Bret Bloomquist

El Paso Times

So there is some good news for the UTEP football team.

In 28 days, the assembled might of Houston Baptist comes to the Sun Bowl and that is a game the Miners have a chance to win. Start the countdown.

The bad news: They've started that countdown at Houston Baptist, too.

In the aftermath of a 35-21 loss to Florida International, the one FBS team left on the schedule that was supposed to be worse than UTEP but, well, wasn't, optimism is hard to locate.

Afterward, coach Sean Kugler sounded an ominous tone, but one that will play well in certain quarters of the beleaguered UTEP fan base.

"I don't have a whole lot of answers right now," he said. "We're not a good football team. I take responsibility for that. I'm smart enough to understand the ramifications if we don't get it fixed. ...

"We're going to look at ourselves schematically, personnel, how we can get better. We'll look at every avenue. We'll try to solve the problems. If I can't do that, I know the deal."

He's alluding, of course, to his dismissal, something that seems unlikely even if UTEP goes 2-10, which is about what the over-under is at this point. He works for one of the most patient athletic directors in America in Bob Stull, a man admired by the coaches under him, and understandably so, for his slow trigger finger.

So this is Kugler's problem to attack, but right now there is so much wrong it's hard to figure where to begin.

A start would be hoping Ryan Metz gets healthy and can step back in at quarterback. Zack Greenlee had an opportunity to get the job back, and while the Miners' problems run far, far deeper than him, his numbers -- 17-of-39 for 191 yards, 57 of those yards coming in the final minute against a prevent defense -- indicate a change is likely if Metz can recover from a concussion that prevented him from going to classes last week.

"We'll have to evaluate everything," Kugler said. "Ryan was our quarterback going in. We hope he can get healthy. We can get him ready to go. Zack did some good things; he had some struggles. It's not about the quarterback. It's not about defense. It's not about special teams. If you want to point a finger, point it at me."

Getting Aaron Jones fully healthy is also on the agenda after a night where he had eight carries and averaged more than 9 yards on each of them, and that seems probable during a bye week that is welcome, if a week too late.

His absence seemed to be a chance to open up the offense and feature some new people, but that was not the way of it. Cole Freytag and Eddie Sinegal had nice nights, combining for nine catches, but after that, Warren Redix had two and no one else had more than one.

Whether it's schematics or the personalities of the quarterbacks, the tight end position again disappeared, as Hayden Plinke and Kent Taylor combined for two catches for 15 yards. There was a reverse that worked (42 yards and almost a touchdown to Sinegal) and an attempt at a long lateral and pass with Cole Freytag that didn't work, and there were also a bevy of first down middle runs with Kevin Dove and Quadraiz Wadley.

"I felt like we moved the ball well. We just couldn't put points on the board," Jones said in giving a familiar refrain. "We kept fighting, so did the defense. It just didn't go our way."

It didn't go the defense's way either. They gave up 494 yards to a Florida International team that had been terrible offensively until last week and in the process weren't able to tackle, something that had been a strength in the first part of the season. That meant touchdown drives of 75, 75 and 91 yards in the second half.

"It's frustrating, we came out after halftime and tried to get a stop, and we couldn't get a stop," Alvin Jones said. "I felt like this was worse (than Army, a game where Jones didn't play). We couldn't stop them.

"We'll make some changes. We'll get people healthy."

That's the hope, and at this point, hope is a scarce commodity.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359. Follow him on Twitter @bretbloomquist