I put on my Miner orange welder’s goggles and leaned back. I thought about my UTEP MINERS winning their game against Arizona this evening on national television. The Miners had the ball first and Arizona set up their defense. Cheating toward the line, the Miners snapped the ball and handed it off to the running back who struggled and fought for the two yards he got.On the second down, the quarterback dropped three steps and hit a streaking tight end across the middle , getting behind the linebackers and dragging three defensive backs for an extra ten yards before they could wrestle him to the ground, and shocked the 15 thousand die hard fans to attention. The next play from scrimmage went to a wide open wide receiver on his way to the first six points of the night. The Miners in uniform mob the two conspirators celebrating their pitch and catch in the end zone, but rush to get off of the field. The team is unintentionally showing their inner joy. They have been told that there will and must be passes downfield. They must be completed! The energy is deafening!
The Miners defense comes out on fire and holds Arizona to three downs and a punt. The Miners offense sprints onto the field. The offensive line pancakes the Arizona defensive line and UTEP goes straight up through the middle for 35 yards. The quarterback hurries the team to the line and while Arizona reels, he fades back to throw. Defenders run on instinct towards the quarterback and receivers. The delayed draw catches the defense completely out of position to do anything but watch, as the back trots into the end zone. With 10 minutes and change left in the first quarter, the Miners have jumped out to a 14 to nothing lead.
The rest of the first half is a back and forth affair, each team getting into the end zone twice more. The second half opens with the Miners leading 28 to 14. The Miners defense allows Arizona to pull to within a score on a long drive, but the Miners also force them to use nearly 12 minutes to do it. The Miners offense takes another 12 minutes off of the clock with their next possession and once again the lead is back to fourteen. They score quickly, going up field in chunks of ten to twenty yards at a time and with three minutes left make the score 35-28 Miners. On the ensuing kick, the Miners returner runs it back for a touchdown! The crowd goes wild. No, I mean the crowd is frenzied. My own wife is kissing all over me in the excitement! So much so that she is getting slobbery and downright annoying! Alright! That’s enough! Dang! I push her away and she barks at me. Ok, now, that’s enough! Nock it off! I can’t even see her with these welder’s goggles on. I must have nodded off. I pull the goggles off and rub my eyes to adjust them to the light. My dog is on the couch telling me it is time for her afternoon treats. Dreams of a Miners fan.