
Health advisory: Reviewing the past three years of UTEP football may be may be harmful to your eyesight.

But on this is Independence Day weekend … during an election year … when every cell phone is a news camera, what does this day mean to you?

For the first time in more than a decade, the Miners will conduct preseason drills on campus. No point in asking why, just follow the money.
Like so many universities not named Notre Dame, UTEP is always hustling for funds for athletics. While numerous programs below the so-called Power Five conferences are reducing the length of post-season playoffs (Big South golf and baseball et. al.) — or cutting them entirely — I wince at the thought of cutbacks.

Forgive us for wondering whether the Miners will field a better team, with hopes of watching our favorite team play relevant games in November. Barstool answer: After a 1-21 record the past two years, how could the Miners not be better?

It will be September before we start learning whether the Miners gained ground on Conference USA, or slipped farther off the pace … but before the lockdown, the Miners conducted a handful of spring training workouts; some teams never reached the practice field

Last time I saw Eddie Hochuli, in the flesh, he was playing linebacker for us, and generally goosing the City of El Paso and the UTEP campus from a stronghold at Miners Hall. (A series of stories in itself.) Since he graduated with honors, Eddie has been a little busy.

In only his second year, the ideas of Athletic Director Jim Senter and his bright-eyed staffers appear to be taking root. Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, these Miners give the inkling that, in Coach Dana Dimel’s second year, UTEP has begun to climb out of the college football dungeon.

Miners Tee It Up Saturday — And Get This: Tackling is Allowed!

Eight days to kickoff. If ever a college football team needed a reason to leave the past behind, it is this edition of the UTEP Miners. Fans in Orange United need it, too.