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Tennessee football vs. UTEP: 10 keys for Vols against Miners

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images
Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images /

Tennessee football should have an easy win while hosting the University of Texas El Paso Saturday. Here are the keys for the Volunteers to do that.

After playing the East Tennessee State Buccaneers and winning easily 59-3, Tennessee football may be in for an even easier showdown this week despite going up against an FBS opponent. The Vols play the worst team on that level in the UTEP Miners, a team that is on a 14-game losing streak after going 0-12 last year.

New head coach Dana Dimel is trying to bring the offense he installed with the Kansas State Wildcats to the team, but after two weeks, it’s produced results no better than last year’s 0-12 team. UTEP opened the season with a blowout loss to the FCS Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, and they followed that up with a blowout loss to the UNLV Rebels.

With a 1-1 record and the Florida Gators coming to town next week, Tennessee football could not ask for a better draw. Sure, they had things pretty easy last week as well. But they need all the breaks they can get Jeremy Pruitt’s first year after the worst season in school history in 2017.

Hey, maybe a win, which gets this team to 2-1 and its first winning record since before Halloween of last year, could give this team just the confidence it needs to go on a crazy role. Or maybe it’s completely irrelevant.

Either way, if there was ever a game to sleep through on Rocky Top, this would be it. However, a team that went 0-8 last year in the conference can’t take anything lightly. Don’t forget that last year they faced the UMASS Minutemen, a team that had gone 2-10 the year before, and only won 17-13. That game was their last win in which they came in with a winning record.

Simply put, the Vols aren’t in a position to take any game lightly this year, and the UTEP Miners are no different. So as always, we are going to take a look at the important things this team needs to do to make sure it gets a win on Saturday.

After all, as low as morale may be at this point, imagine what a loss would do. It took beating an FCS school just to breath some life into this program. How can they maintain that life? Find out here in the 10 keys to the game between Tennessee football and UTEP.

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