Tech won’t have to play in El Paso
It is hard to understand why AD Kirby Hocutt continues to schedule home-and-home series with UTEP. That’s because nothing good comes from playing the Miners, especially in El Paso. Thankfully, the new Big 12 mandate prevents Tech from having to go to the Sun Bowl to open the year.
It is not that Red Raider fans were nervous about losing the opener. After all, UTEP is one of the worst programs in the FBS having won just two total games in the last three years.
But it seems like chaos almost always ensues when Tech travels to El Paso, both on and off the field. Just consider the last two visits the Red Raiders have made to Texas’ westernmost city.
In 2014, Davis Webb and the Red Raiders had to come from behind in the fourth quarter for a 30-26 win over the Miners in the Sun Bowl. In 2006, Graham Harrell and his team had to go to OT to pull out a 38-35 win in El Paso.
In all, Tech is 7-3 on the road against UTEP. But that is a bit misleading as all three defeats came prior to 1960. So Red Raider fans shouldn’t have been all that worried about a loss in this year’s season opener. But there always remains the possibility for some stress given that every visit to El Paso from the Red Raiders brings out the best…and worst in UTEP and its fans.
Prior to the 2014 meeting, a night game, fans from the two teams were involved in a fight in the Sun Bowl parking lot. It’s indicative of the type of atmosphere that can arise when the Red Raiders head to UTEP, which has never beaten a Big 12 team and which desperately wants such a trophy to hang on the wall. Fortunately, in 2020 we won’t have to deal with another Red Faider trip to The Sun City because there’s way more to lose than gain from playing there.