UTEP Miners seek consistency against Nevada Wolfpack coming off bye week

After resting up during an early-season bye week, UTEP returns home Saturday to play host to the Nevada Wolf Pack out of the Mountain West at 6 p.m. Mountain Time at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso.

“This will be a big challenge and opportunity for us to get back and play well and put all the pieces of our football program together offensively, defensively and on special teams,” Miners head coach Dana Dimel said. (Watch Dimel’s complete comments in the video player at the bottom of this article.)

UTEP enters the game with a 1-1 record after notching a season-opening win over Houston Baptist and falling to Texas Tech two weeks ago on the road. UTEP is currently one of only 20 FBS teams in the nation to put up perfect numbers in the red zone through the first three weeks of the college football season. The Miners enter Saturday’s home game versus Nevada a perfect 7-for-7 inside the 20-yard line, with three touchdowns and four field goals.

As for the Wolf Pack, they come into the contest with a 2-1 overall mark with wins over Purdue and Weber State. Nevada’s one loss came on the road at Oregon in week two.

“This Nevada team is going to be a big test for us,” Dimel explained. “They are obviously a team that went 8-5 last year and has beaten a Big 10 opponent already this year. They are just a well-coached, good football team that plays physical football on both sides of the ball.”

UTEP and Nevada last met on the gridiron in 2002 in a game the Wolf Pack won, 23-17 in Reno, while the all-time series dates back to the 2000 season when both teams were members of the Western Athletic Conference.