EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — UTEP (0-6, 0-3 CUSA) will host Florida International (2-4, 1-1 CUSA) in a Conference USA game at the Sun Bowl on Wednesday night.
UTEP (0-6, 0-3 CUSA) is coming off a 44-17 setback at WKU on Oct. 10. Some bright spots for the Miners were Ezell Jolly rushing for a career-high 119 yards, Corey Wren returning a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and Kenny Odom ran off another big touchdown, this time a career-long 76-yard score. UTEP scored the first 10 points of the second half as Wren returned the opening kick and Buzz Flabiano hit a 42-yard field goal at the 5:29 mark to get within 10 points (27-17). Defensively, Lantz Russell tallied 11 tackles and intercepted his first pass in a UTEP uniform. In his first collegiate start, freshman Stratton Shufelt tallied a career-best seven tackles with a pass breakup and QB hurry. Shufelt’s breakup led to Russell’s interception as Shufelt batted the ball in Russell’s hands.
FIU (2-4, 1-1 CUSA) recently fell at Liberty, 31-24 in overtime, on Oct. 8 in Lynchburg, Va. The Panthers chalked up a league victory after defeating LA Tech 17-10 on Sept. 28. At Liberty, the Panthers were down 24-10 at the 10:43 mark of the fourth quarter before Kejon Owens rushed for a three-yard score and Keyone Jenkins added a one-yard rush into the end zone to tie the game at 24-24 with 1:42 left in regulation. The Flames would go on to score in the overtime period, followed by the Panthers turning the ball over on their possession ending the contest. The Panthers are led by junior linebacker Travion Barnes who leads CUSA with 70 tackles and 11.7 tackles per contest. Jenkins ranks second in CUSA with nine touchdown tosses while the redshirt sophomore completes over 63 percent of his passes (110-174). Junior wide receiver Eric Rivers ranks third in the conference in receiving yards (448) and receiving yards per game (74.7).
UTEP is aiming to pick up its first win of the 2024 season and the program’s first win since Oct. 25, 2023. UTEP is one of three winless Division I FBS teams in the entire country as of Tuesday night. CUSA foe Kennesaw State and MAC team Kent State join UTEP as the only winless FBS programs in the country at this point of the season.
Kickoff for Wednesday’s game is at 7:00 p.m. MT. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.
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