SB Nation - Drew Willy

Jim Sorgi, who has yet to take a snap all year, heads to injured reserve

BigBlueShoe — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:33:06 -0000

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

Indianapolis Colts quarterbacks Peyton Manning (left) and Jim Sorgi (right). (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

How a guy who never plays, never takes a single snap in a live game, could land on injured reserve sure beats the hell out of me. Alas, that is what longtime Colts back-up quarterback Jim Sorgi has done.

ESPN's Adam Shefter, via the wonderful web tool that is the bane of all instant information services, broke the news today that Sorgi has landed on IR. Replacing him on the active roster is Michael Toudouze, an offensive linemen who has been on and off the roster since he was drafted by the Colts in 2006.

Colts.com has confirmed the Sorgi to IR news.

With Sorgi gone for 2009, this means the only back-up currently on the active roster is rookie Curtis Painter out of Purdue. Unlike Sorgi, Painter has an arm, and can get the football down the field and into tight windows in coverage. But Painter is indeed a rookie, and if the Colts start to rest Manning prior to the playoffs, we will be seeing a lot of Painter, who is sure to make rookie mistakes throwing the football.

It's worth noting that last week the Colts worked out former Buffalo Bills quarterback J.P. Losman. This was likely done in anticipation of today's news. Since the Colts did not sign Losman after the workout, that should tell you what their general impressions of him were. The Colts also have rookie quarterback Drew Willy out of the University of Buffalo on the practice squad.

Tips to Bobzilla3 and Benewfa

Baltimore Ravens Roster Moves This Past Week

Bruce Raffel — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:13:19 -0000

While some of these moves may be old news for those who check the transactions on a daily basis, the Baltimore Ravens have been quietly molding their roster this past week and have made some notable moves in several positions.

Most noatably, the cornerback position has had a glut of players vying for a few select spots remaining after the off season signings of Domonique Foxworth and Chris Carr. However, the Ravens just released a pair of CBs, Anwar Phillips and David Jones. Phillips had been pretty decent at the Ravens off season Training Camps, but was just too low on the depth chart to have any real chance of making the final roster. They also signed undrafted free agent LB Tony Fein (Ole Miss) after a tryout. Fein is a 27 year old rookie who spent a couple of years in the military after leaving school before returning to football. LB/DE Luis Vasquez was also released. Perhaps most intriguing was the release of QB Drew Willy (Buffalo), who was odd man out for the Ravens in a numbers game at QB, as they are pretty well set with Joe Flacco, Troy Smith and John Beck. Willy was the all time leading passer at Buffalo and set a bunch of school records in his four years there. Don't be surprised if he latches on somewhere else or at least ends up on someone's Practice Squad.

Fifth round draft pick, LB Jason Phillips and sixth round pick, RB Cedric Peerman inked contracts this past week as well. Phillips was a four year All Moutain West Conference player at TCU, while Perrman turned in the fastest 40 yard dash time at the NFL Combine among RB's.

Both figure to get some sort of playing time this season, although most likely on Special Teams.

Mizzou-Buffalo: Beyond the Box Score PREVIEW

Bill C. — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:30:05 -0000

Well, I still don't feel like we have enough of a sample size to use 2008 numbers here yet, so once again we'll use 2007 numbers and rely on some manual adjustments on my part...

Mizzou-Buffalo Projections

Mizzou Rushing

2007 Mizzou Rushing Offense EqPts+: 136.70
2007 Buffalo Rushing Defense EqPts/Gm: 13.73
Projection #1: 18.77
2007 Buffalo Rushing Defense EqPts+: 72.84
2007 Mizzou Rushing Offense EqPts/Gm: 16.21
Projection #2: 22.25

Avg Projected Mizzou Rushing Output: 21.51

Adjusted for 2008: 24.0 - It's official: Derrick Washington is the man. I was unimpressed with the run-blocking against Nevada, but I'll give them a pass. Struggle with success rates against Buffalo, and we've got trouble.

