FACTS & STATS: Site: Skelly Stadium (40,385) -- Tulsa, Oklahoma. Television: CBSCS. Home Record: UTEP 2-2, Tulsa 3-0. Away Record: UTEP 1-1, Tulsa 3-0. Neutral Record: UTEP 0-0, Tulsa 0-0. Conference Record: UTEP 3-0, Tulsa 3-0. Series Record: Tulsa leads, 9-7.

GAME NOTES: The UTEP Miners head to Tulsa to take on the Golden Hurricane at Skelly Stadium, with first place in Conference USA's West Division at stake. Since opening the season 0-3, the Miners have gotten on track by winning each of their last three bouts. Last weekend, they knocked off Tulane, 24-21. UTEP has started 4-0 in league play only twice in school history, most recently in 2000. Meanwhile, Tulsa is 6-0 for the first time since 1942. The Golden Hurricane overcame a rash of injuries and converted a key 4th-and-21 while rallying for a 37-31 win over SMU last week. Still, despite the perfect record, Tulsa remains on the outside looking in at the Top-25. Tulsa is in the midst of playing five home games in a six-week span. Regarding the all-time series between these two schools, Tulsa holds a narrow 9-7 edge. The home team has won each of the last four meetings.

UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe had another big game last week, completing 21-of-32 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Tulane. He completed passes to 10 different receivers, including a go-ahead 68-yard touchdown toss to Jeff Moturi with four minutes remaining. The offensive line also deserves plenty of credit. After all, they paved the way for Donald Buckram to run for 107 yards, while Vittatoe was given ample time to operate in the pocket. The latter is an integral piece to the success of the offense. Now in his sophomore season, Vittatoe is the engine that drives the Miners offense. He is averaging 221 passing yards per game, with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions on the year.

Defensively, the Miners are still a work in progress, though they've made strides in recent wins over UCF and Tulane. Last week, Tulane's Andre Anderson scored his third touchdown with 7:29 remaining in the second quarter. But the Miners strapped down after that, not allowing a single point the rest of the way. They gave up plenty of yards -- 318 on the ground, to be exact -- but the shutout over the final two quarters and change is what coach Mike Price will look to build on. Keep in mind, this is a unit that ranks 102nd in the nation in total defense (424 ypg) and 103rd in scoring defense (31.5 ppg).

With his third straight 100-yard rushing performance, Tulsa running back Tarrion Adams moved to No. 2 on the school's all-time rushing list (2,647). As a team, the Golden Hurricane has eclipsed 300 rushing yards in three straight games, which hasn't happened since 1986. Equally as impressive has been the passing game under first-year starting quarterback David Johnson, who is averaging 327 ypg with 26 touchdowns. He is completing 67 percent of his passes, illustrating a clear understanding of the spread offense. Tulsa enters this week with the nation's top-ranked scoring offense (53.17 ppg) and total offense (597.0 ypg).

While the Tulsa offense has put up big numbers week in and week out, the defense has mostly lagged behind. They continue to give up yards in bunches (423 ypg) and are allowing an average of 26 ppg. Last week, SMU racked up 469 yards of total offense, including 318 passing yards and four touchdowns (to four different receivers) by Mustang quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. But, more importantly than the numbers, the defense held SMU scoreless over the final quarter-and-a-half while the offense mounted a comeback. DeAundre Brown came away with a big interception right after Tulsa tied the score at 31.

Both teams feature big-time offenses and suspect defenses. But Tulsa has the added element of feeling snubbed for being unranked at 6-0.