On paper, the UTEP football team is about to enter a season of expectations.
The Miners team that takes to Glory Field on Thursday afternoon to begin a one-month run-in to the Aug. 26 opener at Jacksonville State returns most of a 5-7 team that missed a bowl on the last play of the regular season.
The Miners play an easier schedule that includes two teams moving up from the FCS and another in the FCS and they enter the sixth season of Dana Dimel's tenure with more depth than they've had, maybe in more than a decade.