A big part of success on the field is overcoming the inevitable mishaps, and UTEP has more experience at that than it would like this fall as it heads into Saturday's opener with Stephen F. Austin.
The start of practice was pushed back three times and ultimately coach Dana Dimel said the team lost out on nine practices it might normally have before an opener.
"I still don't feel like we're caught up," he said. "I feel like we're closing in but how do you make up for eight or nine missed practices? That's where we are, eight or nine practices short.