[Sly Fox]

University of Texas-El Paso
El Paso, Texas


UTEP Football Official Site



Sun Bowl Stadium
Opened in 1963 - Seats 51,500



Dana Dimel
6th Season as UTEP Head Coach


2023 Schedule/Results

Aug 26 - @ Jax State ............................ L 14-17
Sep 02 - Incarnate Word ..................... W 28-14
Sep 09 - @ Northwestern ..................... L 7-38
Sep 16 - @ Arizona ............................... L 10-31
Sep 23 - UNLV ....................................... L 28-45
Sep 29 - LA Tech ................................... L 10-24
Oct 11 - @ FIU ..................................... W 27-14
Oct 18 - NM State ................................. L 7-28
Oct 25 - @ Sam Houston ..................... W 37-34
Nov 04 - WKU ....................................... L 13-21
Nov 18 - @ MTSU ................................. L 30-34
Nov 25 - Liberty ................................... 1:30 PM MT

Key Players


#11 Cade McConnell
6' 1" 195 lbs Redshirt Sohomore Quarterback
In 6 Games: 80-of-147 (54.4%) for 1273 Yards with 6 TDs & 3 INTs + 26 Carries for -19 Yards



#3 Deion Hankins
6' 0" 226 lbs Redshirt Junior Runnng Back
Thru 11 Games: 152 Carries for 794 Yards (5.2 Avg) with 4 TDs + 6 Catches for 62 Yards



#4 Kelly Akharaiyi
6' 1" 194 lbs Redshirt Junior Receiver
Thru 11 Games: 43 Receptions for 924 Yards with 7 TDs



#10 Tyrice Knight
6' 2" 235 lbs Redshirt Senior Linebacker
Thru 11 Games: 125 Tackles including 15.5 for Loss + 4.5 Sacks + 7 PBUs + 1 Forced Fumble + 2 Fumble Recoveries



#5 James Neal
6' 0" 223 lbs Redshirt Junior Linebacker
Thru 11 Games: 71 Tackles including 1.5 for Loss + 1 Sack + 1 INT + 1 Forced Fumble + 1 Fumble Recovery

[thepostman]

I'm closer to El Paso than I've ever been in my life but it's still a trek out there.

My old ways die hard. This game has me incredibly nervous.

[tyndal23]

I'm closer to El Paso than I've ever been in my life but it's still a trek out there.

My old ways die hard. This game has me incredibly nervous.

Tough game for staff to keep players focused this week. Long trip, high altitude, Thanksgiving, small crowd, big favorite, huge game 6 days later. Staff has been good all year for road games. Wouldn’t mind seeing them fly on Thursday - land have T Dinner and acclimate an extra day. Anyone know the travel schedule?

[jmclaughlin]

A 9 hour drive to El Paso for us. Round trip flights were $460 out of DFW...so, driving it is.
Bought a family 4 pack on the UTEP website. Allows you to go in and pick your seats and can see all available...not joking when I say that there were 40 total seats sold in Section 22. 22 is 50 yard line, visitor side. Home side is not that much more populated.

Finishing the season in the literal, middle of nowhere with 3,000 other fans in a 51,000 seat stadium- not ideal...getting to see the Flames play for a perfect season - priceless!

[ballcoach15]

Liberty should fly to El Paso as early as possible, to get acclimatized. I think Liberty will have a good number of fans there.

I saw 3 UMass fans at LU yesterday, which is 2 more than ODU fans, I saw.

[aredd33]

I haven’t been in Lynchburg much in years. Unfortunately moved out of Virginia in 2019 so I’m out of the loop now. I’ll be in town for for thanksgiving so I’m planning on going to the basketball game Saturday. Where’s the best place/restaurant to watch the football game afterwards?

[Cider Jim]

Where’s the best place/restaurant to watch the football game afterwards?

Two good wings places in town with lots of TVs:
BWW near campus
East Coast Wings on Route 221

I also hear that Scoreboard is good, but I've never been.

[Purple Haize]

Where’s the best place/restaurant to watch the football game afterwards?

Two good wings places in town with lots of TVs:
BWW near campus
East Coast Wings on Route 221

I also hear that Scoreboard is good, but I've never been.

Did you just call BWW ‘good’? And you are responsible for educating the future leaders of this world?

