For the hand-wringing about another near miss and clock management issues, the major reason UTEP lost to Rice last week was because the unit the Miners lean on, their defense, struggled.
The bright spots in what is now a 4-6 season have come from that defense, which was ranked third in the 11-team Conference USA before last week. If UTEP is to resurrect itself and make a bowl it will likely be because of its defense, but that was a major problem in Houston.
The Miners gave up nine plays of 20 or more yards (seven passes and two runs) and 502 yards that led to 37 points.