UTEP Miners

Oct. 9, 2010

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UTEP vs. Rice October 9, 2010

UTEP Postgame Notes

Trevor Vittatoe is UTEP's new career leader for passing touchdowns (89), passing yards (11,260) and total offense (11,117), eclipsing Jordan Palmer in all three categories tonight. Palmer has 88 passing TDs, 11,084 passing yards and 11,041 yards of offense.

Vittatoe now ranks 25th on the all-time NCAA passing list with 11,260 yards. He passed Oregon State's Derek Anderson (11,249 yards) tonight.

Vittatoe is also tied for 21st on the NCAA career TD passes list with 89. He is tied with Tennessee's Peyton Manning and Marshall's Byron Leftwich. Tonight he passed Florida's Chris Leak, UTEP's Jordan Palmer, Florida's Tim Tebow and Oklahoma's Sam Bradford.

Donald Buckram passed Fred Wendt into eighth place on UTEP's career rushing list with 2,188 yards. Buckram also moved into 10th place on the UTEP career all-purpose yardage list with 3,267 yards.

Kris Adams passed Chris Francies into eighth place on UTEP's career receiving list with 2,140 yards.

Adams tied his career-high with three touchdown receptions, also achieved versus SMU and Houston in 2008.

Adams posted the eighth 100-yard receiving game of his career, tying him with Bob Wallace (1965-67) for the seventh-most in UTEP history.

Adams extended his streak of games with a catch to 30.

Adams has had seven games with multiple touchdown receptions in his career, the most by a UTEP player since Lee Mays also had seven from 1998-2001.

With Pierce Hunter amassing a career-high 105 yards receiving tonight, UTEP had two players go over the century mark for the first time since Oct. 13, 2007 versus East Carolina (Lorne Sam 127 yards, Jeff Moturi 113 yards).

In the first quarter, the Miners scored their first safety since Houston's Garret Lefevre was tackled in the end zone on Sept. 16, 2005 in the Sun Bowl.

The touchdown by Rice with 9:13 remaining in the fourth quarter was the first allowed by UTEP in the second half of four home games this season.

UTEP scored 30 points in a half for the eighth time under coach Mike Price tonight. The others: 2004 versus SMU (33 points, second half); 2005 versus NM State (31, first half); 2006 versus NM State (31, first half); 2007 versus Texas Southern (38, first half); 2008 versus UCF (31, second half); and 2009 versus Houston (41, second half) and Marshall (32, second half).

For the third time in the modern era, UTEP surpassed 40 points in a game in which it did not force a turnover (fumble/interception). The other occassions also came during the Mike Price era. UTEP did so in a 49-44 loss against Rice on Nov. 1, 2008 and in a 45-0 win versus Texas Southern on Nov. 12, 2005.

UTEP is off to its best start since opening 8-1 in 2005. UTEP has posted wins in at least five of its first six games for the 12th time in school history, joining the 1930, 1931, 1932, 1948, 1949, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1987, 1988 and 2005 squads. Of those teams, six went on to record at least six victories in their first seven contests (1931, 1932, 1949, 1956, 1988, 2005).

The Miners are 17-8 in the month of October under coach Mike Price, including 10-3 at home.

UTEP's four-game winning streak is its longest since 2005, when the Miners compiled five consecutive victories. Only four UTEP teams since 1965 have had winning streaks of longer than four games - 2000 (seven), 2004 (seven), 1988 (six) and 2005 (five).

The Miners won on Homecoming for the third year in a row. UTEP's Homecoming record is now 36-42-1, including 9-4 over the last 13 seasons.

UTEP snapped a four-game losing streak in the Rice series. It marks the Miners' first victory over the Owls since Oct. 29, 2005. It is also UTEP's first win over Rice in the Sun Bowl since Nov. 13, 2004.

The Miners are 4-0 at home for the first time since 2005 and have won five consecutive home games (dating back to 2009) for the first time since 2005.

It marks only the 10th time since the Sun Bowl's debut in 1963 that UTEP has won four or more home games in a season. The others: 1965 (6-1), 1966 (5-1), 1967 (6-1), 1987 (4-2), 1988 (6-0), 1999 (4-1), 2000 (5-0), 2004 (5-1) and 2005 (5-1).