¿Qué onda, Miner nation? Neto Galindo here, writing from my abuela's kitchen table on the west side, with a stack of flour tortillas, a jar of roasted green chile and a view of the Franklin Mountains out the window. If something's great, I call it Hatch-hot. If something's not great, I call it a learning experience. Last Saturday night at the Sun Bowl was a learning experience with a few Hatch-hot moments.
This week, UTEP has an open date. No game Saturday, Oct. 24. The Miners rest up, heal up and get ready for the longest trip on the schedule: Fargo, N.D., on Halloween. So let's look back at San Jose State, and then let's look ahead to the Bison.
Part 1: San Jose State 24, UTEP 11
On Oct. 17 at the Sun Bowl, San Jose State beat UTEP 24-11. And here's the strange part, amigos. The Miners outgained the Spartans 462 yards to 426. They had 27 first downs to San Jose State's 17. They held the ball for 35:17. They didn't turn it over once. And they still lost by 13.
How? The Spartans hit big plays, and UTEP didn't finish drives.
San Jose State scored first on an 80-yard drive, capped by Daniel Rolovich's 11-yard touchdown pass to Carson Clark with 7:59 left in the first quarter. It stayed 7-0 into the third. Then Viliami Teu ran in from the 2 to open the second half, and later broke a 67-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0. Teu finished with 156 yards and two touchdowns.
The Miners finally got on the board when Carlos Arreola hit a 47-yard field goal with 2:07 left in the third. And in the fourth, Nik Henry ran 8 yards for a touchdown, and Jaden Smith threw the two-point conversion to Cash Cheeks. A trick play on a two-pointer? Hatch-hot.
Now the good stuff, because there was good stuff. Raymond Moore III completed 19 of 28 passes for 195 yards. EJ Colson Jr. came in and completed all six of his passes for 87 yards. Six for six! Jaden Smith caught 12 passes for 90 yards. Kam Thomas caught four for 96, including a 64-yarder. And the Miners went 3-of-4 on fourth down.
The learning experience: UTEP converted 5 of 16 third downs, and Arreola made one of three field goals. You can't move the ball 462 yards and come away with 11 points. In the kitchen, that's like roasting a whole sack of chile and forgetting to bring any home.
The Miners are 1-6 and 0-3 in the Mountain West. They opened at Oklahoma and lost 51-0, beat Texas Southern 51-10, lost 52-17 at Michigan, lost 33-7 to Oregon State, lost 61-7 at New Mexico, and lost 30-13 to Nevada before San Jose State. That's a tough road, with Oklahoma and Michigan on it. I'm not hiding the record. I'm just telling you the last game was the closest the Miners have looked to turning a corner in a while.
Part 2: Next Up, UTEP at North Dakota State
After the open week, UTEP travels to the Fargodome to face North Dakota State on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. That's 1:30 p.m. here in El Paso. It's on MW+.
The Bison
North Dakota State is 6-1 and 3-1 in the Mountain West in its first season in FBS, and it plays at New Mexico this Saturday. The Bison won 10 FCS national titles from 2011 to 2024, per Wikipedia. That's a lot of trophies. I hope they have a big shelf.
Their defense is the real deal. It allows 246 yards per game and 11.3 points per game, both second in FBS, per ESPN. Nathan Hayes has thrown for 1,272 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. Myles Mitchell leads them with 354 rushing yards. Jackson Williams has 28 catches for 432 yards.
But here's the thing, Bison. Your offense ranks 92nd in FBS at 362 yards per game, and your passing attack is 113th. Hayes has thrown five interceptions, and two weeks ago UNLV picked him off three times in a 13-7 Bison loss. Seven points! In Las Vegas! That's a learning experience.
Our Miners
Moore has 414 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and Colson has thrown for 628 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions, per ESPN. Kam Thomas has 16 catches for 270 yards. UTEP scores 15.1 points per game and runs for 134.4 yards per game.
The honest note: UTEP allows 37.3 points per game. The defense has to get off the field. But if the offense moves the ball the way it did against San Jose State and finishes in the red zone, this team can make the Bison sweat. Well, maybe not sweat. It's Fargo in late October.
The Series
CollegeFootballData.com has no previous meeting on record. First time ever. Let's make it memorable.
Town Report: El Paso vs. Fargo
El Paso. El Paso had 678,815 people at the 2020 census, per Wikipedia, the sixth-most populous city in Texas and the biggest in West Texas. We sit on the Rio Grande, right across the border from Ciudad Juárez, in the Chihuahuan Desert. The Franklin Mountains run right through the middle of town, and Franklin Mountains State Park, at 24,000 acres, is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. You can ride the Wyler Aerial Tramway up the mountain or drive Scenic Drive and look out over two countries at once.
The Ysleta Mission dates to 1682, and it's still a working church. The Plaza Theatre, built in 1930, still hosts Broadway shows. And the city hosts the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in the country, in a stadium built into a natural bowl at the foot of the mountains.
And the sun, amigos. Per the National Weather Service, as cited on Wikipedia, the sun shines 302 days a year here. That's why we're called the Sun City.
Fargo. Fargo is a fine city on the Red River of the North, founded in 1871, with a lovely 1926 Art Deco movie house called the Fargo Theatre. But Wikipedia says its winters are among the coldest in the contiguous United States. January has a normal mean temperature of 9.2 degrees. Fargo averages 43 days a year at or below zero, and 51.4 inches of snow a season.
We have 302 days of sun. Fargo has 51 inches of snow. No wonder the Bison play indoors. If I lived in Fargo, I'd put a roof on the stadium too. And on the car. And on myself.
So here's my plan for the trip. I'm packing two jackets, three hoodies, a beanie my tía knitted and a thermos of green chile stew. If the Fargodome gets chilly, I'll pass it around. It's Hatch-hot. It'll thaw anybody out.
The Road Ahead
Here's the deal. UTEP outgained a winning Mountain West team last week. It didn't turn the ball over. Colson went six for six. Jaden Smith caught 12 balls. The pieces are there. Use the open week to fix the red zone and the kicking, and go to Fargo ready to make some history.
And on Halloween, I'll be wearing orange. Not as a costume. That's just what Miners wear.