UTEP MINERS FOOTBALL UTEP vs. Rice | 1 p.m. MT | Saturday, Nov. 30 | Sun Bowl Stadium (51,500) | El Paso, Texas GAME 12 VS. RICE UTEP MINERS (1-10, 0-7 C-USA) Head Coach: Dana Dimel (Kansas State, 1986) Career Record: 32-60 (8th season) TUNE IN Record at UTEP: 2-21 (2nd season) Home: 1-4 | Road: 0-6 | Neutral: 0-0 TV: ESPN3 Andy Morgan (PxP) VS Trevor Vittatoe (Analyst) RICE OWLS (2-9, 2-5 C-USA) Head Coach: Mike Bloomgren (Florida State, 1999) Career Record: 4-20 (2nd season) RADIO: ESPN 600 El Paso Record at Rice: 4-20 (2nd season) Jon Teicher (PxP) Bernie Ricono (Analyst) Home: 1-6 | Road: 1-3 | Neutral: 0-0 Mando Medina (Sideline) COACHING STAFF MINERS AT A GLANCE » MINERS TO CLOSE OUT 2019 SEASON BY HOSTING RICE OWLS ON THE FIELD UTEP returns home this Saturday for “Senior Day” as the Miners host Conference USA foe Rice to close out the 2019 Dana Dimel, Head Coach season. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. MT on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso. The Miners and Owls have Joe Robinson, Special Teams Coord. previously met 22 times on the gridiron in a series that dates back to 1996. Rice leads the all-time series, 14-8, over UTEP. Keith Burns, Secondary/Safeties However, the Miners got the better of Rice most recently with a 34-26 win over the Owls last season in Houston. Remington Rebstock, Cornerbacks Reggie Mitchell, Running Backs » FLASHBACK TO 2018 Scotty Ohara, Wide Receivers In last season’s meeting between the Miners and Owls, UTEP burst out to a 27-0 lead in a dominating first-half perfor- Jake Waters, Inside Wide Receivers mance, then held off resurgent Rice in the second half for a 34-26 win in Houston, its first victory since 2016. The Miners Mike Simmonds, Offensive Line (1-8, 1-4 C-USA) stamped out their 20-game losing streak, notched their first win under coach Dana Dimel and handed Rice (1-9, 0-6 C-USA) its ninth consecutive defeat. It was UTEP’s first triumph at Rice Stadium since 2005, its initial year IN THE BOOTH in Conference USA. Offensive Coord./QBs Mike Canales, » MINERS RANK AS ONE OF THE NATION’S BEST ON FOURTH DOWN Mike Cox, Defensive Coord./LBs Through the first 11 games of the 2019 season, UTEP has proven to be one of the nation’s best teams when it comes to Matt Wallerstedt, Defensive Line fourth down success. Entering the week, the Miners are ranked 7th nationally in fourth down conversion percentage (.739) after successfully converting 17 of 23 fourth-down attempts up to this point of the season. UTEP’s fourth down TABLE OF CONTENTS percentage is also ranked first among Conference USA teams. Media Information 2 Rosters 3-4 » HUGHES SEES PAYDIRT Depth Chart 5 UTEP RB Treyvon Hughes is making a living finding paydirt for the Miners this season. The senior currently leads the Game Notes/Money Plays 6-8 Miners in TDs with 12 rushing scores in 11 games, which ranks 2nd in C-USA and 17th nationally. Hughes scored his Long Plays 9 first two TDs of the season in the 2019 season opener versus Houston Baptist, while he followed that performance with Game Notes cont. 10 another pair of scores in UTEP’s home game versus Nevada. Hughes has scored a touchdown in all but three games this Head Coach Dana Dimel 11-13 season, including scoring in six of the last seven games. Coaching Staff 14 2019 Game Recaps 15-20 2019 Statistics 21-25 SERIES BREAKDOWN 2019 Participation/Start Chart 26-27 Single-Game Highs 28-30 SERIES INFORMATION ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS Overall: Rice leads, 14-8 El Paso: Series tied, 5-5 Anna Claire Thomas (Primary) Assistant A.D./Communications Houston: Rice leads, 9-3 Email: [email protected] Neutral: No Meetings Jeff Darby (Secondary/Credentials) First Meeting: Rice won, 48-21, in El Paso (1996) Senior Associate A.D./Communications Last Meeting: UTEP won, 34-26, in Houston (2018) Email: [email protected] Streak: UTEP, 1 Drew Bonney Email: [email protected] Mark Brunner THE VENUE Email: [email protected] Stadium: Sun Bowl Stadium Brandon Collins Capacity: 51,500 Email: [email protected] Surface: Artificial (Classic HD CoolPlay) 2019 SCHEDULE & RESULTS HOUSTON BAPTIST TEXAS TECH NEVADA SOUTHERN MISS UTSA FIU LOUISIANA TECH NORTH TEXAS CHARLOTTE UAB NM STATE RICE Aug. 31 Sept. 7 Sept. 21 Sept. 28 Oct. 5 Oct. 19 Oct. 26 Nov. 2 Nov. 9 Nov. 16 Nov. 23 Nov. 30 El Paso, Texas Lubbock, Texas El Paso, Texas Hattiesburg, Miss. El Paso, Texas Miami, Fla. El Paso, Texas Denton, Texas El Paso, Texas Birmingham, Ala. Las Cruces, N.M. El Paso, Texas ESPN+ FSN ESPN3 ESPN+ ESPN+ ESPN+ ESPN+ NFL Network ESPN+ ESPN3 FloFootball ESPN3 W, 36-34 L, 3-38 L, 21-37 L, 13-31 L, 16-26 L, 17-32 L, 21-42 L, 26-52 L, 21-28 L, 10-37 L, 35-44 1 P.M. GAME 12: UTEP VS. RICE UTEP FOOTBALL WEEKLY SCHEDULE 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 MON TUES WED THU FRI SAT SUN Press Luncheon Practice Practice Practice No Availability UTEP GAME DAY No Availability 1 p.m. MT 8:30-10:30 a.m. 8:30-10:30 a.m. 8:30-10:30 a.m. POSTGAME Lunch will be Coaches, players UTEP Football Coaches, players Head coach Dana served in the available for in- with Dana Dimel available for in- Dimel and select Larry K. Durham terviews following Radio Show terviews following players will be Center, followed by practice. 