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UTEP Miners

UTEP Miners
Skyler Locklear
7
UTEP UTE 0-1 , 0-0
40
Winner Nebraska NEB 1-0 , 0-0
UTEP UTE
0-1 , 0-0
7
Final
40
Nebraska NEB
1-0 , 0-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
UTE UTEP 7 0 0 0 7
NEB Nebraska 7 23 7 3 40

Game Recap: Football |

UTEP falls at Nebraska 40-7 Saturday Afternoon


GAME BOOK | POSTGAME NOTES

LINCOLN, Neb. – UTEP tied the game at seven apiece however Nebraska would go on to score 33 unanswered points to down the Miners 40-7 in Memorial Stadium on Tom Osborne Field Saturday afternoon. 
 
The Cornhuskers (1-0) ran up 507 yards on 83 plays, including 223 yards on the ground with three rushing scores. Nebraska added 30 first downs, was only penalized three times (35 yards), and finished 11-of-17 on third-down conversions. The Miners (0-1) tallied 205 yards of total offense and was penalized nine times (76 yards).
 
"There's no doubt in my mind we had a football team who showed up here today to Lincoln, Nebraska, expecting a win today. That's the first key, getting them to believe in themselves," UTEP Head Coach Scotty Walden said. "You could feel it in the locker room, pregame meal and the travel. These guys came here expecting to win and they played hard to win. Now we need to go to the next level. The next level to this thing is you're not going to beat a good football team was a lack of execution. You can have the world, fight, have the heart, but without execution then you won't be able to beat teams of this caliber. We want to build this program into a team that eventually becomes a force to beat teams like this. This is going to be the expectation here."
 
Nebraska struck first with a 72-yard touchdown drive on 12 plays, resulting in a Dante Dowdell five-yard touchdown run. 
 
Following UTEP's first possession where it was forced to punt, the Miners' defense settled in and stopped the Cornhuskers on a fourth-and-5 to get the ball back at their own 37. 
 
UTEP took advantage and went 63 yards on only three plays to score its first touchdown in the Walden era. Skyler Locklear, in his first career collegiate start, found Kam Thomas for a 38-yard touchdown strike to tie the game 7-7 with 2:24 left in the first quarter. 
 
Locklear began the game 5-for-5 with 59 yards and a TD. He finished 11-of-17 with 115 yards a touchdown and an interception. Thomas opened his UTEP debut with 71 yards on seven receptions and a score.
 
On Nebraska's fourth drive, the Cornhuskers drove the ball down inside the 20 but Dowdell fumbled the ball following a 12-yard rush. Landon Hullaby was credited with a forced fumble while Dorian Hopkins recovered the ball at the UTEP 3 at the 10:48 mark of the second quarter. Hopkins, a senior transfer from Tulsa, recovered his first collegiate fumble. 
 
"I did see some great things today that I pointed out (to the team)," Walden added. "The three-play touchdown drive and the defense getting a fumble recovery and goal-line stand there at the end of the game. It would've been easy to back down let (Nebraska) run into the end zone. The fight was there the whole time. Our kids kept fighting and our coaches kept coaching and that's what is important to me."
 
Following the fumble recovery however, Nebraska's defense pushed the Miners back into the end zone and was credited with a safety to take a 9-7 edge at the 10:29 mark of the second quarter.  
 
Following the free kick, Dylan Raiola used a 59-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Neyor to make the count 16-7 with 10:04 left in the first half. 
 
Nebraska started to pull away in the second quarter when Gabe Ervin Jr. scored on a three-yard plunge for a 16-point lead (23-7), followed by a Jahmal Banks 21-yard TD catch in the end zone to put the 'Huskers up 30-7 with two seconds remaining in the first half.  
 
The 'Huskers added another score on an Ervin Jr. one-yard rush to go up 37-7 at the 5:34 mark while the UTEP defense held the offense to a field goal – a 20-yard make with 9:22 left in the game. 
 
Hopkins, besides recovering that fumble, amassed a collegiate career-high 16 tackles in his UTEP debut, while senior spur Kory Chapman tallied 10 tackles in his first game with the Orange and Blue. For Chapman, it was his fifth collegiate effort with double-digit tackles. 
 
Jaylon Shelton impressed in his first game with UTEP, tallying a career-high eight tackles. AJ Odums added a career-best seven stops. "Trench Warrior" nose tackle Sione Tonga'uiha registered his first career full sack.
 
Raiola threw for 238 yards (19-27) and two scores, while Neyor racked up 121 yards on six catches and a TD. Ervin Jr. rushed for 24 yards and two scores.
 
UP NEXT
UTEP will host Southern Utah in its home opener on Sept. 7. The Miners and Thunderbirds are slated for a 7 p.m. MT kickoff in Sun Bowl Stadium. The contest can be heard 95.5 FM KLAQ and will be streamed on ESPN+. Single-game tickets are available: Southern Utah.
 
 
Help Support UTEP student-athletes by making a gift to the Miner Athletic Club. Visit https://givingto.utep.edu/mac today!
 
For complete coverage of UTEP Football, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at @UTEPFB (Twitter/Instagram/Facebook) or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at UTEPMiners.com. 
 
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