UTEP-Arkansas Football Game To Be Shown On ESPNU On Saturday
UTEP’s road game against Arkansas on Nov. 13 will be televised on ESPNU, Arkansas has announced.
The game will be at 4 p.m. Mountain Time.
Arkansas and UTEP are meeting for the second time and first in Fayetteville. The two teams first met in 1989, and the Razorbacks came away with a 39-7 victory in Little Rock.
“This next game (against Arkansas) is going to be a lot of fun,” UTEP coach Mike Price said at his weekly media luncheon. “It will be a great experience for our players. It’s going be on national television against one of the best teams in the country. They’ve only lost to Auburn and Alabama, and they are loaded. Their offensive backs are huge and their quarterback is a really great player. They’re second in the nation in passing and he’s fourth in the nation. He’s a big, good-looking kid from Texas who hands off to a big, good-looking running back from Texas. Their defense is really solid. They have a huge offensive and defensive line. Fayetteville is a tough place to play. A lot of our players are looking forward to playing an SEC team and a team that’s ranked. It’s a great challenge for us, and we’re really looking forward to this game.”
Price has a connection with Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino that goes way back.
“I hired him for his first full-time coaching position at Weber State, and we have been close friends ever since. I was there when they had their first two girls, and now they have two boys and two girl,” Price said. “He’s a fantastic football coach. My son Eric played his senior year with Bobby as his receivers coach, and Eric still thinks he’s the best coach he has ever been around. He is a super football coach and a super person off the field, and I’m looking forward to seeing him and looking forward to our team playing against his team. They are really well coached. John L. Smith is the old Louisville and Michigan State coach, and their defensive coordinator is one of the best in the game. They’ve got the whole package — the players, the coaches and the fans.”
Price said his team has to approach the game against No. 14 Arkansas the same way it approached the SMU game.
“I think we have to go into this game with the same attitude we had in the last game. We need to approach it like it’s a challenge, but just go out there and have fun,” Price said. “A lot of the players on our team looked at these schools when they were younger and didn’t get the opportunity to play for them. And now they have a chance to show that they can play against these people. We have gone up against great quarterbacks, receivers and running back in our league. So individually they have competed against just as good players as the ones they’re going to compete against on Saturday. So that’s what I tell them — have fun, be loose, the ball is in our court and we have nothing to lose. They certainly haven’t circled this as their big game of the year, and we have.”
