Type of Offense: Pro-Style. This offense is a run oriented offense that uses run plays and play action to get defenders out of position for passes in the 15-25 yard range. The tight end and fullback are more involved in the offense as the fullback is a blocker and the tight end is 70/30 blocking versus running routes. Most known for the isolation running plays in the middle, the offense has evolved to a more off tackle and “counter trey” running offense. This is more of the style of professional ranks allowing for a QB with a strong arm to thrive.
Type of Defense: 3-4. The defense that is in vogue for professional football is only used by teams that have a skill set of: a large NT that can take up space and blocks, 2 DEs that can also handle multiple blockers and read blocks to make plays, a couple MLB that can make lots of tackles in the run game, a WLB that can cover all over the field on passing plays, and a SLB that is stout versus the run and can make plays at the LOS. The attractiveness of this defense is the ability to blitz all 11 players in many different ways. On the average play, 1-2 players are blitzing and the offense can never settle into a pattern that is more likely in a 4-3 base defense. A team must have DBs who can cover but aren’t afraid to hit people and break up plays in the backfield on blitzes.
• Run/Pass %: 49/51
• Run/Pass Attempts: 412/432
• Points Per Game: 26.0
• Points Allowed Per Game: 27.5
Key Returning Players:
• Jamie Irving, MLB: Leading returning tackler for the Miners had 79 tackles, 4.5 TFL, and 1 interception in 2010. Irving could be much closer to the 100 tackle area after a strong 2011 season.
• Travoun Nixon, CB: Nixon had a very nice 2010 season getting 75 tackles, 4 TFL, and pulling in 4 interceptions for the Miner defense. He should be as close to an island corner as UTEP has and could make some end of the year all conference teams.
Key Incoming Freshmen:
• Ray Robertson, DE: This 3 star defensive end from Texas is 6-6 240 pounds and runs a verified 4.6 40 yard dash. He is the definition of size and strength and could come right in and dominate from day one. A lot depends on his maturity being a true freshman entering college football.
• AJ Robati, LB: This 3 star juco transfer from California is 6-2 230 pounds and runs a 4.7 40 yard dash. It is still to be seen where he ends up, outside or inside, but he should be able to find his way onto the field in 2011.
Overall Assessment:
A 6-6 regular season followed by a thrashing from an underachieving BYU squad was not the way the Miners wanted the season to go. They have the building blocks to return to a bowl game in 2011 and are hoping that the bowl game will be along with a 9-3 or 8-4 season rather than a .500 season and losing season following the bowl loss. The OOC schedule is manageable with Colorado State, New Mexico State, Stony Brook, and South Florida making it up. The only difficult conference road games are SMU and UCF but they get ECU, Southern Miss, Houston, and Tulsa at home which could become a big boost for UTEP. Best case is 8-4 or 9-3 and a nice trip to a bowl game. Most likely is a 7-5 or 6-6 season with a similar bowl to 2010, just hopefully not against BYU this time.
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