Best known for winning the 1966 NCAA basketball championship — when it was still named Texas Western — UTEP has fielded mostly losing teams since 1914, hardly daring to even dream of the success of programs such as perennial power Texas.
Until tonight that is, when the No. 10 Longhorns (1-0) make the 580-mile trip west to where the whole city is gearing up for their arrival.
If ever the Miners (0-1) had a chance to make a statement as a football program, an upset tonight in front of a sold out Sun Bowl and a national cable television audience would do it.
"We're just excited,” UTEP coach Mike Price said. "It's going to be a fun weekend.”
UTEP has always been an also-ran in a state that produces more major-college players than any other.
Price injected some real energy into the program when he arrived in 2004 and promptly led the Miners to consecutive winning seasons.
But even that faded with losing seasons the past two years.
Given that fade, Texas looks more like an opportunity for a whipping than an upset.
"Since I've been here, it's the best team we've ever played,” Price said. "There's always a chance. That's why they have scoreboards.”
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