Mizzou Passing

2007 Mizzou Passing Offense EqPts+: 156.79
2007 Buffalo Passing Defense EqPts/Gm: 11.63
Projection #1: 18.23
2007 Buffalo Passing Defense EqPts+: 75.78
2007 Mizzou Passing Offense EqPts/Gm: 18.40
Projection #2: 24.28

Avg Projected Mizzou Passing Output: 21.26

Adjusted for 2008: 24.0 - It's official: Mizzou's passing game is better in 2008.

Buffalo Rushing

2007 Buffalo Rushing Offense EqPts+: 74.43
2007 Mizzou Rushing Defense EqPts/Gm: 8.29
Projection #1: 6.17
2007 Mizzou Rushing Defense EqPts+: 121.92
2007 Buffalo Rushing Offense EqPts/Gm: 9.38
Projection #2: 7.69

Projected Buffalo Rushing Output: 6.93

Adjusted for 2008: 6.0 - They held Nevada below their average, and Buffalo doesn't have Colin Kaepernick and his play-fakes.

Buffalo Passing

2007 Buffalo Passing Offense EqPts+: 90.69
2007 Mizzou Passing Defense EqPts/Gm: 12.14
Projection #1: 11.01
2007 Mizzou Passing Defense EqPts+: 103.91
2007 Buffalo Passing Offense EqPts/Gm: 9.26
Projection #2: 8.92

Projected Buffalo Passing Output: 9.97

Adjusted for 2008: 11.0 - I'm willing to accept that the Willy-to-Roosevelt combo is worth a few points.

Projected EqPts Score: Missouri 48, Buffalo 17

Home Field Adjustment (+~3 for home, -~3 for road): Missouri 51, Buffalo 14

Before we dive into individual stats, I thought it might be interesting to delve into the one game Buffalo's played so far that might actually tell us something...their matchup against Pitt from a couple weeks ago, a game Pitt won, 27-16.

Buffalo		Pittsburgh
	% Close = 100.0%
	TOTAL
65	Plays	64
19.97	EqPts	23.73
53.8%	Success Rate	51.6%
0.31	Points Per Play (PPP)	0.37
0.846	S&P (Success + PPP)	0.886

	CLOSE GAME ONLY
same	Plays	same
same	EqPts	same
same	Success Rate	same
same	PPP	same
same	S&P	same

	RUSHING
6.57	EqPts	11.77
65.5%	Success Rate	51.7%
0.23	PPP	0.41
0.882	S&P	0.923

	PASSING
13.41	EqPts	11.96
44.4%	Success Rate	51.4%
0.37	PPP	0.34
0.817	S&P	0.856

	NON-PASSING DOWNS
56.5%	Success Rate	60.9%
0.33	PPP	0.40
0.894	S&P	1.012

	PASSING DOWNS
47.4%	Success Rate	27.8%
0.26	PPP	0.29
0.729	S&P	0.567

	TURNOVERS
1	Number	1
1.58	Points Lost	1.79
1.51	Points Given	0.00*
3.09	Total T/O Pts	1.79
-1.39	Turnover Pts Margin	+1.39

* It was the last play of the half, so the ending field position doesn't matter unless it was a TD...and it wasn't.

So what does this tell us? Well...Pitt's offensive numbers don't tell us much because, well, Pitt's offense obviously isn't in the same league as Mizzou's. One thing to note, though, is that the Panther Offense had its way with Buffalo on Non-Passing Downs. It was hard for Buffalo to leverage Pitt into passing situations, but the biggest problem for defenses against Mizzou is that Mizzou's as good in passing situations as most teams are in non-passing situations. Mizzou's 0.929 S&P on Passing Downs is pretty ridiculous (as is their 1.201 S&P in Non-Passing Downs).

In other words, Buffalo's performance against Pitt doesn't give me any reason to think Mizzou will be held in check in any way, shape or form.

