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FACTS & STATS: Site: Sun Bowl Stadium (51,500) -- El Paso, Texas. Television: Local. Home Record: CSU 1-2, UTEP 1-1. Away Record: CSU 2-0, UTEP 2-2. Neutral Record: CSU 0-1, UTEP 0-0. Conference Record: CSU 1-1, UTEP 1-2. Series Record: Colorado State leads, 24-9.

GAME NOTES: Former conference foes from the early days of the Western Athletic Conference, the Colorado State Rams and the Miners of Texas-El Paso get together for a non-league tilt at Sun Bowl Stadium this Saturday in the Lone Star State.

Colorado State, which is now a member of the Mountain West Conference, is trying to shake off a two-game slide and win for just the second time in the last five outings when it takes the field on Saturday night. Last weekend, the Rams were blown out of the water by the newest member of the MWC, Boise State, in an unpleasant 63-13 final at home in Fort Collins. The defeat dropped CSU to 1-1 in league play.

As for the Miners, who presently represent Conference USA but could soon be teaming up with Colorado State and the rest of the Mountain West in a proposed super conference in the near future, they are coming off a 44-7 blowout of the Tulane Green Wave on the road last Saturday. The victory snapped a two-game slide for a UTEP squad that is now an even 3-3 overall, but still just 1-2 in league play. Should the Miners manage to come up with a win over Colorado State, it will mark just the first time the program has managed to log at least three non-conference wins in back-to-back campaigns since 1956-57. Although it must be noted that between 1962-67, the Miners did not have a conference affiliation so that aforementioned stat does not take into consideration those seasons

CSU won the most recent meeting between these two programs, 20-17, back in 1998, which helped provide the Rams with a 24-9 edge in the all-time series.

Like every other team that has clashed with the mighty Broncos over the last decade, Colorado State found out firsthand just how powerful Boise State is on both sides of the ball last Saturday as the Rams scored a season-low 13 points. Pete Thomas completed just 10-of-24 passes for 100 yards, was sacked three times and tossed an interception, so it was up to Crockett Gillmore and Charles Lovett to toss TD passes to Joe Brown (27 yards) and Matt Yemm (20 yards) in order to show that the offense wasn't completely dead. Thomas, who served as a tackling dummy for much of last season and is still taking quite a few hits in 2011, is completing close to 64 percent of his pass attempts for almost 200 ypg, but he has just as many interceptions (six) as he does TDs and that's simply not going to get the job done in the Mountain West these days. In addition to being an accomplished passer after last week's contest, Gillmore also serves as the top receiver for the group with his 24 catches for 256 yards and three TDs in an effort to fill in the gaps left by a running game that accounts for just 113.3 ypg (98th nationally).

While the Colorado State offense was struggling, the defense for the hosts simply spent way too much time on the field and in the spotlight as Kellen Moore and his teammates picked apart the hosts every chance they had. Boise State had one of its most successful running attacks in quite some time with an astonishing 393 yards and five touchdowns, while Moore connected on 26- of-30 passes for another 338 yards and four scores before taking a seat on the bench in the third quarter. Needless to say, there wasn't much for the CSU defense to cheer about. In fact, after being taken apart by the Broncos on the ground, Colorado State now finds itself with the fifth-ranked run defense in the conference, 103rd in the nation this week, with 205.5 ypg allowed. If not for the 10 points allowed to New Mexico in the season opener and a mere 14 points permitted to Northern Colorado a week later, CSU's scoring defense would be near the bottom nationally, but as it stands right now the group is dealing with giving up 31.2 ppg (93rd).

After being tied at 7-7 in the first quarter against Tulane last weekend, the Miners went on a scoring rampage and delivered 37 unanswered points as they crushed the Green Wave in New Orleans. UTEP leaned heavily on the running game which generated 266 yards and three touchdowns, adding another score through the air thanks to Nick Lamaison, although the signal-caller was also sacked twice and had two passes picked off. Through six games this season, the Miners have had five different players attempt a pass, three of those legitimate quarterbacks who have seen considerable time under center, so it's no wonder the team is struggling with consistency against better competition. Lamaison's seven TDs, against five INTs, puts him at the top of the list for overall production, while Leilyon Myers has been a savior on the ground with six touchdowns on just 51 rushing attempts.

Shutting down the Green Wave's offense wasn't hard for the Miners, limiting the home team to barely nine minutes of possession in the second half and 6- of-17 on third down in the meeting, a game which proved to be the last for Tulane head coach Bob Toledo as he tendered his resignation on Tuesday after four-plus seasons at the school. UTEP came up with four interceptions and one blocked kick to keep Tulane from putting up much of a fight in the meeting. Despite so many picks last week, the fact remains that UTEP is hurting in the turnover department right now, averaging minus-1.0 turnovers per contest which has them ranked ninth in the conference and 104th in the nation. As far as applying ample pressure at the line of scrimmage and even further up the field, the Miners have recorded just three sacks in the last three outings after putting up five alone against New Mexico State in the third game of the season. Tackles in the backfield are also a concern right now with the team posting just 4.7 per game, which is tied for 102nd in the nation.

Even though the Miners crushed Tulane the last time out, the Green Wave have been in disarray for quite some time so it isn't easy to get a true read on how well UTEP might perform this time around. The same can be said for the Rams because every team looks awful against Boise State these days, but at least Thomas is getting more comfortable in the pocket for Colorado State and that should count for something.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Colorado State 24, Texas-El Paso 17