UTEP at Texas 9/12/20 - NCAA Football Picks & Predictions

The Texas Longhorns open their season up at home against the UTEP Miners. UTEP opened their season last week with a 24-14 win over Stephen F Austin; the win snapped an 11 game losing streak dating back to last season where UTEP finished 1-11, there only win in week one sneaking out a win over Houston Baptist. Texas had high expectations coming into last season but finished a disappointing 8-5 but capped off their season with a solid 38-10 win over the 11th ranked Utah Utes. 

Texas will have similarly high expectations this season with star quarterback Sam Elingher returning for his third season as the Longhorns starter. Ellinger threw for 3,663 yards and 32 touchdowns which ranked him 8th in passing yards and tied for second in passing touchdowns. The senior has also been know to get it done with his legs, rushing for 1145 yards and 23 touchdowns over the last two seasons.

The Longhorns are forced to replace both leading wide receivers including 3rd round draft pick Devin Duvernay who caught 106 passes for 1300 yards and 9 touchdowns last season. Collin Johnson has also moved onto the NFL, he caught 38 passes for 559 yards for 3 touchdowns last year. Without the two main weapons from the Longhorn passing attack, they will look to Brennen Eagles and starting runningback Keaontay Ingram to pick up the slack. 

Ingram rushed for 853 yards on an impressive 5.9 yards per carry adding 7 touchdowns on the ground to compliment Ehlinger’s running ability in the backfield. Eagles caught just 32 passes for 522 yards last season but turned that into 6 touchdowns; after years of living in the shadow of Duvernay could be poised for a breakout season. 

UTEP starting quarterback Gavin Hardison threw for 212 yards and a touchdown on 17/28 passing. Hardison looked the way of Jacob Cowing a ton in that game, he caught 7 passes for 116 yards in the season opener. Freshman Deion Hankins was the main workhorse out of the backfield getting 17 carries for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns. 

Texas was the 65th ranked scoring defense in college football last season giving up 27.5 points per game, granted they were facing some of the best offenses week in and week out in the Big 12. The Longhorn passing defense was one of the worst in college football allowing 292.5 pass yards per game, the 4th worst clip in the NCAA. 

UTEP’s defense was solid in the season opener allowing just 14 points but the Stephen F. Austin offense pails in comparison to Texas. Last season UTEP allowed 35.9 points per game ranking 118th in scoring defense and could potentially be exposed in a big way going on the road to one of the best offenses in the Big 12.