Defensively, though, Pitt's pretty comparable to Mizzou--actually, they may be a smidge better depending on which Mizzou defense shows up at any given time. Buffalo's performance against Pitt was interesting. The vaunted (relatively-speaking) Buffalo passing game was fine, but not great. Drew Willy's official line was 21-for-34 with 223 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. I'll be impressed if he matches that on Saturday, but he could at least come close. Meanwhile, Buffalo was very efficient running the ball (a 65.5% success rate is quite high), but completely devoid of any big-play potential. James Starks and Brandon Thermilus combined for a nice 117 yards on 24 carries, but the name of the game is easy points, especially against Mizzou, and UB's RBs provided none.

Special Teams

I'll say this as succinctly as possible: Buffalo has an entirely nondescript special teams unit. That's better than having a bad special teams unit, but...yeah, there's not much here. Their punter only averages 39.0 yards per punt, but they haven't allowed much of any returns so far (which is a nice thing against Mizzou). They're 2-for-3 on FGs and have had decent-not-great returns in limited opportunities. Naaman Roosevelt is a potential weapon in the return game, but he hasn't broken loose this year yet.

Oh yeah, and Mizzou has the best special teams unit I can ever remember Mizzou having. This is worth another 3 points in Mizzou's favor.

Key Players for Buffalo

QB Drew Willy

This is the closest thing to an early pro tryout Drew Willy's going to get. You have to figure there will be some scout in attendance on Saturday, and if Willy can produce against what is at least an above-average defense at this point (though a defense that will likely be missing William Moore), he'll begin to get on pro teams' radar screens a bit. His line for 2008 (60-for-92, 792 yards, 8 TDs, 2 INTs) is quite impressive.

WR Naaman Roosevelt

Though he's now known as "that guy who caught the mini-Hail Mary", Roosevelt is also by far Buffalo's biggest weapon, and as I said early, easy points is the name of the game here. So far in 2008, Roosevelt has 18 catches for 351 yards and 3 TDs. This is no fluke either--he had 1500+ yards and 9 TDs in 2007. I can't figure he'll have a great game lined up opposite Carl Gettis, but if Buffalo has a prayer of winning, it's going to be because of Roosevelt.

DEs Andrae Smith and Mike Thompson

The blueprint for beating Mizzou is simple, really: have fantastic DEs, get in Chase Daniel's face, confuse him by dropping different people into coverage every play, hope to get lucky on a couple Curtis Lofton-style turnovers...et voila! Victory is yours. To follow that blueprint, Smith and Thompson (who have combined for 4.5 TFL's, 2 sacks and 5 QB hurries) will have to play better than they ever have in their lives. Good luck.

LB Justin Winters

Arguably the Bulls' best defender so far this season, the sophomore from Greenbelt, MD (which has a lovely mall and Honduran food restaurant!), has 28 tackles, a sack, and an INT in three games this year. He is the most likely guy on the team to produce the Curtis Lofton-style turnovers, but...no. It's not going to happen.

Fun note: in the most recent UB depth chart (pdf!), Winters is listed at 6'11, 202. I'm going to assume that's a misprint...though how awesome would that be??? Okay yeah, it's a misprint.

Okay, another fun note while we're at it: Buffalo currently has starters from New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, and...Australia. Good times.

Key Players for Mizzou

RB Derrick Washington

Buffalo touts its rushing defense, and the fact that they're giving up less than 100 yards a game on the ground is certainly impressive. But they've only faced one decent rushing team--Pittsburgh--and as I said in the preseason, I don't think as highly of LeSean McCoy as others do. Well, McCoy had 93 yards on 20 carries against Buffalo. I expect Washington put up that much in 12-15 carries, to be quite honest. But if the run-blocking is still suspect, and Buffalo can remove Washington from the equation...well...it still probably won't matter, but it could.

LB Van Alexander

Probably Buffalo's most impressive stat so far has been its 3rd-down conversion rate (55%). They get themselves into manageable third downs, and then Drew Willy finds somebody to move the chains. Chances are, it will be up to the Mizzou LBs to put a stop to any hope of a good rushing day for UB and leverage Buffalo into passing downs. I was going to say Sean Weatherspoon is the key here, but that's too obvious--so I'll say it's Van Alexander, who will likely see a lot of playing time and will probably be going at double-speed trying to make plays.

