UTEP 20, North Texas 17: What We Learned

[caption id="attachment_19336" align="alignright" width="300"]Photo courtesy UTEP Athletics Photo courtesy UTEP Athletics[/caption] Two seasons came to a close as UTEP took down North Texas in an ugly affair in Denton, 20-17. What did we learn? DCTF's Greg Tepper breaks it down.The season is mercifully over for both teams. It’d be hard to say that expectations for either UTEP and North Texas were sky-high entering the 2015 season. For the Miners, there were outside hopes that they could contend for a Conference USA title, if running back Aaron Jones broke out and the defense came around. For North Texas, a bowl game would’ve been a successful year. Instead, in front of a mostly empty Apogee Stadium in Denton, the 2015 campaign for both squads came to a merciful end. UTEP’s injury-ravaged season got even worse when quarterback Ryan Metz went down, and North Texas’ dreadful year went to 11 (as in losses). When the teams left the field after the final gun of a game that featured just 461 total yards of offense and seven turnovers, they can’t have felt like the end came too soon. UTEP got a glimpse of the future. The Miners entered today with 16 players from the opening week two-deep out for the year with injury — yes, really — and lost another when quarterback Ryan Metz went down early in the second quarter. Enter true freshman Kavika Johnson, who was a star at Mayfield (NM) High School and had seen spotty, mostly clean-up action this season. And while he wasn’t sharp in the ugly weather in Denton, he was effective enough, accounting for the only two offensive touchdowns in the game with a quick-pitch score to Warren Redix and a rushing touchdown. There are many questions for the Miners entering a suddenly very important 2016 season, but Kavika Johnson is certainly in the mix to be an impact player next year. It will get better, North Texas. Come over here, Mean Green fans. Let’s hug it out. That stunk, right? And I don’t just mean this game — I mean this season, which featured a 59-point loss to FCS team Portland State, the firing of head coach Dan McCarney, an onslaught of injuries and just a dreadful overall season. Right now, this is about as dark as the night gets. But it will get better. The Mean Green have an opportunity to make an impact hire to help turn around the listless program, and a chance to compete in what is still a wide-open Conference USA. North Texas still sits in a recruiting hotbed of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and has some of the finest facilities in the state. There will be moving parts, and North Texas fans are understandably ready to move on from this disastrous season, but just remember: it will get better.