One-on-one with UTEP’s Dana Dimel; Miners welcome undefeated #22 Liberty Saturday
(Courtesy: UTEP Athletics)
EL PASO, Texas - The 2023 season will conclude when UTEP takes on undefeated no. 22-ranked Liberty on Saturday afternoon.
The Miners (3-8, 2-5 Conference USA) and Flames (11-0, 7-0 CUSA) are set for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff in Sun Bowl Stadium.
The contest will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network and can be heard on 95.5 FM KLAQ.
Saturday afternoon’s contest is sponsored by Las Palmas Del Sol, while tickets for ‘Senior Day’ are available by calling 915.747.UTEP, emailing at tickets@utep.edu, or by visiting www.utepminers.com/tickets.
Ten seniors will be honored prior to the game as DE Praise Amaewhule, TE Zach Fryar, DT Jagves Garnett, QB Gavin Hardison, OL Zuri Henry, S Trejon Hugue, OL Elijah Klein, LB Tyrice Knight, C Andrew Meyer and DT Keenan Stewart will play in the Sun Bowl for a final time.
“[These] seniors will be playing their last games this weekend for us or be involved. Of course, we've talked a lot about Gavin Hardison. And then Zach Fryar, a tight end, who’s been a really, really good player for us through the years. And then the offense, the three offensive linemen that we're losing in Zuri Henry, Elijah Klein and Andrew Meyer. Those guys have just been really, really good players for someone that played for six years because of that redshirt rule and the COVID rule coming in and those guys have just been tremendous players. So we're not losing a whole lot of players on offense or defense to senior exhausting eligibility. On defense is Trejon Hugue, Tyrice Knight, Keenan Stewart, Jagves Garnett and Praise,” UTEP Head Coach Dana Dimel said. “When you start naming some of those guys there, they've set records for the history of sacks and Tyrice with his tackles in the season you know just tremendous leading the country right now in solo tackles. What a great accomplishment for him and all those guys. The thing that's most special about all those guys is that every one of them I just read off has graduated and has over a 3.2 GPA. And that part of it, you know, goes a long way, and obviously had had a ton of accomplishments on the football field with what they were able to do in their achievements. So I’m really proud of those guys. Unfortunately, those guys have been with us for so long. It just hurts to lose them.”
The senior class will be sent off by facing FBS’ no. 1 program two categories – rushing offense (282.2 yards per game) and defensive interceptions (19).
Dual-threat Liberty QB Kaidon Salter leads CUSA in touchdown passes (28) and rushing scores (11), while he’s racked up over 3,200 yards of total offense.
“[Liberty is] just tremendous on the offense and they're tremendous on defense. I mean, their defensive statistics that really show there's tons of good ones, but the ones that really is their turnovers, their interceptions, their overall turnovers, their turnover margin, and their yards per play is very, very efficient with what they do,” Dimel said. “That's a stat that I use a lot to measure a defense. They're good. Their tackle for losses is very good on third down defensively. Offensively you go over and talk about them, it all starts with that quarterback. He's just a great, great football player. He's so athletic he can run. He makes plays with the speed, outrun people. He throws the ball extremely well. He's the guy. He's the guy that really stirs them.”
UTEP is coming off a narrow 34-30 loss at Middle Tennessee.
The Blue Raiders capitalized on the Miners’ four turnovers, scoring 13 points off those miscues.
QB Cade McConnell threw for a career-high 364 yards on career bests in completions (24) and attempts (41).
His favorite target WR Kelly Akharaiyi produced another solid outing, tallying 138 yards with two touchdowns.
Akharaiyi has hit the 100+ yard mark for a third straight game, while he’s amassed 634 yards (126.8 ypg) in his last five contest, and finding pay dirt six times during that span.
Akharaiyi needs 76 yards to become only the ninth Miner in program history to register a 1,000-yard receiving campaign.
Defensively, UTEP recorded a season-high eight pass breakups, while LB Tyrice Knight stuffed the stat sheet with nine tackles, a sack, career-high 3.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, fumble recovery and a breakup.
S Oscar Moore tallied a career-high eight tackles and intercepted his second pass in as many games.
Undefeated Liberty has rolled through its opponents, winning by an average margin of 18.8 points per game.
Most recently, the Flames beat nonconference opponents in UMass 49-25 on Nov. 18 and Old Dominion 38-10 on Nov. 11.
Liberty’s most recent conference contest came against LA Tech in a 56-30 win on Nov. 4.
It’s also the first road game for the Flames since winning at WKU 42-29 on Oct. 24.
“They've been able to score a lot of points and move the ball on everybody that they've played this year and went through the season undefeated which you don't very much run across a team in week 12 that's undefeated like this,” Dimel said. “And so that's an opportunity for us to try to do something special and get a home win to close out the season against an undefeated football team.”
UTEP (3-8, 2-5) vs. #22 Liberty (11-0, 7-0)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 25
Time: 1:30 p.m. MT
Location: El Paso, Texas
Venue: Sun Bowl Stadium (45,971)
X Updates: @UTEPFB
TV: CBSSN
PxP: Alex Del Barrio
Analyst: Taylor McHargue
Sideline: Brandon Baylor
Radio: 95.5 FM KLAQ
PxP: Jon Teicher
Analyst: Cole Freytag
Sideline: Mando Medina
WHERE TO WATCH & LISTEN
The game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network with Alex Del Barrio calling the action, Taylor McHargue providing analysis and Brandon Baylor reporting from the sidelines. The action is on 95.5 FM KLAQ with “The Voice of the Miners” Jon Teicher calling play-by-play in his 43rd season. ‘Teich’, who just called his 500th UTEP football game on Oct. 11, is joined by former UTEP WR Cole Freytag (2012, 2014-16) in the booth providing analysis in his second season, and Mando Medina reporting from the sidelines. The action can also be heard on the UTEP Miners app.
SERIES VS. LIBERTY
Saturday’s contest will mark the first meeting between UTEP and Liberty.
ABOUT LIBERTY
No. 22-ranked Liberty is coming into Saturday’s contest undefeated at 11-0 overall and 7-0 in its first year of Conference USA action.
The Flames, ranked 25th nationally, bodes the nations’ top rushing offense averaging over 282 yards per game.
Liberty’s total offense ranks fifth at 501.2 yards per contest.
The Flames average 39.9 points per game, ranking eighth in FBS and first in CUSA. LU is good on the other side of the ball, leading the nation with 19 passes intercepted with two returned for touchdowns.
Dual-threat QB Kaidon Salter ranks sixth in FBS and first in CUSA with 28 touchdown passes, while he’s passed for 2,409 yards (fourth in CUSA).
He’s rushed for 823 yards on 128 carries (6.4 avg.) and a league-best 11 rushing scores.
RB Quinton Cooley leads CUSA and ranks ninth in FBS with 1,168 yards rushing and has scored 10 touchdowns (second in CUSA).
WR’s CJ Daniels and Treon Sibley are Salter’s top two targets. Sibley has 429 yards on 19 receptions with four touchdowns catches and averages a team-best 22.6 yards per catch.
Daniels leads the team in receptions (38), receiving yards (819) and receiving scores (eight).
Daniels’s eight touchdowns rank second in CUSA. S Brylan Green leads CUSA with five interceptions, while CB Kobe Singleton has picked off four passes. DB Preston Hodge and LB Jerome Jolly Jr. each have two interceptions.