S Delstin Garward (Justin Garrett + Del Howard)

As is the case every week, they're the key simply because they haven't turned the corner in pass coverage yet. They were certainly decent on Saturday, but there was still a ridiculous breakdown on the last play of the first half, so all is not entirely well. Plus, with William Moore (probably) out, these two and Hardy Ricks will see even more PT than normal. Assuming the Mizzou offense is clicking, then the defense can have a breakdown or two and be fine, but I'd like to be confident in the secondary heading into conference play, and I'd like for Delstin Garward to show me something.

QB Blaine Gabbert

Why? Because if things go according to plan on Saturday (knock on wood), this could be his last opportunity to play for a while. The playcalling hasn't given him many opportunities to shine, but maybe he'll get to show off the right arm a bit on Saturday.

Summary

Buffalo's best quarter is Q1. Its worst is Q2. If Mizzou manages to get up early in this one--as is normally the case at home--then this one will be academic quickly. But there's a chance the Bulls make it a game through at least the first 15 minutes. We'll see. All I know is, Naaman Roosevelt is the Bulls' only proven big-play threat, and Mizzou is still very good at taking away a team's #1 weapon. If Gettis (and whoever else) shut down Roosevelt, Willy (who is not altogether mobile) will be facing many passing downs and a pass rush hungry after a couple of mediocre weeks. Without the big plays for UB, this one should get ugly. Mizzou 52, Buffalo 13.

Poll

BTBS projections say Mizzou by 37.

Too optimistic for Mizzou?

22 votes

Not optimistic enough?

76 votes

98 votes | Poll has closed

Mizzou-Nevada: Beyond the Box Score

Bill C. — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:00:06 -0000

I have this done already, so I may as well post the BTBS a day early.

Another week, another set of mind-blowing BTBS numbers for the Mizzou offense. But notice this too: against Texas Tech, Nevada put up a 0.779 S&P and 26.88 EqPts. Against Mizzou, those numbers were 0.666 S&P and 19.97 EqPts. So while Mizzou and Tech gave up roughly the same number of actual points, Mizzou's defense performed better as a whole. And it's performing incrementally better each week.

To the numbers we go! And for The Beef, I'm once again bolding the key points. You're welcome.

Missouri		Nevada
	% Close = 29.5%
	TOTAL
65	Plays	84
48.55	EqPts	19.97
55.4%	Success Rate	42.9%
0.75	Points Per Play (PPP)	0.24
1.301	S&P (Success + PPP)	0.666

	CLOSE GAME ONLY
26	Plays	18
22.60	EqPts	6.15
57.7%	Success Rate	55.6%
0.87	PPP	0.34
1.446	S&P	0.897

	RUSHING
12.13	EqPts	9.66
31.0%	Success Rate	48.8%
0.42	PPP	0.22
0.729	S&P	0.713

	PASSING
36.42	EqPts	10.31
75.0%	Success Rate	36.6%
1.01	PPP	0.25
1.762	S&P	0.617

	NON-PASSING DOWNS
56.0%	Success Rate	50.9%
0.75	PPP	0.30
1.309	S&P	0.811

	PASSING DOWNS
53.3%	Success Rate	25.9%
0.74	PPP	0.10
1.273	S&P	0.360

	TURNOVERS
0	Number	1
0.00	Points Lost **	1.18
0.00	Points Given ***	7.00
0.00	Total T/O Pts	8.18
+8.18	Turnover Pts Margin	-8.18

Notice how quickly Mizzou put this out of reach. Less than 30% of the game was played in "close" circumstances--that's almost as low as it was against SEMO last week. Against Mizzou, you're under such pressure to score and score early that one mistake can feel like having your serve broken by Pete Sampras--you just don't know how you're going to make up the distance you've just given up on the scoreboard.

