the most rushing attempts, taking the pigskin 158 times for 819 yards and seven touchdowns. Bryan Karima is the second leading rusher with 519 yards and five touchdowns on 131 carries. The third back, Joshua Quezada, has 84 carries for 404 yards and four scores.
Di Luigi is also the leading receiver, catching 42 passes for 422 yards and another touchdown.
As for the true receivers, Cody Hoffman has 34 catches for 390 yards and four scores.
Defensive Players
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UTEP Miners
The Miners have been extraordinarily balanced on the tackling front. Wiston Jeune leads the team with 79, 38 of which were solo tackles. Five players, Jamie Irving, Travaun Nixon, Royzell Smith, Isaiah Carter and DeShawn Grayson are all within 15 tackles of the team lead.
Robert Soleyjacks and Greg Watkins, two of the team's defensive linemen, are tied for the team lead in sacks.
In the secondary, Nixon leads the team with three interceptions. He's returned them for a total of 97 yards.
BYU Cougars
Andrew Rich is the leading tackler for the Cougars, recording 106 tackles out of BYU's secondary. The second leading tackler on the team, linebacker Shane Hunter, has brought down a ballcarrier 80 times this year.
Vic So'oto leads the team in sacks with four. Those four takedowns of the opposing quarterback have resulted in 19 yards of lost ground.
Rich also leads his team in interceptions as he's picked off three passes. Jameson Frazier, Hunter and Brian Logan have all picked off two passes apiece.
Special Teams
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UTEP Miners
The primary place kicker for the Miners this year has been sophomore Dakota Warren. He's made just 11 of his 19 field goal attempts while knocking through all 39 of his extra point tries.
At punter is another sophomore. Ian Campbell has punted 45 times, averaging 44.7 yards per kick.
As for the return game, sophomore wide receiver Marion McClure has paced both the kickoff and punt return units. McClure has taken back 27 kicks for 805 yards, an average of 29.8 yards per return. He's also taken it to the house twice.
When returning punts, McClure has 14 yards per return in his 13 tries.
BYU Cougars
Mitch Payne has been the place kicker for the Cougars during 2010. The senior kicker has made 16 of his 20 kicks this year. He's also knocked through 30 of his 32 extra point attempts during the year.
Riley Stephenson, a sophomore, has been the starting punter for the team and has averaged 41.3 yards per punt on his 49 tries.
In the return game, no one has really stood out. JD Falslev, O'Neill Chambers and McKay Jacobson have returned punts for respective averages of 7.2, 9.0 and 9.0 yards per return.
As for kickoffs, Chambers has returned the most kicks, taking back 15 for an average of 21.1 yards per return but Cody Hoffman's 28.3 yards per return on nine tries leads the team.
Prediction
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Don't expect to see a lot of points scored in this game, which will open the 2010-2011 bowl season.
Both defenses will be better than the opposing offenses, but BYU's unit should be able to pull a little bit ahead.
UTEP has been pretty awful recently, while BYU has been on a fairly decent run.
Expect the ground game of BYU to take over for some brief spurts throughout the game and eventually run the clock out.
Prediction: BYU Cougars
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
