Arizona Football: Wildcats ready to duel Miners in El Paso

Arizona Football (1-1) travels to El Paso, Texas this Friday to take on the winless UTEP Miners, in the teams’ final Out of Conference game.

Following Arizona Football’s tough, and heartbreaking loss to Houston last week, the Wildcats are looking to rebound, versus an inferior UTEP team.

The Wildcats enter Friday’s match-up as the clear favorite, but this is a game Arizona needs to take seriously and get young guys more reps, just ahead of the Pac-12 Conference schedule.

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The Miners are 0-2 and haven’t looked very competitive to start the year, getting trounced by Oklahoma 56-7, and losing to Rice 31-14 this past weekend. This is a team that is led by junior quarterback, Ryan Metz but doesn’t seem to have enough weapons to knock off Arizona. Metz will actually not play this Friday either.

So far in 2017, they have shown to be not much of a threat offensively for the Wildcats, so expect the defense to have some great opportunities to get the younger players some reps and experience.

Last week, Arizona was led defensively by freshman linebacker, Tony Fields, with ten tackles (eight solo). Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles would also have a solid game, adding two tackles of his own, and picking off one of the two interceptions thrown by Kyle Allen that evening.

Offensively, Arizona may return a healthy Nick Wilson, which will help the Wildcats’ running game, and once again junior Brandon Dawkins will be under center at the start of the game.

Head coach Rich Rodriguez seemingly quieted all doubters in his Monday press conference, as he named Dawkins his starter for the upcoming game. However, that certainly won’t hush critics who will watch Friday’s match-up with bated breath of the veteran quarterback.

Sophomore Khalil Tate seems to be the adversary awaiting an opportunity to showcase what he can do if Dawkins should falter.

While we don’t expect a close game in this one, we also don’t anticipate the Wildcats wavering from what they do best, and that is running the football. I imagine this game to be a bit like the one versus NAU, where the Wildcats racked up over 500 yards rushing.

With that said, I also don’t expect the same results, despite Rodriguez possibly going with a similar game plan.

Coming in, the Miners have the 124th (out of 129) ranked total defense. Their rushing defense ranks 116th. With a potentially healthy Wilson and JJ Taylor, the Miners will certainly have difficulties in containing the two, versatile running backs.

Know Thy Foe:

Team: UTEP Miners (0-2); lost to Oklahoma 56-7, and 31-14 to Rice.

Conference: Conference USA

2016 Record: 4-8 (2-6); won 52-24 versus North Texas in the final game of the season

Head Coach: Sean Kugler (18-33); fifth season with the Miners.

Key Returners/ Starters: Quarterback Ryan Metz (not playing), running back Walter Dawn, receivers Kavika Johnson and Warren Redix, defensive back Devin Cockrell, and linebacker Dante Lovilotte.

Game Information:

When: Friday, September 15th, 2017

Time: 7:15 PM MST

Where: Sun Bowl Stadium (El Paso, TX)

Spread: -20 Arizona

Overall Series Record: 38-12 Arizona, with the Wildcats on a 12-game winning streak, including the last time these teams met in 2003 (John Mackovic’s final season at Arizona). Arizona won 42-7.

Our Prediction: Arizona 48 UTEP 17. The Wildcats shouldn’t struggle too much with UTEP, but first game on the road could cause some jitters at least early on. Dawkins has admitted his struggles in passing the football, so we will see what happens this week against an inferior UTEP team. Arizona should be able to run over the Miners and leave El Paso 2-1.

Listen to coach Rodriguez just ahead of the Wildcats’ game this Friday

Must Read: More on Arizona Football

At Zona Zealots, we hope for a better week this week. Hopefully, Arizona can get out of El Paso with a win, but more importantly, healthy! Bear Down, Arizona!