Mizzou Passing (in order by points)

Chase Daniel: 28.20 EqPts, 82.1% success rate (GOOD GOD), 1.01 PPP, 1.829 S&P
Chase Patton: 4.08 EqPts, 50.0%, 1.02 PPP, 1.520 S&P
Blaine Gabbert: 0.37 EqPts, 33.3%, 0.12 PPP, 0.455 S&P

82.1% success rate for Chase Daniel. EIGHTY-TWO POINT ONE PERCENT SUCCESS RATE. GOOD GOD. And for the second straight week, Mizzou averaged over 1 point per pass. Every time the ball leaves Chase Daniel's arm, that's another point on the scoreboard.
Patton occasionally unleashes a pretty bad ball, but you can't complain with a 1.520 S&P from the second-string guy.
I do wish we would run the full playbook when Gabbert's in the game. I want to see what his touch is on the downfield passes. We're getting so unbelievably spoiled with Daniel's touch on the 20-yard passes.

Mizzou Rushing (in order by points)

Derrick Washington: 7.63 EqPts, 1.58 S&P
Chase Patton: 1.61 EqPts (on 1 carry)
De'Vion Moore: 1.39 EqPts, 0.339 S&P
Chase Daniel: 0.47 EqPts (on 1 carry)
Blaine Gabbert: 0.34 EqPts (on 1 carry)
Jeremy Maclin: 0.28 EqPts, 0.139 S&P
Jimmy Jackson: 0.20 EqPts, 0.065 S&P
Danario Alexander: 0.10 EqPts (on 1 carry)
Tyron Reece: 0.12 EqPts (on 1 carry)
Shaun Scott: -0.01 EqPts (on 1 carry)

Derrick Washington was once again outstanding, putting up a 62.5% success rate and 1.58 S&P.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Tigers put up only a 19.0% success rate and 0.404 S&P. A lot of this was due to the high percentage of junk time carries, but still...aside from Washington's big run, the running game really never took off. One carry skews the numbers, but it's still something I'd like to see improve against Buffalo.
De'Vion Moore had a forgettable game but still looked pretty hard to bring down.

The passing game, on the other hand, was near perfect.

Mizzou Receiving (in order by points)

Jeremy Maclin: 14.42 EqPts, 3.40 S&P
Chase Coffman: 9.56 EqPts, 2.59 S&P
Jared Perry: 7.84 EqPts, 2.31 S&P
Tommy Saunders: 3.72 EqPts, 1.62 S&P
Derrick Washington: 0.38 EqPts (on 1 catch)
Jon Gissinger: 0.37 EqPts (on 1 catch)
Danario Alexander: 0.15 EqPts (on 1 catch)

Every single reception resulted in a "successful" play. That's crazy. The combination of efficiency and aggressiveness being shown by the Mizzou passing game right now is damn near unprecedented.
14.42 EqPts from one guy? Really? That's four more EqPts than all Nevada receivers managed combined.
When your "possession" receivers (Perry, Saunders) are putting up 1.62 and 2.31 S&P's and going for close to 100 yards each, you know you can do no wrong.
I re-watched most of the game yesterday, and I actually think Danario Alexander is 100% healthy, or damn close. He's never been the most agile of runners, but on the reverse--his first touch of '08--he was running like the rigid-but-powerful colt I remembered from '07. Plus, he didn't look gimpy on his one catch or the other two plays in which he was the target (the pass interference call in the endzone, and the inside screen he dropped). He needs to get some more game action to get back his feel for the game, but I'm not too concerned about his health.
I'd like to have seen the freshmen get involved again, but oh well I guess.

Mizzou Defense - Successful Tackles

Sean Weatherspoon - 6.5
William Moore - 3.0
Will Ebner - 2.5
Stryker Sulak - 2.5
Luke Lambert - 2.0
Jaron Baston - 1.5
Tommy Chavis - 1.5
Brock Christopher - 1.5

Mizzou Defense - % of plays made by...

