By JIM LOUK
GoUSFBulls.com
The University of Texas-El Paso, better known as UTEP, comes to town Saturday to challenge the Bulls. Near as I can figure the Miners hold a unique spot in Bulls football history, at least for a few more hours. I think this is the only case where the Bulls have played a game in the home stadium of a team they have never faced.
USF, of course, played Oregon in El Paso a few years ago in the Brut Sun Bowl in a mid-day start.
Normally, broadcasters like early road games. It gives you some hope that you'll be home at a decent hour after the game. The down side is that it makes for a very early morning. For us, a noon kickoff means a 10 a.m. air time. Since it takes awhile to set up for the broadcast, we're usually stumbling around the stadium looking for someone to unlock the press box for us before 6 a.m.
Such was the case at UTEP's stadium before the Sun Bowl. Bulls fans may remember that day as a sunny and pleasant one, but it began bitterly cold. After we got a security guard to open things up, I went up to the roof of the press box, teeth chattering, to take the picture that accompanies this story of a west Texas sunrise over the stadium on that final day of 2007.
Now let's spare ourselves any more memories of that day (a tough one for USF) and come back to the present.
UTEP comes to Tampa 2-1, fresh off a win over New Mexico State last week. That was a big win for the the program. New Mexico State is just a few miles across the state line from El Paso. UTEP has had a lot of injuries, and have had three different starting quarterbacks in three games so far this year.
The No. 17 Bulls got some rest for the regulars last Saturday in the 70-17 win over Florida A&M. A short week that features the conference opener looms; the Bulls will be on a plane next Wednesday for a Thursday night game at Pitt.
The Miners, however, deserve and will get full attention from the Bulls on Saturday. It's a long journey for UTEP; more than a three hour flight. When we were in El Paso, we were told that we were geographically closer to San Diego than Tampa. The state of Texas goes a lot further west than a lot of people realize.
The Miners bring a good amount of talent to town, so it should be a fun game. As mentioned last week, this is the last USF home game until Oct. 22. And, it's the only home game between this weekend and Nov. 19.
I hope you'll join us Saturday. If you can't, TV is on ESPN3, and radio is on 970 WFLA in Tampa and stations throughout the state on the USF-IMG Network.
One more home game, and then the first two conference games on the road. The heart of the season is here!
GO BULLS!
