EL PASO, Texas (AP) _ Texas-El Paso wanted to establish its rushing game and Sherman Austin helped the Miners do that as he rushed for three touchdowns in their 52-6 win over Texas Southern Saturday night. Austin rushed for 91 yards and scored on runs of 8, 15 and 5 yards. He hadn't had three touchdowns in a single game since high school and had only one rushing touchdown in the past two years with UTEP.
"We executed tonight because our offensive line was aggressive, they exploded off the ball and I just followed their lead," Austin said. The win helped the Miners (1-1) recover from a 26-6 loss to New Mexico last week that included nine quarterback sacks and minus-53 yards rushing. The Tigers (1-1), held to 206 yards of offense, didn't score until the fourth quarter.
"It was real important for us to establish the running game, we wanted to make sure (the negative rushing yards) never happens again," said Miners Coach Gary Nord. The Miners rushed for 305 yards and five touchdowns Saturday night.
"Our offense was tentative, our defense was poor, we had kicking miscues, we just played a poor game tonight," said Tigers Coach Bill Thomas. "You can't help a group (of mistakes) like that and expect to win the game." UTEP, with 427 yards of offense, also scored on a blocked punt recovered by Paul Smith in the end zone with 5:21 left in the first quarter that made it 14-0. The Miners' longest drive was 78 yards and was capped by an 11-yard pass from Wesley Phillips to Lee Mays with 8:27 left in the first half to make the Miner lead 31-0. The score was 38-0 at the half.
Texas Southern quarterback Adam Lamb was 7-of-24 for 90 yards with two interceptions and was the team's leading rusher with 54 yards on 14 carries. Waymon Steed had 49 yards on 15 carries. "I didn't give our team a chance to compete tonight," Lamb said. "This is probably the worst game I've ever played." The Tigers fumbled four times, three times on the snap in the first half. They lost two of them. Texas Southern's only score came with 14:05 left in the game when Lamb threw a 5-yard pass to La'Torrie Burnette. The score was 45-6 after the Tigers' kick for the extra point was blocked. UTEP wrapped up the scoring with a 60-yard run from redshirt freshman John James with 7:44 left in the game.
On its six drives in the first half, UTEP started in its own territory only once. The only field goal in the game was a 22-yard kick by Miner Keith Robinson with 13:53 left in the first half. UTEP also got a good performance from redshirt freshman Jahmal Fenner who returned six punts for 115 yards. That missed the UTEP individual punt return record by 14 yards. "We obviously found ourselves a punt returner tonight," Nord said. "Jahmal is slippery, courageous and has a lot of speed."
Phillips, who was pulled by Miners Coach Gary Nord after the first series in the second half, was 8-of-20 for 112 yards with two interceptions. He was replaced by redshirt freshman Jon Schaper who was 2-of-8 for 10 yards.
The Tigers return to action, 6:30 p.m., Saturday, September 22 against Alabama A&M in Normal, AL.
