How important is UTEP game in setting direction for the season?

[NT80]

UTEP:  Road game, night game, conference game, 

7-6 in 2021, lost in New Mexico Bowl to Fresno 24-31,

30,000 tickets already sold, goal is 40,000+

 

8/27/2022	*	at UTEP	El Paso, TX	8:00 P.M.
9/3/2022		SMU	Denton, TX	6:30 P.M.
9/10/2022		Texas Southern	Denton, TX	6:30 P.M.
9/17/2022		at UNLV	Las Vegas, NV	2:00 P.M.
9/24/2022		at Memphis	Memphis, TN	TBD
10/1/2022	*	Florida Atlantic	Denton, TX	3:00 P.M.
10/15/2022	*	Louisiana Tech	Denton, TX	3:00 P.M.
10/22/2022	*	at UTSA	San Antonio, TX	2:30 P.M.
10/29/2022	*	at WKU	Bowling Green, KY	2:30 P.M.
11/5/2022	*	FIU	Denton, TX	3:00 P.M.
11/12/2022	*	at UAB	Birmingham, AL	2:30 P.M.
11/26/2022	*	Rice	Denton, TX	1:00 P.M.

[Cr1028]

Very important 

[Jonnyeagle]

I don’t know if Littrell could recover from that.  It would dig a huge hole for him this season.

[eulessismore]

When, if ever, was the last time we beat UTEP at their place? If I were Seth, I would arrange for the team to have a practice week somewhere in the Trans Pecos area, so as to acclimatize to the elevation change. Either that or have them spend time doing aerobic exercise, walking up and down the wing zone, whatever.

[97and03]

Really important to start out strong against a team that appears to be at a similar level currently. 
It is not a deal breakage if they lose a hard-fought game on the road. If they get blown out, it’s a very bad sign about how Seth has prepared the team. Equally, we shouldn’t get too high over a win. We should win this type of game. 

[dml7007]

The most important part of this game is how we play. If we are competative and lose a close game, may not be a season breaker, but if we get beat bad that could be the end before the season gets to true week one.

 

[dodgefan]

When does camp open?

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

Very important. The reason he still has a job is because brass think that this year will be different than the past 3. Begin the season with a loss (to what has until recently been the consensus worst program in the country) and the flames should be scalding his seat. I think fans will find that loss unforgiveable. 

[southsideguy]

If SL loses that game WB better start accepting resumes for a new HC.

[GreenGang45]

10 hours ago, eulessismore said:

When, if ever, was the last time we beat UTEP at their place? If I were Seth, I would arrange for the team to have a practice week somewhere in the Trans Pecos area, so as to acclimatize to the elevation change. Either that or have them spend time doing aerobic exercise, walking up and down the wing zone, whatever.

2018 I believe 

[Cooke County Kid]

Most important game in the History of the western world and C-USA west anyway!

GO MEAN GREEN!!!
WIN GAMES!!!!!!!!!

[RBP79]

I said months ago that this game will be a mental marker for which ever team wins. Game is important to both teams.

[untjim1995]

1 hour ago, UNT Texas Hooligan said:

Very important. The reason he still has a job is because brass think that this year will be different than the past 3. Begin the season with a loss (to what has until recently been the consensus worst program in the country) and the flames should be scalding his seat. I think fans will find that loss unforgiveable. 

The reason he still has a job is because of $$$. We either didn't have the funds to buy SL out after last year or we didn't have the cajones to pay his buyout. When you add in the reality of one of your largest donors treating SL like he's a family member, the decision was even easier to make to keep him here.

SL cannot possibly be any luckier to go into a make-it-or-break-it season with this schedule. If he blows it, he knows that being a coordinator at some P5 is waiting for him, while also knowing that if we win 7 games, he gets an extension and gets to make even more money as our head coach for the next 3+ years.

This is peak North Texas luck...as usual.

[MrAlien]

when looking at the rest of the schedule, this is one of the easier games in the front 6, and its a conference game.  Its huge!

[untphd]

A season opening win makes a 10 win season 4 times more likely. From SBNATION

[golfingomez]

11 hours ago, eulessismore said:

When, if ever, was the last time we beat UTEP at their place? If I were Seth, I would arrange for the team to have a practice week somewhere in the Trans Pecos area, so as to acclimatize to the elevation change. Either that or have them spend time doing aerobic exercise, walking up and down the wing zone, whatever.

we've beat UTEP the last 5 times we've played them, Seth lost to them in 2016, his first year here 52-24, in a game that we thought knocked us out of a bowl game.

2020 @ UTEP  45-43, this was the Jaelon Darden game

2018 @ UTEP 27-24, first game after losing to LaTech

[GrandGreen]

Playing in El Paso is tough even against bad UTEP teams.  This year obviously it is even more important than usual being the opener and against a team that will probably be ranked higher than NT. 

Losing the first game on the road is not going to break the season, however starting with a conference loss will definitely be hard to overcome.  

[golfingomez]

Side note, I think the revamped schedule was a huge boost for our team, but we have to take advantage of it... if we beat UTEP, we have a serious chance to go at least 4-2 to start the year. 

If we lose, big bummer.

[golfingomez]

1 hour ago, golfingomez said:

we've beat UTEP the last 5 times we've played them, Seth lost to them in 2016, his first year here 52-24, in a game that we thought knocked us out of a bowl game.

2020 @ UTEP  45-43, this was the Jaelon Darden game

2018 @ UTEP 27-24, first game after losing to LaTech

My bad, i barely realized that we played them 3 times in a row in Denton... we haven't been in El Paso since 2018.

[keith]

I put it right up there with the tee shot on 1.

[Hunter Green]

We better be ready for them because the next week will be even harder. Starting the season at 0-2. Yikes!

[UNTLifer]

23 hours ago, golfingomez said:

My bad, i barely realized that we played them 3 times in a row in Denton... we haven't been in El Paso since 2018.

So we are UTEP's WKU?

[UNTcrazy727]

On 7/18/2022 at 9:50 AM, MrAlien said:

when looking at the rest of the schedule, this is one of the easier games in the front 6, and its a conference game.  Its huge!

Disagree with it being one of the easiest games in the first half of the year. I'd rank our first 7 games in terms of difficulty as below:

1. SMU

2. Memphis

3. UTEP

4. UNLV

5. FAU

6. LA Tech

7. Texas Southern

The UTEP game is MASSIVE. If we can win, it sets us up with a great chance to start 5-2 or 4-3. 

[MrAlien]

I got UNLV ahead of UTEP, both very winnable, but if those both go wrong then I dont see this team recovering.  This season is a little different, half the season will be done on October 1st... 4 of the first 6 games are against current or future conference opponents, at that point we will know if the program is on the right track.  

[South Texas Green]

An update on the season opener...