Sometimes, coaches overthink things….or want to show incontrovertible genius by tinkering. Such was the case Wednesday inight n El Paso.
UTEP’s overcaffinated and underbrained coach, Scotty Walden, appears to be guilty of such malpractice. Former five-star recruit via USC and Boise State, Malachi Nelson, was benched for last night’s game against Liberty. Nelson was just two games removed from 404 yards passing against Louisiana Monroe. True, UTEP was limited to 11 points in their last outing, albeit against a stingy Louisiana Tech defense that had previously LSU to 23 points.
Liberty should have represented a “get well” night for any offense as the FLames’ defense was downright offensive. UTEP’s new starting QB was Skyler Locklear. Too bad, his name was worlds better than his performance: In 17 passing attempts, he netted 90 yards and 2 throws skied into Liberty’s waiting arms. Locklear was benched and Nelson came off the bench with a 4 for 10 performance which netted a paltry 21 yards. Way to break Nelson’s confidence , coach! You now have zero QB’s!!
UTEP finally managed a consolation TD in the second half. Big deal!
Walden’s post-game nonsense continued. He exhorted his troops to win 5 of their last 6 to become bowl eligible. This decrepit Miner squad might not be able to beat any of the 5 best high school teams in El Paso, especially with Walden at the helm.