6 p.m. practice. available following remarks. ESPN 600 El Paso the game. MONDAY MEDIA LUNCHEONS MEDIA INFORMATION Head coach Dana Dimel will meet with the media every Monday prior to a game. Lunch will COLLEGEPRESSBOX.COM be provided at 1 p.m. MT followed by interviews CollegePressBox.com is the official media website for Conference USA and UTEP Football. with Coach Dimel. Audio of each luncheon will Access and download weekly game notes, quotes, statistics, media guides, headshots, logos and be emailed out to media every Monday after- more for UTEP, Conference USA and each of its member schools. Login information will be dis- noons. tributed to accredited media or you can apply for a password at collegepressbox.com. DAILY MEDIA AVAILABILITY PRACTICE COVERAGE The following is a general weekly schedule of media availability for the UTEP football team. In addition to Monday’s media luncheon, Members of the media are expected to adhere to these policies at all times. All interview requests UTEP student-athletes and coaches are avail- should be made to UTEP Assistant Athletic Director/Communications Anna Claire Thomas at able for in-person or phone interviews following least 24 hours in advance. All media availability times are subject to change. Please contact Anna practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Claire Thomas for any changes in the schedule. of game week. All interview requests must be directed to the UTEP Athletic Communications Monday: UTEP’s weekly media luncheon starts with food served at 1 p.m. and statements begin- ning at approximately 1:30 p.m. Office at least 24 hours in advance. Please send all requests via email to [email protected]. Tuesday-Thursday: Practice will be held from 8:40-11:40 a.m. Coaches and players are available following practice on the field. COACH/PLAYER AVAILABILITY Members of the UTEP coaching staff are Friday and Sunday: No availability. Practice is CLOSED. available during the designated days and times throughout the year. All players are available Saturday: Postgame availability only. Members of the UTEP Athletic Communications staff will during the designated days and times. escort media representatives to the media room with five minutes remaining in the game. The UTEP locker room, home or away, is closed to the media at all times. SOCIAL MEDIA For games in El Paso, all UTEP postgame press conference will be held in the Larry K. Durham UTEP fans can access the most in-depth in- Center after each game following a 10-minute cooling off period. No interviews will be allowed formation regarding all the University’s programs on the field with players and/or coaches immediately following games. Coach Dimel and select through social media opportunities available on- players will be available in the press conference following games. line. CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL COACHES’ TRANSCRIPTS Twitter – Members of the UTEP Athletic Com- Conference USA schools will submit transcripts of weekly press conferences each week to munications department will be tweeting CollegePressBox.com. throughout the year with the latest news and in- game score updates. To follow them, simply find them on www.twitter.com. INTERVIEW REQUESTS @UTEPFB – Direct reports from football All interview requests must be made at least 24 hours in advance and practices and games. must be submitted to Anna Claire Thomas at [email protected]. #ORANGEREVIVAL 2 2019 MINER FOOTBALL #ELPASOSTRONG GAME 12: UTEP VS. RICE NUMERICAL ROSTER @UTEPFB NO. NAME POS. HT. WT. CL. EXP. HOMETOWN/PREVIOUS SCHOOL NO. NAME POS. HT. WT. CL. EXP. HOMETOWN/PREVIOUS SCHOOL 1 Kai Locksley QB 6-4 210 SR 1L Fort Washington, Md./Iowa CC 37 Carrington Mitchell DB 6-0 170 FR HS Hutto, Texas/Hutto HS 1 Joe Jay Smith LB 6-3 230 R-JR TR Bethlehem, Pa./Garden City CC 40 Gavin Baechle K/P 6-1 160 SO 1L McKinney, Texas/McKinney HS 2 Devaughn Cooper WR 5-10 175 R-JR TR Los Angeles, Calif./Arizona 40 Anthony Ulmer DE 6-3 245 SO 0L El Paso, Texas/Chapin HS 2 Luke Laufenberg TE 6-4 240 R-SO TR Argyle, Texas/Mesa CC 42 Erik Michel K 5-10 170 FR HS Richmond, Texas/George Ranch HS 2 Michael Lewis DB 6-0 192 SR 3L Trinity, Texas/Trinity HS 42 Michael Young FB 5-9 215 FR HS Eulysis, Texas/Colleyville Heritage HS 3 Mark Torrez QB 6-0 190 JR 1L El Paso, Texas/Eastwood HS 43 Julian Lopez TE 6-1 240 FR HS El Paso, Texas/Chapin HS 3 Ty’reke James DB 5-11 190 JR TR Richmond, Calif./Contra Costa College 43 Ykili Ross CB 6-1 190 R-SR TR Riverside, Calif./USC 4 Quardraiz Wadley RB 6-0 205 SR 3L Kennedale, Texas/Kennedale HS 44 Tanner Boston LS 6-1 250 FR HS Cypress, Texas/Cypress Ranch HS 4 Jerome Wilson Jr.