Mike Price is in his 28th year as a college head coach, and his sixth season at UTEP (photo by UTEP athletics).

There might be no more of a Jekyll-and-Hyde team in the country than the UTEP Miners (3-6 overall, 2-3 in Conference USA games). This is a team that opened eyes across C-USA, and the nation, with victories over two of the perceived conference heavyweights, Tulsa and nationally-ranked Houston … but also has coughed up less-than-glistening performances in losses to bottomfeeders like Buffalo, Memphis and Tulane.

Saturday’s meeting at Gerald J. Ford Stadium will be the 17th all-time between the Mustangs and Miners. SMU holds a 9-7 advantage in the series, but UTEP has won five of the last six, including three straight. The Ponies are 5-2 in games played in Dallas, but those two losses have come the only time the teams have met in Ford Stadium.

SMU head coach June Jones said this week that the Miners are "the best 3-6 team I've ever seen." He also said that adding to the danger his team faces in this game is the fact that in order to become eligible for a bowl game appearance, the Miners have to win all three remaining games on their schedule. UTEP has no margin for error, which prompted several Mustangs to say this week that the team they expect to face Saturday is the same one that knocked off Houston and Tulsa, not the bunch that got tripped up by Buffalo, Memphis and Tulane.

UTEP games this season have been anything but defensive struggles, as the Miners have been outscored by an average score of 35.1-27.3. They also have been outgained by more than 70 yards per game (467.3-392.6), thanks in large part to a deficit of 60 rushing yards per game (211.0-151.0), despite the fact that the Miners’ offensive success rests heavily upon one of the premier tailbacks in the nation, Donald Buckram.

OFFENSE

Any discussion of the nation’s top running backs has to include Buckram, the 5-10, 195-pound junior from Copperas Cove, Texas, who has rushed 184 times for 1,181 yards and 13 touchdowns. The Doak Walker Award semifinalist’s average of 131.2 yards per game leads Conference USA and is fourth in the entire country. His rushing yards account for 33.4 percent of UTEP’s total yardage. Add in his 278 receiving yards (and two touchdown catches), and he has contributed 43.5 percent of UTEP’s total offensive yardage, and he has either run or caught 15 of the team’s 29 offensive touchdowns.

Junior RB Donald Buckram is the top rusher in Conference USA, and ranks fourth in the entire country (photo by UTEP athletics).

Directing the UTEP offense behind an offensive line that averages 6-foot-3 and 303 pounds is junior quarterback Trevor Vittatoe, who has completed 156-of-303 passes (51.5 percent) for 2,151 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He doesn’t run much (sacks have dropped his season rushing total to minus-88 yards), but Vittatoe has decent mobility. Of more concern to opposing defenses is the fact that he has perhaps the second-strongest arm in the conference after Houston’s Case Keenum, and he has the ability to throw accurately while running from defenders.

Vittatoe’s top targets in the passing game are wideouts Jeff Moturi, who leads the team with 38 receptions and 585 yards and is tied for the team lead with a pair of receiving touchdowns, and Kris Adams, who has 30 receptions for 400 yards. Buckram is third on the team with 19 catches out of the backfield for 278 yards and a pair of scores.

The Mustangs will have to be very opportunistic to create takeaways against the Miners. Vittatoe has coughed up 11 interceptions, but the Miners have lost just three of their 15 fumbles in their first nine games.

The best time for UTEP opponents this season has been the second quarter, in which the Miners have been outscored by nearly a 2:1 margin (109-55). In the other three quarters and overtime this season, UTEP has been outscored by just 16 points.

DEFENSE

The Miners’ defense operates out of a 3-3-5 alignment as its base formation. The starting defensive line averages just under 6-1 and 258 pounds per man; the “biggest” is nose tackle Steve Riddick, who measures in at just 5-11, 275. The Miners’ most productive lineman has been defensive end Aaron King (6-4, 250), who ranks eighth on the team with 32 tackles, and leads the Miners with 6.5 tackles-for-loss and 3.5 quarterback sacks.

QB Trevor Vittatoe has thrown for 2,151 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2009 (photo by UTEP athletics).

The linebackers boast two of the top four tacklers on the team, in middle linebacker Jeremy Springer (seond on the team with 58 tackles, including 2.5 tackles-for-loss), and rightside linebacker Royzell Smith, who is fourth with 54 stops.

The Miners usually run a five-man secondary. In addition to the two cornerbacks, they play a free safety, strong safety and a “Miner” safety, which is a roaming DB with the speed to cover and the physical edge to attack the run. The “Miner” in the UTEP defense is Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith, the team’s leading tackler with 84 stops this season, including two tackles-for-loss. The 6-2, 210-senior from Riverside, Calif., also has a sack and has forced a pair of fumbles. His average of 12.0 tackles per game is the second-highest average in the nation.

Safety Braxton Amy has two interceptions this year, making him the only Miner with more than one, but he likely won’t play. Three other players, including cornerback Dustin Bell – the brother of SMU’s Derrius Bell – have one interception each.

The strength of the UTEP secondary clearly is at the secondary spots; including Cromartie-Smith, three of the team’s top five tacklers are safeties. “Right” safety Clarence Ward is third on the team with 56 stops and leads the team with seven passes broken up, while “left” safety DeShawn Grayson is fifth in tackles, with 52.

SPECIAL TEAMS

If not for Buckram’s absurd numbers (90 points on 15 touchdowns), kicker Logan Barrett would be the Miners’ leading scorer by a healthy margin. The freshman from Kennedale, Texas, has hit 28-of-29 extra points and has connected on 10-of-14 field goals, although he has hit just one-of-four from beyond 40 yards. Punter Greg Hiett has averaged 42.5 yards on 38 punts.