Texas-El Paso (1-9, 1-5) at Western Kentucky (1-9, 0-6)

6:30 p.m. Saturday

Houchens-Smith Stadium

Bowling Green

Broadcast: BeIN Sports

Radio: 100.7 FM, 1450 AM

Starting lineups

MINERS

OFFENSE

Ht. Wt. Yr.

QUARTERBACK

1 Kai Locksley 6-4 200 Jr.

RUNNING BACK

4 Quardraiz Wadley 6-0 200 Jr.

FULLBACK

45 Trent Thompson 6-2 270 Fr.

Y WIDE RECEIVER

18 David Lucero 6-5 240 Sr.

Z WIDE RECEIVER

10 Warren Redix 5-10 185 Sr.

X WIDE RECEIVER

5 Kenyan Foster 5-9 165 Jr.

A WIDE RECEIVER

2 Terry Juniel 5-10 180 Sr.

LEFT TACKLE

79 Elijah Klein 6-4 300 Fr.

LEFT GUARD

73 Bobby DeHaro 6-4 290 Fr.

CENTER

69 Markos Lujan 6-3 315 Jr.

RIGHT GUARD

61 Ruben Guerra 6-4 310 Jr.

RIGHT TACKLE

72 Jerrod Brooks 6-6 312 Sr.

KICKER

49 Jason Filley 6-0 197 Sr.

DEFENSE

DEFENSIVE ENDS

55 Mike Sota 6-5 280 Sr.

95 Trace Mascorro 6-1 260 So.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

11 Daniel Chukwukelu 6-4 290 Jr.

NOSE TACKLE

99 Chris Richardson 6-3 298 Jr.

WILL LINEBACKER

9 A.J. Hotchkins 6-1 230 Gr.

MIKE LINEBACKER

29 Jamar Smith 5-10 230 Sr.

SAM LINEBACKER

3 Sione Tupou 5-11 230 Fr.

CORNERBACKS

1 Kalon Beverly 6-1 195 Sr.

5 Nik Needham 6-0 203 Sr.

FREE SAFETY

24 Kahani Smith 6-1 190 Sr.

STRONG SAFETY

2 Michael Lewis 6-0 192 Jr.

NICKELBACK

13 Justin Rogers 5-11 195 Jr.

PUNTER

46 Mitchell Crawford 6-0 185 Jr.

HILLTOPPERS

OFFENSE

Ht. Wt. Yr.

QUARTERBACK

10 Steven Duncan 6-4 230 r-So.

RUNNING BACK

25 Joshua Samuel 5-11 205 r-Fr.

-or- 28 Gino Appleberry Jr. 5-9 210 Fr.

WIDE RECEIVERS

16 Quin Jernighan 6-3 210 r-Jr.

11 Lucky Jackson 6-1 185 r-Jr.

7 Jahcour Pearson 5-9 180 r-So.

TIGHT END

42 Kyle Fourtenbary 6-3 240 r-So.

LEFT TACKLE

68 Parker Howell 6-4 290 r-Jr.

-or- 77 Mason Brooks 6-6 280 Fr.

