UTEP Miners News

EL PASO, Texas-Mike Price's Miners would love another shootout with Houston. At least that would mean their offense has bounced back from last week's drubbing at Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas-Sputtering, stuttering and staggering, Colt McCoy and the No. 2 Texas Longhorns have had trouble getting started this season.

EL PASO, Texas- This border run was a big fiesta for the Kansas defense.

DALLAS-Kansas showed just how tough it can be at home last weekend during a rout of overmatched Northern Colorado. Now, the Jayhawks head to West Texas trying to forget about all the problems they had on the road last season.

Each week, Sporting News' Matt Hayes ranked the Division I-A conferences—and the teams within each league. Conf. rankings No. 1 SEC No. 2 Big 12 No. 3 Pac-10 No. 4 Big Ten No. 5 Mountain West No. 6 ACC No. 7 Big East No. 8 C-USA ... No. 9 WAC No. 10 MAC No. 11 Sun Belt 8. Conference USA 1. Houston (1-0) 2. Tulsa (1-0, 1-0) 3. East Carolina (1-0) 4. Southern Miss (1-0) 5. UAB (1-0, 1-0) 6. Memphis (0-1) 7. UTEP (0-1) 8. Rice (0-1, 0-1) 9. Marshall (1-0) 10. Tulane (0-1, 0-1) 11. UCF (1-0) 12. SMU (1-0) Rising UAB. Good-guy coach Neil Callaway walked into a mess in Birmingham two years ago, and weeded out the malcontents while winning six games. Now look at the Blazers: A big conference win against Rice, and a potential 3-0 start with games against SMU and Troy the next two weeks. Falling UCF. Looming legal troubles have sucked the life out of a program coach George O'Leary once had a firm hold on. Now he's playing out the string and his team is struggling to beat I-AA Samford.  more>>

Dennis Dodd is mystified how San Diego State has fallen, landing at No. 105 in the decade rankings. But hope comes with Brady Hoke, turnaround artist of fellow flounder Ball State.

PIcking Conference USA

UTEP allowed at least 42 points in six of its seven defeats last season, including 77 at Tulsa and 53 at East Carolina, making recruiting priorities crystal clear for Miners head coach Mike Price.

SPRING AHEAD Spring practice starts on March 31 and ends with the spring game in the Sun Bowl on May 2

--After two seasons, QB Trevor Vittatoe already ranks third in UTEP history with 6,375 passing yards, trailing Jordan Palmer (11,084) and Billy Stevens (6,485)

Random thoughts on a football Monday

. The senior center, who continues to make a strong recovery from a stroke he suffered last month, was one of three UTEP football players voted by Conference USA coaches to the first-team all-conference squad released Tuesday. Read More »Also See: Discussions + Related Articles »Also View:  UTEP Miners Football - News & Video