For the first time since 2010 the UTEP Miners are 5-1 after they beat the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 26-13 at M. M. Roberts Stadium on Saturday night.
The Miners offense got off to a quick start and got on the scoreboard first after Ronald Awatt scored on a 17 yard touchdown run.
Southern Miss would answer right back as QB Jake Lange connected with Jason Brownlee on a 31 yard touchdown reception tying the game at 7-7 5:42 in left in the first quarter.
And that would be as close as Sothern Miss would get in the game as the Miners would dominate the rest of the game.
Jacob Cowling would score on a 53 yard run in the second quarter and with the extra point by Gavin Baechle the Miners would take a 14-7 lead at the half.
The Miners dominate defense would score the only points in the third quarter as Praise Amaewhule would force a fumble and Breon Hayward would return the fumble 55 yards for the touchdown.
In the fourth quarter the Miners defense would continue to dominate as Josh Ortega would get a safety making the score 23-7. The Miners offense would then put together a drive that ate up a lot of clock time and was capped off with a 38 yard Baechle field goal giving UTEP a 26-7 lead.
Southern Miss would score a touchdown with two minutes left in the game but the Miners would recover the onsides kick and run out the clock giving the the 23-13 victory.
With the win the UTEP is now 2-0 in Conference play for the first time since 2008 and is one win away from being bowl eligible for the first time since 2014.
The Miners will try to become bowl eligible next Saturday as they host Louisiana Tech at the Sun Bowl.