The UTEP Miners’ first drive was an indication that things were not going to go well versus the Florida International University (FIU) Panthers Saturday night. On the third play of the game, senior quarterback Brandon Jones threw an interception in Miner territory, which resulted in a Panther field goal.
That interception would be the only turnover of the entire game for either team, but the Miners would make up for that in spades with their most penalized output of the season. The Miners finished with the most penalty yards of the Dana Dimel era with 106 yards.
The Miners overall played well defensively for a little over three quarters bottling up the very potent Panther running game, until running back Anthony Jones took a handoff 65 yards downfield, setting up a final FIU touchdown to close the game.