EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – UTEP football was upended by Louisiana-Monroe Saturday night, Sept. 20 at the Sun Bowl in an upset, 31-25.
The Miners entered their game against Louisiana-Monroe as the 6.5-point to 7-point favorites. At one point in the third quarter, UTEP was trailing by 24 points.
It wasn’t until the final 15 minutes of play that the Miners would bring the game back within reach. UTEP would post 15 points in the fourth quarter in a comeback attempt and a chance at the 2:52 mark to continue to chip away at its deficit. Miners received the ball back on their own 20 looking to make something of it until their efforts come to a halt after a Malachi Nelson interception.
The Miners would be handed one more opportunity to close in on the game with 1:13 left on the clock with no timeouts, but would again have their chance come to an end following a Nelson interception.
These two were Nelson’s lone interceptions on the night.
In addition to those two INT’s, Nelson threw for season-high three touchdowns and season-high 404 yards against the Warhawks. Trevon Tate was on the receiving end of one touchdown pass to put UTEP up on the board for the first time of the night in the first quarter on a 73-yarder. Wondame Davis Jr. was on the receiving end of the other two touchdown passes – both plays that resulted in the Miners comeback attempt in the 4th.
UTEP’s run game struggled out of the backfield posting just 33 yards rushing out of 442 yards of total offense.
UTEP’s defense gave up 399 yards of offense (149 yards passing, 250 yards rushing) on the night, with 282 yards coming in the first half alone.
With this loss, the Miners fall to 1-3 on the season.
UTEP will return to the Sun Bowl next week to host Louisiana Tech to open up Conference USA play in its second game of a three-game homestand.
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