Defensive Line: 12.0 total tackles, 75.0% success rate (19.0% of total tackles)
Linebackers: 21.5 total tackles, 62.8% success rate (34.1% of total tackles)
Defensive Backs: 29.5 total tackles, 22.0% success rate (46.8% of total tackles)

Weatherspoon was all over the freaking field, especially considering he missed a couple tackles. But what, he couldn't come up with another Pick Six? What the hell, Sean?
Will Ebner continues to make big plays in limited playing time. Hell, I'm starting to wonder if he's our third-best LB at this point.
The lack of sacks in the last two games is almost starting to concern me, but the D-line is still making plays, so I'm not worried yet. And it's a lot of people making plays--Sulak, Baston, Chavis, Hood, Jacquies Smith, Chris Earnhardt, and Terrell Resonno all had a hand in a successful tackle.
A word about unit success rates: as a whole, anything over 75% is good for the DL, anything over 60% is good for the LBs, and anything over about 25% is good for the DBs. So by that, the front seven played quite well and made quite a few plays. If we were to take pass breakups into account, I'm pretty sure the DBs would grade out pretty well too.
A word about the % of tackles by unit: I like to see the DL making 25% or so of the defense's tackles, but it's hard to quantify being that, if they're occupying blockers and the LBs are making quality tackles, then the D-line still did its job. So instead we'll say this: as a whole, you'd like to see your front seven making at least 55-60% of the overall tackles. Mizzou's front seven only accounted for about 53% of the overall tackles, but considering how close William Moore's been playing to the line, you could almost throw him into the "front seven" mix. Bottom line is, Nevada put up 488 yards against Texas Tech and only 362 against Mizzou. Take away the inexcuseable TD on the last play of the first half, and that number drops to 320 yards, which would be pretty outstanding against Nevada and Colin Kaepernick.
Another thing that's almost starting to concern me: we're not forcing as many turnovers as I expected to see. It's probably not an actual problem by any means. I mean, 1) our #1 turnover maker (William Moore) has been hobbled, 2) we're making the turnovers we do force count (3 defensive TDs in 3 weeks), 3) we're not turning the ball over at all (KNOCK ON WOOD), and 4) five takeaways in three games certainly isn't bad. My own high goals expected a little more, is all.

Summary

Only 4 times in 2007 did somebody produce as high a Passing S&P as Mizzou did on Saturday: Toledo (against Northern Illinois), Clemson (against Central Michigan), Florida (against Western Kentucky) and Oklahoma (against North Texas). Nevada doesn't have a great defense, but it's needless to say their defensive unit is more capable and talented than the 2007 versions of those teams above, especially after what they did to Texas Tech last week.

The rushing game left a bit to be desired after Washington's first carry, but the passing game is simply unconscious right now. My mom actually asked me on the phone yesterday if they're peaking too early. I said it's a smidgen of a concern, but overall nobody really seems to be playing over their heads. It's just "read, react, rack up the yards" right now, and I have no reason to believe they won't continue playing above their 2007 level the rest of the season. Which is an unbelievably scary thought.

As for the defense, things are beginning to look up. If not for the mini-Hail Mary at the end of Q2, there really wouldn't be anything to complain about; but honestly, that play may have been a good thing because the defense played pissed off in the second half and completely shut down a pretty solid offense. Buffalo has a decent offense with a decent QB (the awesomely-named Drew Willy), but they don't have the big-play capability that Nevada has. If Mizzou plays at its current level, the Bulls will be lucky to score the 17 that Nevada did. And if the defense continues to improve incrementally, then I'll be surprised to see Buffalo cross into double digits.

As we've been saying the last couple of days, soak this in, Mizzou fans. On Football Outsiders the other day, a Tennessee fan told me that he doesn't feel like he soaked in and enjoyed UT's 1996-99 run enough. We all expect Mizzou to win at a pretty strong level after this year, but we may never see another offense that can do what this offense is doing right now. Appreciate Chase Daniel, appreciate Jeremy Maclin, appreciate Chase Coffman, and take in every minute of this. Don't start looking ahead to Nebraska or Texas or Kansas or (cross your fingers) OU at Arrowhead just yet--there's too much to enjoy in the meantime.

Poll

Who was the statistical MVP of Mizzou-Nevada?

