Texas-El Paso 41, Charlotte 35
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Gavin Hardison threw three touchdown passes, including two to Tyrin Smith, Tyrice Knight and Jadrian Taylor each returned a fumble for a score and UTEP beat Charlotte 41-35.
UTEP (3-3, 1-1 Conference USA) won in the Eastern time zone for the first time in program history (1-26-1).
Chris Reynolds threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Grant DuBose that capped the game's opening drive and gave Charlotte (1-5, 0-2) a 7-0 lead with 9:48 left in the first quarter. UTEP answered with a 15-play, 75-yard drive that culminated when Smith caught his first TD, a 17-yarder, and Gavin Baechle kicked a 22-yard field goal to give the Miners the lead for good midway through the second quarter. Hardison hit Trent Thompson for a 26-yard score with 33 seconds left in the half and Knight's 13-yard fumble return for a touchdown 13 seconds later gave UTEP 24-7 lead at the break.
Reynolds threw third-quarter TD passes of 23 yards to Elijah Spencer and 2 yards to DuBose to pull the 49ers to 24-21 but Smith scored on a 58-yard catch-and-run and Baechle kicked a 23-yard field goal to make it a three-point game going into the fourth quarter.
Charlotte, on its next drive, had a first-and-goal from the 2 but, after an incomplete pass, ChaVon McEachern fumbled near the goal line and Taylor scooped and scored on a 100-yard return to make it 41-21 with 13:36 to play.
Reynolds completed 21 of 37 passes for 321 yards and four touchdowns with an interception for Charlotte.
| Scoring Summary |
| First Quarter |
UTEP | Char |
| Char |
TD |
9:48 |
Grant DuBose 23 yd pass from Chris Reynolds (Antonio Zita kick) |
0 |
7 |
| UTEP |
TD |
2:01 |
Tyrin Smith 17 yd pass from Gavin Hardison (Gavin Baechle kick) |
7 |
7 |
| Second Quarter |
UTEP | Char |
| UTEP |
FG |
8:03 |
Gavin Baechle 22 yd FG |
10 |
7 |
| UTEP |
TD |
0:33 |
Trent Thompson 26 yd pass from Gavin Hardison (Gavin Baechle kick) |
17 |
7 |
| UTEP |
TD |
0:20 |
Tyrice Knight 13 yd fumble return (Gavin Baechle kick) |
24 |
7 |
| Third Quarter |
UTEP | Char |
| Char |
TD |
11:37 |
Elijah Spencer 23 yd pass from Chris Reynolds (Antonio Zita kick) |
24 |
14 |
| Char |
TD |
11:03 |
Grant DuBose 2 yd pass from Chris Reynolds (Antonio Zita kick) |
24 |
21 |
| UTEP |
TD |
8:34 |
Tyrin Smith 58 yd pass from Gavin Hardison (Gavin Baechle kick) |
31 |
21 |
| UTEP |
FG |
0:36 |
Gavin Baechle 29 yd FG |
34 |
21 |
| Fourth Quarter |
UTEP | Char |
| UTEP |
TD |
13:46 |
Jadrian Taylor 100 yd fumble return (Gavin Baechle kick) |
41 |
21 |
| Char |
TD |
9:27 |
Victor Tucker 6 yd pass from Chris Reynolds (Antonio Zita kick) |
41 |
28 |
| Char |
TD |
3:11 |
Shadrick Byrd 13 yd run (Antonio Zita kick) |
41 |
35 |
| Team Stats |
| |
UTEP |
Charlotte |
| First downs |
20 |
27 |
| Rushing |
14 |
8 |
| Passing |
6 |
15 |
| Penalty |
0 |
4 |
| 3rd Down Efficiency |
3-11, 27% |
5-11, 45% |
| 4th down efficiency |
3-3, 100% |
2-2, 100% |
| Rushes-Yards |
45-252 |
27-96 |
| Passing Yards |
173 |
346 |
| Return Yards |
42 |
86 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int |
10-14-0 |
22-39-1 |
| Sacks-Yards Lost |
1--4 |
5--40 |
| Punts |
3 |
3 |
| Punts-Average |
46 |
41 |
| Fumbles Lost |
3-1 |
3-2 |
| Penalties - Yards |
10-99 |
8-74 |
| Time of Possession |
33:40 |
26:20 |
| UTEP Passing |
| Player |
Cmp |
Att |
Yds |
TDs |
Int |
| G. Hardison |
10 |
14 |
173 |
3 |
0 |
| UTEP Interceptions |
| Player |
Int |
Yards |
| I. Johnson |
1 |
0 |
| Charlotte Interceptions |
| Player |
Int |
Yards |
| UTEP Punting |
| Player |
Punts |
Yards |
Avg |
| J. Sloan |
3 |
138 |
46.0 |
| Charlotte Punting |
| Player |
Punts |
Yards |
Avg |
| B. Rice |
3 |
123 |
41.0 |
| UTEP Punt Returns |
| Player |
Ret |
Yards |
Average |
| M. Bellon |
2 |
1 |
0.5 |
| Charlotte Punt Returns |
| Player |
Ret |
Yards |
Average |
| G. DuBose |
2 |
11 |
5.5 |
| Charlotte Kick Returns |
| Player |
Ret |
Yards |
Average |
| S. Byrd |
4 |
75 |
18.8 |
| UTEP Missed FG |
| Player |
Length |
| Charlotte Missed FG |
| Player |
Length |
