It was a tale of two halves of sort, but the Miners offense would never get unhitched, and any hopes of an improbable second half of the season turn around were thwarted Saturday night in the Sun Bowl.
UTEP trailed just 10-7 at halftime, but four straight empty possessions in the second half, and some big second half plays by Old Dominion buried UTEP in a sound 31-21 Monarch win.
Old Dominion got on the board first with an impressive opening drive that chewed up the first six minutes of the game.
One play after converting a fourth-and-one from inside the UTEP 10-yard yard line, ODU quarterback David Washington found Travis Fulgham in the back of the north end zone on a 7-yard TD strike to capitalize on a 12-play, 75 yard drive which took exactly six minutes to open the game.