Miners’ Rally Comes up Short 27-17 at Colorado State Saturday

FORT COLLINS, Colorado (KVIA) -- UTEP found itself down 21 points at the midway point of the third quarter but two quick touchdown passes from Cade McConnell to Kenny Odom cut the lead to seven points. However, a late field goal from Colorado State downed UTEP 27-17 on Saturday afternoon in Canvas Stadium.

McConnell was inserted to start the second half and engineered drives of 75 and 92 yards both resulting in Odom touchdowns. Odom took the first one 28 yards to the house to make the score 24-10 at the 4:26 mark of the third, while he used his burners for a 55-yard touchdown to get within seven points to start the fourth quarter.

UTEP (0-4, 0-1 CUSA) improved on its third-down conversions going 7 for 17, the most converted this season thus far, while keeping the penalties down to just two for the second game in a row. It’s the least penalties (four) in a two-game span since 2018. The Miners only gained 92 yards in the first half but ended up with 324 yards of total offense. Colorado State (2-2, 0-0 MWC) rushed for 224 yards on 43 carries led by Avery Morrow’s 156 yards and two touchdowns.

“When you’re playing these types of games on the road against a good opponent, we talk about precision, and we did not play precise. That’s the bottom line. The offense during the first half had lack of effort and lack of intensity – I was very disappointed with that,” UTEP Head Coach Scotty Walden said. “I thought in the second half we came out and got some things together, got into a rhythm. I give a ton of credit to Cade, I felt like we needed a spark and that’s all it was. I didn’t think Skyler was playing necessarily awful or terrible, but besides the interception in the red zone, I thought he was doing everything he could to fight. I appreciate Cade’s focus and leadership and coming in and giving us a chance to win the game. You can’t come out of the third quarter and have a punt blocked on wefense, and then give seven to them.”

Odom recorded a collegiate career-best 128 yards on seven receptions (ties career best) and a career-most two touchdown receptions. McConnell threw for 220 yards on 19-of-29 passing in the second half of action.

Despite committing only two penalties, the second was a holding miscue that called back a potential 67-yard pick-six by Josiah Allen that could’ve helped tie the game at the two-minute mark. UTEP missed out on converting a pair of fourth-down plays. The first came on a third-and-1 with 7:18 left in the game. The ball was snapped high and McConnell recovered for a four-yard loss that led to a fourth-and-5. McConnell’s pass was incomplete to Odom.

“We had two fourth downs that we didn’t convert and that’s the disappointing part,” Walden said. “But I’m very proud of the fight in the second half. It’s the lack of execution we had on offense but I thought the defense played their hearts out. But we have to become a consistent football team.”

Defensively, defensive end Bryton Thompson amassed a career-high 12 tackles to go along with a sack and a career-best 2.5 TFLs. Dorian Hopkins hit double figures with 11 stops and Nate Dyman, who tallied nine tackles last week, topped that total with a new career-best 10 against the Rams. Xavier Smith chipped in with nine tackles. Freshman Kyran Duhon registered a career-best six tackles, while Lantz Russell recorded his first sack as a Miner. AJ Odums intercepted his first pass as a Miner and tied his career best with three breakups.

Colorado State got on the board first on a 12-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a Morrow two-yard rush into the end zone to take an early 7-0 lead following the PAT at the 8:52 mark.

On CSU’s next possession, Caleb Goodie took a rush 25 yards to the UTEP 43. It looked as if Goodie would break away to the end zone before running into his offensive lineman which helped stall the big run. The Rams, on their next three plays, gained only seven yards before UTEP’s defense held them on a fourth-and-3 to get the ball back.

In the second, the Miners forced another turnover on downs to get the ball back at the 10:51 mark. Skyler Locklear completed a 32-yard pass to Kam Thomas to the CSU 14, followed by a Jevon Jackson one-yard gain on the next play. But Locklear threw an interception to end the drive.

The Miners got the ball back however when Odums picked off his first pass as Miner and first since 2022. Odums intercepted the pass along the sideline and kept his toes inbound. The offense didn’t sustain any big yards but the drive ended on a career-long 45-yard field goal from Buzz Flabiano to make the count 7-3 with 6:08 to play in the half.

On the Rams’ ensuing possession, Morrow took a rush up the middle for seven yards and followed that with a career-long rush 73 yards for a touchdown to take a 14-3 advantage with 4:40 left in the half.  

Backup McConnell started the second half and completed a few passes – a 12-yarder up the middle to Jaden Smith and a 15-yard catch by Odom. However, McConnell was dropped for a five-yard loss and was then sacked for a loss of 10 yards that forced a punt. The Rams blocked the punt attempt and used their next offensive possession to take a 21-3 lead following a five-yard scoring pass from Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi to Armani Winfield at the 11:54 mark.

CSU connected on a 37-yard field goal to take a 21-point lead (24-3) at the 7:32 mark of the third.

The Miners finally found paydirt on a seven-play, 75-yard drive engineered by McConnell that was capped by a 28-yard touchdown reception by Kenny Odom with 4:26 left in the third.

UTEP climbed back into the contest on another scoring drive – this time 92 yards. McConnell worked his magic again when he connected with Odom on a 55-yard touchdown toss to get the Miners within seven points (24-17) to begin the fourth quarter.

For CSU, Buom Jock led the defense with 13 tackles while Chase Wilson recorded 10.

UP NEXT

UTEP, following a bye week, will return to CUSA action on Thursday, Oct. 3, when it hosts Sam Houston. The Miners and Bearkats are set for a 7 p.m. MT kickoff as the contest will be nationally televised on CBSSN and “The Home of UTEP Football” 600 AM ESPN.