At times over the last two months, the UTEP football team's rapid improvement belied how young this program really is.
By playing so competitively against top teams in Conference USA, it seemed all UTEP had to do was learn how to win and everything would be fine.
A 48-32 loss to Middle Tennessee on Saturday added some perspective.
In the big picture, this was a game they were supposed to lose, though there was the hope the Miners would be more competitive. In reality, they were good on defense for a four-possession stretch from the middle of the first quarter to the middle of the second, and they were good on offense whenever Middle Tennessee relaxed and let the backups run around.