UTEP destroys UCF 58-13

The UTEP football team, after starting the season 0-3, took out its frustration on Conference USA foe UCF Saturday night at the Sun Bowl. The Miners had over 400 yards in total offense, while their defense recovered six turnovers to complete the rout of the Knights. The Miners took advantage of almost every opportunity it got to score and won easily, 58-13.

UTEP finally put a stop to its nine game losing streak on Saturday night by beating UCF easily, 58-13. The odds makers had UCF favored by 4 points but the Miners didn't care about the odds and put everything they had into this game.

Quarterback Trevor Vittatoe, still completely not 100% recovered from last week's ankle injury threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Vittatoe, did seem a little wobbly at times, but he still looked like he had good control of his feet, getting away from defenders throughout the game.

The Miners defensive line put pressure on UCF's QB Rob Calabrese all night and sacked him 3 times, meanwhile the offensive line for UTEP allowed zero sacks.

Junior defensive back Cornelius Brown, had a brilliant game, he had two interceptions and a blocked punt.

The Miners defense had a great game all around, they recovered six forced turnovers that included two fumbles that were recovered for touchdowns. The defense tonight looked like men possessed at times, they had a fire burning in them to stop UCF and it showed throughout the night.

One big highlight of the game was the remarkable 64 yard field goal kick by Jose Martinez, making it the second longest successful field goal kick (without a tee) in NCAA history. The crowd roared loudly with the help of Coach Mike Price as he jumped up and down getting the crowd on its feet before the kick.

The UTEP wide receivers who had made numerous drops in the past several games, this time held on to the ball whenever it was thrown into their hands. The Miners wide receivers who had practiced hard all week to improve from their past performances, finally showed the Miner faithful in the stands that they could step it up and catch the ball like they are supposed to. Sophomore WR Kris Adams was very impressive with 4 receptions for 128 yards and one touchdown.

Redshirt freshman running back Vernon Frazier, showed off his skills in the fourth quarter. Frazier looked like he was going to be stopped for a short run down the middle, but instead ran back, avoided the UCF defenders and took off like a lightning bolt for a 55 yard touchdown score.

The Miners will now head to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where they will face off against another Conference USA East Division foe: Southern Miss., next Saturday night.