UTEP 27, Florida Atlantic 17: What We Learned

[caption id="attachment_19684" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo courtesy UTEP Athletics Photo courtesy UTEP Athletics[/caption] UTEP snapped its losing streak and grabbed a key Conference USA win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday night at the Sun Bowl. What did we learn? DCTF's Thomas Bingham breaks it down.“We’ve found gold!” It’s great to have quarterback Mack Leftwich back. He suffered a concussion in the September 19 win against New Mexico State, but he excelled in his return. He missed the next three games, but it didn’t affect his play tonight. He helped the Miners jump out to an early lead, and finished the half with a career high 214 passing yards and two touchdowns. His return also affected Tyler Batson’s play, who finished the game with his best performance of his collegiate career, catching two of Leftwich’s passes for touchdowns. He finished with three receptions for 143 yards. Same ol’, same ol’ UTEP’s run defense has plagued the Miners all season, and Florida Atlantic exposed that in the first half. The Miners allowed a 100-yard rusher in four of its first six games this season, and also did so in tonight’s first half. Trey Rodriguez set up the Owls’ first score, a 25-yard field goal by Greg Joseph, with a 59-yard run in the second quarter. He finished the half with 112 rushing yards, and a 38 yard score. The Owls’ run game was the difference in the second quarter, and that’s why Florida Atlantic erased the deficit twice. Luckily for UTEP, that’s all the damage that the defense cost. Second-half turnarounds Coach Sean Kugler’s halftime speech was effective, even if I didn’t hear. The Miners flipped the script and shutout the Owls in the second half. Every first half wrong was fixed, and the Miners outscored the Owls 13-0. There were no turnovers, like the first half fumble and turnover on downs. Even Jay Mattox, who missed a field goal in the second quarter, made two in the second half. Something clicked for the Miners in the second half, and if they can carry that forward, they're in business.