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Head coach Skip Holtz

Opening Statement:
"It's great to win, 50 percent of the teams lost today around the country. I talked earlier this week about this being a dangerous team. I believe they were. We have played here before and they are hard to beat at home. They are 8-2 at home. This game would have taken them out of bowl contention and we knew they had nothing to lose and they were going to throw everything at us. I thought they played hard and they played well. I think coach Kugler and his staff did a great job putting the game plans together and they came out here and executed them. I was really proud of our players. The way they hung in there, the way they competed and they found a way to win. There is a lot of things I would like to have back. Whether it be turnovers, a couple busted assignments and things like that but at the end of the day it was a hard fought football game with two teams in the conference competing their tail off out here. I feel real fortunate to come out with a win. I'm proud of our players, I'm proud of the way they were able to compete and come in here. I'm certainly glad I didn't rest my starters like some people suggested earlier in the week."

"I think they played up, I thought they played very well and they played really hard. They play really well at home. There is a reason why they are 8-2 at home. I think it was a combination of both of them and I certainly don't take anything away from UTEP with the way they came out here and competed. I thought their front four dominated the line of scrimmage on our offensive line. We got backed up a couple of times. We ran two plays that we put in three years ago that we run every single game since we have been here and we have a missed assignment on it. Some of those mistakes we will have to look at what we were thinking and where we were. I credit UTEP. I think they have a heck of a football team, I think they have a really good program. I think they take on the personality of their head coach. They are very physical, hard-nosed and tough and they played that way today."

On how well UTEP defense played:
"A lot of the running game was tough because they had their safeties rolling downhill and basically we were going against a nine-man front, that's when it gets hard to run the ball."

On the effects of the weather:
"The wind was a big factor in this game and certainly made a difference in field position for both sides. It had a tremendous effect on punting the ball."

What positives do you take out of a game like this?
"We talk about how hard it is to win on the road. We have lost three games this year and all of them have been on the road. Week in and week out it is hard to win on a weekly basis. Our players never hung their head. We are very fortunate to get out of here with a win."