LAS CRUCES, N.M. — UTEP looked like a promising, talented team playing its first game of the year Saturday night at New Mexico State.
The Aggies looked like a team playing their first real game in two years.
That was good math for the Miners in a 30-3 season-opening victory against their arch-rivals, one where they scored the first 17 points while capitalizing on a host of New Mexico State errors and at least partly overcoming their own raft of their own penalties (140 yards of them).
How it happened
UTEP’s opening drive was a good example. On the Miners’ first snap, Gavin Hardison hit Jacob Cowing for a 47-yard strike that was called back by a holding penalty. A play later, on second-and-22, Hardison hit Cowing for 72 yards and three plays later Deion Hankins was in the end zone.
New Mexico State quarterback Jonah Johnson, who at times looked rock-solid in his FBS debut, fumbled on the next play and so it went.
On New Mexico State’s second possession, UTEP committed two personal fouls and a pass interference that moved the Aggies to the Miners’ 19, NMSU then committed a hold and eventually banged a field goal off the upright.
UTEP had six penalties for 65 yards in the first quarter but New Mexico State found enough problems of its own to keep from capitalizing.
These were just snapshots, but they give a good enough idea of how a Miner team returning 20 starters from 2020 beat an Aggie team returning two starters from 2019, one that played two scrimmages/sort-of-games in the interim.
Stars of the game
Before UTEP started emptying the bench, Jacob Cowing was in national player of the week contention. Three plays into the third quarter he had four catches for 163 yards and a touchdown before finishing with five grabs for 158.
Gavin Hardison threw one interception that was a result of him being belted in the chest by Donovan King as he released the ball, but he was good, especially on deep balls to his stars Cowing and Justin Garrett. He finished 11 of 16 with a touchdown pass and 249 yards (22.6 yards per completion) before sitting out the fourth quarter.
Backup tailback Ronald Awatt ended up being the workhorse, which was a combination of his effectiveness and Deion Hankins getting knocked out in the first half. Awatt’s 34-yard touchdown run was the cap in UTEP’s 17-0 lead and he finished with 74 yards on 11 carries.
Quardraiz Wadley was also effective in his first real action in two years, rushing for 51 yards on six carries.
Another star was the UTEP defense, particularly when it wasn’t gifting New Mexico State with personal foul penalties — most of the Miners’ 125 penalty yards were on the defense.
They bent some, but keeping New Mexico State’s offense on the field long enough for it to make an error was a winning strategy, and the 190 yards allowed was a winning number. The biggest winning number of all: The Aggies scored three points on five red zone trips.
For New Mexico State, King’s hit was their big play that led to an interception by Dalton Bowles. D.J. McCullough had a later interception with a 32-yard return to the UTEP 9.
Up next
The second paragraph of this story will apply again next week, as UTEP will play for the second time in seven days against a team playing its first game in two years, in this case the FCS’s Bethune-Cookman.
New Mexico State travels to California to play a road game against San Diego State in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson. That will be on CBS Sports Network.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
