Injury Riddled FIU Hands UTEP First Win Of 2024

FIU will now drop to 2-5 on the season

Kevin Barral | Oct 17, 2024

FIU Athletic

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It had been 357 days since UTEP had last won a football game. That streak ended for Scotty Walden's club on Wednesday night. After trailing early, a strong offensive performance allowed the Miners to score a season high 30-points defeating FIU by a final score of 30-21.

Here's how things went down in El Paso.

UTEP Offense Breaks Out

After winning the starting job to begin the season, Skyler Locklear lost his job to Cade McConnell. After McConnell suffered a wrist injury against Western Kentucky, Locklear was able to return to the starting role.

Locklear ended the night completing 14 passes for 161 yards, one touchdown and one interception. It marked the third most passing yards this season for the redshirt sophomore.

Helping the Miners' quarterback was running back Jevon Jackson who ran for 148 yards and one touchdown on 26 attempts. For Jackson, it was a career-high in rushing yards. Wednesday also marked back-to-back games of a 100-yard rusher for UTEP.

The Miners regain the lead after @JevonJackson22 races down the sideline for the score 🏃💨

📺: @CBSSportsNet #NoLimitsOnUs | @UTEPFB pic.twitter.com/IiBq5lGmgp
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) October 17, 2024

Keyone Jenkins Out, Amari Jones in, and then Haden Carlson...

In the second quarter of action, sophomore quarterback Keyone Jenkins tossed his sixth interception of the season to linebacker Dorian Hopkins. As Hopkins was taking it back 84 yards, Jenkins hurt his throwing shoulder on a missed tackle trying to stop the Miners linebacker. He would go on to miss the remainder of the game. Redshirt sophomore Amari Jones entered the game for Jenkins.

Following the game, it was announced that Jenkins suffered a left shoulder contusion and will have an MRI when FIU returns to Miami.

"That did hurt us," said FIU head coach Mike MacIntyre in regards to Jenkins. "We brougt in Amari (Jones). I thought Amari did really well when he came in and then he got hit and got hurt. Then we came in with Haden (Carlson). He was trying to throw it there at the end and didn't get it done."

Dean Patterson from Keyone gets us started fast 💥@LyghtzO ➡️ @DeanPatterson01 pic.twitter.com/4MMQJazWeX
— FIU Football (@FIUFootball) October 17, 2024

Jones, a Bradford High School product ended the game completing six passes for 92 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The redshirt sophomore would take a big hit in the fourth quarter of action which knocked him out for the remainder of the game. FIU would turn to Haden Carlson.

Carlson threw interceptions on back-to-back drives and completed only four passes for 37 yards.

While Jones was playing, there were also a couple of botched snaps that led to a three-and-out.

"Our center had a couple bad snaps," said head coach Mike MacIntyre following the game. "He hasn't done that all year, we haven't had that problem, so that was a really tough situation for us. They had just stopped us and then we got backed up and they gained some momentum and they were able to score there at the end of the half. That was a tough deal there."

It marked the first time this season that an FIU quarterback threw for under 100-yards in the game. On the plus side, Jenkins tied Max Bortenschlager for sixth on the FIU all-time passing touchdowns list.

Jojo Evans Puts His Name In The Record Books

Although it was a rough night towards the end for the FIU defense, Jojo Evans led the way with 19 total tackles, which ties him for the third-highest single-game total in program history.

Elijah Anderson-Taylor was one of three FIU players to finish with double-digit total tackles. His 13 total tackles (three solo/10 assisted) would mark a career-high for the FIU redshirt senior. Travion Barnes ended the game with 15 total tackles (two solo/13 assisted).

What's Next?

With the loss, FIU goes to 3-4 all-time against UTEP and will go to 1-3 at the Sun Bowl. On the season, FIU will drop to 2-5 and 1-2 in conference play. The Miners will earn their first win of the season, improving to 1-6 and 1-3 in conference play.

FIU will take on Sam Houston on Tuesday, October 22 against Sam Houston State in the Panthers' annual Vice Night game. Kick-off is at 7:30 pm and the game will be streamed on ESPNU.