As it turns out the UTEP football team did have some margin of error against Conference USA leaders Kennesaw State, just not as much as the Miners spent.
UTEP rallied into a third-quarter lead after spotting the Owls 16 non-offensive points, only to collapse offensively just as their defense showed a few dents in the armor and Kennesaw State earned a 33-20 win that dropped UTEP to 2-6.
Kennesaw State, which won the fourth quarter 17-0 to erase a deficit, improved to 4-0 in CUSA and 6-2 overall to make a bowl in their first year of full FBS membership.
Quoting coach Scotty Walden
“The frustrating thing is, the Miners beat the Miners,” coach Scotty Walden said. “There were 16 points that didn’t come off our defense. That’s not fair to our defense.
“Both defenses played tough, it became the team that makes the fewest mistakes was going to win. We were undisciplined the last couple of drives and that’s on me. … We made too many mistakes to win.”
Offense falls apart late
After UTEP seemed to sort out its offense and put up 10 points on its first two drives of the third quarter, taking a 20-16 lead, the Miners had three consecutive three-and-outs when they were within a score. They lost 20 yards on those drives.
Quarterback Skyler Locklear finished with 77 rushing yards on 23 carries and was 14-of-29 passing for 160 yards. UTEP played some of its best offense of the year in the second and third quarters but were awful early and late.
Kennesaw made the most out of a halftime quarterback change and UTEP’s haunting inconsistency was on full display.
UTEP’s defense collapses with penalties
After a stretch where UTEP went on a 20-2 run, Kennesaw dominated the fourth quarter behind backup relief quarterback Amari Odom. The Miners had two fourth-quarter personal fouls on defense, one that negated an interception and one that negated a third-down stop, as a mostly strong defensive effort was wasted.
Kennesaw State had 304 yards to UTEP’s 295. The Miners were 2-of-16 on third down to Kennesaw’s 3-of-14. Micah Davey, the nation’s fourth leading tackler coming into the game, added 17 to his total and Austin High alum Jayden Wilson had an interception.
The Owls basically iced the game when they drew a fourth-down pass interference penalty on UTEP with 2:18 remaining.
The other mistakes came on offense and special teams, as Kennesaw had a fumble return and a punt return in the first half to go with a safety, accounting for all 16 Owl points until the fourth quarter.
UTEP did manage to get within 16-10 at the half after Locklear threw a touchdown pass to Josh Schuchts and engineered a field-goal drive, then the Miners took flight in the third quarter with a Locklear touchdown to Kenny Odom and a field goal drive.
The Miners were up 20-16 and the way the defense was playing — no points allowed by the defense through the first three quarters — UTEP was in line to get the biggest win of the Scotty Walden era.
Instead Kennesaw State’s Odom threw a 66-yard bomb on the first play after UTEP took the 20-16 lead and UTEP’s moment was over.
Kennesaw State’s moment was just beginning and the Miners’ one-game win streak is over.
Up next
UTEP gets a week and a half off before returning to the Sun Bowl for its first home game in more than a month. The Miners kickoff against Jacksonville State on Nov. 8 at 1 p.m.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Mistake-prone UTEP Miners football dominated late, falls to Kennesaw State; now 2-6
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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