LEFT GUARD

74 Tyler Witt 6-2 300 r-So.

CENTER

67 Seth Joest 6-2 300 r-So.

RIGHT GUARD

61 Jordan Meredith 6-2 285 r-So.

RIGHT TACKLE

63 Miles Pate 6-2 320 r-Jr.

KICKER

39 Alex Rinella 6-1 220 r-Jr.

DEFENSE

DEFENSIVE ENDS

10 DeAngelo Malone 6-4 230 So.

34 Juwuan Jones 6-3 270 r-Fr.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES

90 Jaylon George 6-3 285 r-Jr.

55 Evan Sayner 6-3 300 r-Sr.

LINEBACKERS

25 Masai Whyte 6-0 225 r-Sr.

44 Ben Holt 5-10 220 r-Jr.

NICKELBACK

15 Ta’Corian Darden 5-9 190 r-Jr.

CORNERBACKS

22 DeAndre Farris 5-10 190 r-Sr.

24 Roger Cray 5-10 170 So.

SAFETIES

9 Drell Greene 5-11 200 Sr.

2 Devon Key 6-1 205 r-So.

PUNTER

39 Alex Rinella 6-1 220 r-Jr.

*Starting lineups subject to change

Stat rankings

UTEP

Points per game: 18.9, 125th

Points per game allowed: 31.4, 91st

Yards per carry: 3.62, t-112th

Yards per carry allowed: 5.01, t-103rd

Yards per pass attempt: 6.6, t-100th

Yards per pass attempt allowed: 7.6, t-82nd

Yards per play: 4.84, 121st

Yards per play allowed: 6.08, t-97th

WKU

Points per game: 18.3, 126th

Points per game allowed: 30.3, 85th

Yards per carry: 3.9, 98th

Yards per carry allowed: 4.74, 92nd

Yards per pass attempt: 6.4, t-107th

Yards per pass attempt allowed: 7.3, t-69th

Yards per play: 5.11, t-109th

Yards per play allowed: 5.86, t-81st

Position-by-position breakdown

QUARTERBACK: Western Kentucky coach Mike Sanford named Steven Duncan the Hilltoppers’ starting QB for this contest. Duncan has completed 58.2 percent of his passes for 109.3 yards per game with six touchdowns against five interceptions. UTEP starter Kai Locksley is completing 51.2 percent of his throws for 116.9 ypg with three TDs and six INTs. ADVANTAGE: WKU

RUNNING BACK: Joshua Samuel leads the Hilltoppers this season in rushing yards per game (53.2) and yards per carry (5.4). Last week against Florida Atlantic, Samuel became the first WKU player to rush for 100 yards in a single game under Sanford. Quardraiz Wadley averages 57.4 ypg and 5.5 ypc on the ground for the Miners. UTEP

RECEIVERS: The Toppers will play the rest of this season without WR Jacquez Sloan, who was injured Nov. 2 against Middle Tennessee. His 55 receiving yards per game and 16 yards per catch lead WKU. Jahcour Pearson saw more time in Sloan’s place at FAU, catching three passes but only for minus 2 yards. UTEP receivers average 13 yards per catch compared to 10.8 for Hilltopper pass catchers. UTEP

OFFENSIVE LINE: WKU’s per-game rushing total is up this season from 60.85 last year to 123.8. The Miners average 136.1 yards per game on the ground. The Tops have allowed 26 sacks this year, while UTEP has given up 33, which ranks as eighth-most any FBS team has given up this season. WKU

DEFENSIVE LINE: WKU DE DeAngelo Malone had a career game last week at FAU. He finished with a career-high 11 tackles (five solo), including a sack-fumble in the second quarter. It was his third sack of the season and he now has 4 1/2 in his career. WKU

LINEBACKERS: Hilltopper LB Ben Holt ranks No. 3 among C-USA defenders with 10.4 tackles per game. The Miners’ A.J. Hotchkins ranks No. 2 in C-USA with 10.5 tackles per game and has also tallied four sacks and a forced fumble. UTEP

SECONDARY: WKU nickelback Ta’Corian Darden grabbed his second interception of the season last week and has also posted 63 tackles and nine pass breakups. WKU

SPECIAL TEAMS: WKU’s Ryan Nuss and Alex Rinella are a combined 8-of-15 on field goal attempts this season. They’ve combined to have four FGs and PATs blocked and a FG nearly returned for a touchdown. UTEP

Brad’s pick

Western Kentucky has lost all but one of its 10 games so far this season. But at least earlier in the year, the Hilltoppers were losing games in close fashion – four each by three points, in fact. Each of WKU’s last three defeats have come by at least 19 points. It’s hard to see the Toppers bucking that slide enough to find a win, even against a rebuilding Texas-El Paso program.

UTEP 23, WKU 14

Season record: 7-3