I haven’t been in Lynchburg much in years. Unfortunately moved out of Virginia in 2019 so I’m out of the loop now. I’ll be in town for for thanksgiving so I’m planning on going to the basketball game Saturday. Where’s the best place/restaurant to watch the football game afterwards?

Scoreboard will be your best bet East Coast Wings would be second

[aredd33]

Yeah the goal was to avoid BWW. I don’t think too much in that part of town has changed since I graduated.

[ATrain]

Liberty should fly to El Paso as early as possible, to get acclimatized. I think Liberty will have a good number of fans there.

I saw 3 UMass fans at LU yesterday, which is 2 more than ODU fans, I saw.

You must not have looked at the visitors section. Also, ODU had more fans than UMass - some were sitting just a couple rows behind us.

[ATrain]

Yeah the goal was to avoid BWW. I don’t think too much in that part of town has changed since I graduated.

Crab DuJour and O'Charleys has closed, and Mission BBQ is where Panera Bread used to be. Lifeway Christian Bookstore is now an ABC Store. Those are the big changes.

I miss the old Ale House. That was always a good place to go and watch games.

[ATrain]

I'm closer to El Paso than I've ever been in my life but it's still a trek out there.

My old ways die hard. This game has me incredibly nervous.

Yes, me too. "Stupid Hose," and other games we should have won but didn't are forever scarred into my brain.

[Purple Haize]

Yeah the goal was to avoid BWW. I don’t think too much in that part of town has changed since I graduated.

Crab DuJour and O'Charleys has closed, and Mission BBQ is where Panera Bread used to be. Lifeway Christian Bookstore is now an ABC Store. Those are the big changes.

I miss the old Ale House. That was always a good place to go and watch games.

Ham’s also used to be a great spot. They had the best chicken Sammich and their wings were top notch

[LU 57]

The Ground Round had good wings back in the day. Hahaha. Long time ago.

[Cider Jim]

What TV network (if any) is televising this game???

[Kricket]

CBSSN

[Kricket]

Reading the UTEP board, they're hoping they lose so they can fire their coach and they can collect NY6 Bowl money.

[JK37]

NY6 money is shared? Didn’t know that.

[Kricket]

NY6 money is shared? Didn’t know that.

$4 million divided up in the conference. I think CFP is $6 million. Each C-USA team would get around $440k if we make a NY6 bowl (unless there’s some weird eligibility thing with the FCS call ups, then each full FBS member would get more).

I just read that the SEC and some other conferences allow the school that makes the CFP to keep 2 million plus expenses while other conferences evenly split. Pretty interesting.

https://businessofcollegesports.com/col ... f-payouts/

[Sly Fox]

When you are the SEC, you find $2M in change between the cushions on the coach's sofa.

Yes, getting to an NY6 would be a HUGE deal for the league and not just financially. The perception of CUSA would rise significantly particularly against other G5 leagues.

[rtb72]

Can't overlook this one. A little worried we look ahead, so hope the boys are focused.

[prototype]

Reading the UTEP board, they're hoping they lose so they can fire their coach and they can collect NY6 Bowl money.

Yeah - it's hard to tell a bunch of competitive football players that we are going to lose. I think they will come to play for pride.

[Kricket]

I didn’t mean to imply the players wouldn’t be motivated. If your head coach is on the line, I would think that would be a motivating factor unless you were planning on hitting the portal anyway.

Obviously the coaching staff will also be motivated.

Us being ranked and undefeated essentially makes us UTEPs Super Bowl.

That being said, we have a lot to play for too. We’re essentially in a playoff for a shot at a NY6 bowl.

[Sly Fox]

I am showing my age but I used to cover Dimel back when he was a young guy who was a hot prospect in the coaching ranks while at UH. He has done little to nothing in the past decade to merit him still being am FBS head coach. He may have the guys in his lockerroom playing to keep him from being fired. But he hasn't done much to inspire them up until this point.

It is probably a bigger deal for them to be having their senior day than it is for playing for Coach Dimel. Everybody wants to give it their all when they know that this is likely the end fo their football journey.

[Kricket]

I'm not trying to call anyone out in particular, and maybe this is directed at myself more than anyone else, but it seems like there's always a few posts about being worried before these types of games. I know the difference on phrasing is subtle, but I hope our staff and players don't worry at all (and certainly not fans), and recognize the opportunity they have and do their best! There's nothing to be worried about if we put in the work and coach/play hard and represent the university and faith well.