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UTEP Miners

UTEP Miners
Micah Davey
20
UTEP TEP 2-6 , 1-3
33
Winner Kennesaw St. KSU 6-2 , 4-0
UTEP TEP
2-6 , 1-3
20
Final
33
Kennesaw St. KSU
6-2 , 4-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
TEP UTEP 0 10 10 0 20
KSU Kennesaw St. 14 2 7 10 33

Game Recap: Football |

CUSA Leader Kennesaw State Grinds Out 33-20 Win Over UTEP


GAME BOOK | POSTGAME NOTES

KENNESAW, Ga. — Chase Belcher rushed for 113 yards, including the game-clinching touchdown with 1:10 to play, and Kennesaw State withstood a dominant performance by the UTEP defense in a 33-20 victory over the Miners on Tuesday night. 
 
The Owls became bowl eligible with a 6-2 record and remained atop the Conference USA standings with a 4-0 record. But they had to fight for this one against the Miners (2-6, 1-3 CUSA), who led 20-16 late in the third quarter but couldn't hold on and spring the upset.
 
It was a game of streaks, as Kennesaw spurted to a 14-0 lead before the Miners went on a 20-2 run, and the Owls scored the game's final 17 points.
 
"I told [the team] I'm proud of their effort – I'm always proud of their effort, but I was frank with them. I feel like it's the Miners beating the Miners," second-year UTEP head coach Scotty Walden said. "We give [Kennesaw State] 16 of their 33 points don't come on defense. There was the fumble return [for a touchdown], the safety, the punt return for a touchdown. It's not fair to the defense. It was a gritty, kind of a sloppy rainy night and I thought both defenses played really tough, but the bottom line is when you play in a tight ball game like this, the team that makes the least amount of mistakes is going to win the game. And I give [Kennesaw State] credit, they did. We were undisciplined on the last couple of drives in the fourth quarter and that's unacceptable to me. I can take losing, but I can't take being undisciplined and extending drives. We got them stopped two times and one time it ended up in a field and the second in a touchdown – that's 10 points extending the drive. I loved our kids' effort and love the way they compete. But if we want to win tight games, we have to play smarter and that's with me as the head football coach."
 
The Owls jumped in front 14-0 with their offense on the sideline. Tywon Christopher stripped Skyler Locklear deep in Miner territory and Caleb Offord pounced on the football, returning the fumble 23 yards to the end zone. Then, later in the first quarter, Gabriel Benyard picked up a 57-yard punt return for a touchdown, putting the Miners in an early two-possession hole.
 
The Miners struggled to get their offense untracked, picking up one first down on their first five possessions. But the UTEP offense shifted into high gear to start the second quarter, moving 86 yards on seven plays and reaching pay dirt on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Locklear to Josh Schuchts to cut the deficit in half.
 
The Miners capitalized on their third interception of the season (by Jayden Wilson) and converted with a 38-yard field goal by Tanner Cragun to make it a 14-10 game late in the second quarter.
 
Soon afterward, with the Miners pinned at their own half-yard line, Locklear was tackled in the end zone for a safety.  The Owls took a 16-10 lead to the locker room despite their offense not scoring a single point.
 
The Miners took the lead to start the second half with an eight-play, 78-yard TD drive. Kenny Odom juked the Owl defenders for a 27-yard scoring catch to put UTEP in front for the first time, 17-16.
 
UTEP pushed its advantage to 20-16 on a 26-yard field goal by Cragun with 3:48 to play in the third quarter, but would not score again.
 
Following a long bomb (66 yards) by Amari Odom to Javon Rogers, Kennesaw retook the lead, 23-20, on a five-yard rushing TD by Odom late in the third quarter. It was the Owls' only play of 20 yards or more.
 
The Owls forged a 26-20 edge on a 30-yard field goal by Britton Williams to start the final period.
 
The UTEP defense appeared to force an Owls punt at the Kennesaw 44-yard line with about four minutes remaining, but a pair of crucial Miner penalties extended the drive. Kennesaw State cemented the victory on a one-yard touchdown run by Belcher with a little over a minute to go. 
 
The UTEP defense limited the Owls to 304 yards (78 below their season average) and kept Kennesaw scoreless on its first eight drives deep into the third quarter. Micah Davey turned in another monster performance for the Miners with 17 tackles, including 1.5 for losses.  
 
The Miners finished with 295 yards, with 221 sandwiched in the second and third quarters.
 
Locklear went the distance for the Miners despite taking a physical toll and completed 14-of-29 passes for 160 yards. He was also UTEP's leading rusher with 23 carries for a career-high 77 yards.
 
UP NEXT
The Miners will return to the Sun Bowl to host Jax State on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 1 pm MT. It marks UTEP's annual "Hall of Fame Game" with the 2025 class of Emmitt Berry (track and field), Randy Culpepper (men's basketball), Ja'Net Esparza (soccer), Thomas Howard (football), and Jordan Palmer (football) to be recognized. The game will also feature a 20-year reunion of the 2005 UTEP football team that posted eight victories and played in the GMAC Bowl. Tickets are available by visiting www.UTEPMiners.com or by calling (915) 747-UTEP.
 
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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