Chase Daniel (28.20 EqPts Passing, 82% success rate)

106 votes

Derrick Washington (8.01 Total EqPts, 1.58 rushing S&P)

3 votes

Jeremy Maclin (14.70 Total EqPts, 3.40 receiving S&P)

13 votes

Sean Weatherspoon (6.5 successful tackles)

4 votes

126 votes | Poll has closed

Opponent Profile: UTEP

Peter Bean — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:52:34 -0000

Irony: When everything in your life is going well you have no free time; conversely, when you're in a horrible rut you've got all the time in the world. Which is why we all look forward to that one time in life when the curse is broken... retirement.

Better late than never: A few words on UTEP.

2007 Season Cap

2007 Record: 4-8 (2-6 - Conference USA)
2007 Home Record: 3-3
2007 vs Winning: 2-5
2007 vs. Ranked: 0-1
2007 Bowl: N/A
Last year vs TX: N/A
All-Time vs. TX: 0-2

2007 Key Stats

OFFENSE
Yards/Play, Offense: 5.9 (#23, nationally)
Scoring Offense/Game: 33.6 (26)
Rush Yards/Att: 4.26 (45)
Pass Yards/Att: 7.5 (27)
3rd Downs Conv-Att: 70-174-40.2% (53)
Red Zone Scores-Chances: 38/44 (31 TD / 7 FG)
Turnovers lost: 20 (22)

DEFENSE
Yards/Play Defense: 6.2 (105)
Scoring Defense/Game 37.1 (113)
Rush Yards/Att: 4.84 (99)
Pass Yards/Att: 7.7 (97)
3rd Downs Conv-Att: 91-186-48.9% (114)
Red Zone Scores-Chances: 55-66 (42 TD / 13 FG)
Turnovers gained: 29 (20)
Turnover margin: +18 (3)

SPECIAL TEAMS
Yards/Punt Return, FAU: 13.6 (14)
Yards/Punt Return, Opponent: 7.9 (47)
Yards/Kickoff Return, FAU: 20.4 (82)
Yards/Kickoff Return, Opponent: 21.9 (73)
FG Att-Made: 17-20

Personnel

Returning Starters: 12 (5 offense, 7 defense)
Best Player, Offense: Trevor Vittatoe, QB (224-407-55%, 3101 yards, 25-7 TD-INT as rFR)
Best Wide Receiver: Jeff Moturi (65 rec, 891 yards, 13.7 avg, 13 TD)
Best Running Back: Terrell Jackson (Injured in last year's opener; PrepStar All-American in HS went to Oregon before transfer)
Best Player, Defense: Adam Vincent, LB (75 tackles in '07)
Best D-Lineman: Andre Jones?
Best Linebacker: Vincent
Best DB: Cornelius Brown (46 tackles, 4 INT, 9 PBU)
Sleeper: Vernon Frazier, RB (Those who watch UTEP closely sense a breakout if opportunity is given)

2008 To Date

8/28 L 17-42 at Buffao
Box Score
Recap

PB Commentary & Prediction

Heading into this season, quarterback Trevor Vittatoe's memorable redshirt freshman season was enough to regard UTEP's offense as 'respectable,' though the situation looked bleak again on defense. Now, after the Miners' humiliating season-opening loss to Buffalo in which the offense scored just 17 points and Vittatoe threw 3 interceptions, what little hope existed UTEP might hang with the Longhorns in some kind of wild, West Texas night game shootout seems especially fantastical.

To be fair, the Bulls have played increasingly better football under rising star Turner Gill, but the Miners were so thoroughly dominated on the stat sheet there's simply no imaginable scenario in which they can compete with Texas even for a half. Consider:

Buffalo finished with 263 yards rushing on 5.3 yards per attempt
Bulls quarterback Drew Willy completed 10 of his 16 passes for 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, picking up 13.8 yards per attempt, double last season's average of 6.8.
UTEP tailback Terrell Jackson was limited to 67 yards rushing on 18 carries (3.7 ypc), which looks good next to the 13 yards on 6 carries by other UTEP rushers. And that doesn't count Vittatoe's 13 yards lost on 2 sacks.

On and on we could go, but there's no point: If this is UTEP's Super Bowl, Saturday night is going to resemble Pasadena '93.

PB'S PREDICTION: TEXAS 51 UTEP 6

Who you got? Guess the exact score and win a BON t-shirt.