The "Orange Swarm" defense intercepted four passes, Jevon Jackson rushed for a season-high 148 yards and scored two touchdowns, and Buzz Flabiano connected on a trio of field goals to lead the Miners past FIU 30-21 and give head coach Scotty Walden his first victory at UTEP on Wednesday night.

The Miners (1-6, 1-3 Conference USA) won their first game in almost a year, racking up a season-high 211 rushing yards, including 372 yards of total offense. UTEP's "Blue Blaze" offense scored a season-most 30 points, including 10 in the final frame. UTEP added a season-high 20 first downs, including a campaign-best 13 on the ground.

"It feels good to be a winner, that's all I got to say," Walden said. "I'm so proud of this team and proud of the coaching staff. It's all about our spirit and the Miner spirit never dies. We're going to keep fighting. Our guys behind the scenes – and I know I've been saying it every week like a broken record – they fight, they believe at practice every day. Those reps, culture, practices, those are going to culminate and finally start to catch up with us."

Jackson, who totaled 170 all-purpose yards, scored on a 22-yard reception while his one-yard touchdown rush put the Miners ahead for good 27-21 early in the fourth quarter. It was the first time Jackson scored twice in a game since playing at Austin Peay last season. Flabiano's third field goal, a make from 39 yards, put his squad up nine points (30-21) with 2:30 left in the contest.

"Jevon Jackson was spectacular tonight," Walden said. "I was very proud of this football team."

UTEP's "Orange Swarm" defense stepped up on a night where it played fast and furious. The Miners allowed season-lows in rushing yards (85) and total yards (287) while only yielding 3-of-13 third-down conversions.

The tenacious D intercepted four passes in a single game for the first time since Oct. 15, 2011, at Tulane. The first pick came from Dorian Hopkins on a huge turnover in the red zone. FIU had driven the ball down to the UTEP 12. However, Hopkins, who intercepted his first collegiate pass, returned it 84 yards. The turnover led to a Skyler Locklear three-yard touchdown rush to open the second quarter and give the Miners a 10-7 edge. Lantz Russell intercepted a pass for the second straight game and tallied a team-high nine tackles. He leads the Miners with two picks this season. Amier Boyd-Matthews picked off his first career pass during the fourth quarter, while Dillion Williams also intercepted his first career ball which came late in the fourth to help seal the victory.

"JJ Clark put together an amazing defensive plan. And our defensive players played extremely fast. They jumped on them and got four interceptions – you can't ask for anything more from that. These guys are playing some good football right now," Walden added. "Guys like Lantz Russell and Dillion Williams came in and gave us some significant snaps."

The UTEP offensive line allowed only one sack to add to the success on national television.

"Our offensive line, I just want to give a shoutout to our whole coaching staff," Walden said. "But Ryan Stanchek, our offensive line coach, has been working hard with those guys. We really leaned on them in the fourth quarter. They were coming off the ball great up front."

Flabiano connected on three field goals, tying his career best. He hit three during last season's win at Sam Houston. Flabiano hit makes of 27, 44 and 39 yards. He even made a PAT of 35 yards after a penalty on the two-point try following Jackson's TD to go up 26-21.

Kenny Odom tallied 95 yards on four receptions, including a 62-yard catch that helped set up Flabiano's first field goal to get on the board. Odom now has 530 yards on 23 receptions (23.0 avg.) in his first season with the Orange and Blue.

The Panthers (2-5, 1-2) played three quarterbacks as starting QB Keyone Jenkins left the contest with an apparent injury. Amari Jones was inserted before third QB Haden Carlson took snaps under center. FIU QBs combined for 17-of-28 passing for 202 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. Kejon Owens was held to 36 yards rushing. JoJo Evans racked up a game-high 19 tackles, while Travion Barnes (15) and Elijah Anderson-Taylor (13) also put up double-digit stops.

The Panthers struck first on a Dean Patterson 16-yard touchdown catch from Jenkins. The TD was set up by FIU blocking a punt that was recovered at the UTEP 30.

The Miners responded with a Flabiano 27-yard field goal.

Following Hopkins's interception returned 84 yards to the FIU 10, the Miners took a 10-7 lead on a Locklear three-yard touchdown rush at the 14:29 mark of the second.

FIU took the lead back on a 67-yard, six-play drive that resulted in an Eric Rivers 33-yard touchdown reception to make the count 14-10 with 6:17 left in the half.

UTEP forced an FIU punt, which the Miners started at the FIU 42. Locklear directed the Miners 42 yards on four plays, capped by a Jackson 22-yard touchdown reception. It was the second time this season that Locklear hooked up with Jackson on a touchdown reception.

The Miners took a 17-14 halftime lead into the locker room, their first lead at the half since being up 17-6 at the half versus Southern Utah on Sept. 7.

UTEP extended its lead to 20-14 when Flabiano hit a 44-yard field goal with 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

Russell picked off a pass late in the third when he intercepted a Jones pass at the UTEP 26. However, the Miners gave the ball right back as Locklear threw an interception to Bobby Salla Jr., who returned it 32 yards to the UTEP 8. Owens followed with an eight-yard touchdown rush that gave FIU a 21-20 edge heading into the fourth quarter.

UTEP came right back and snatched the lead back at 27-21. Jackson took a direct snap and used a one-yard plunge to get into the end zone for his second touchdown of the night. The Miners converted a two-point conversion, but a penalty nullified it, and Flabiano used a 35-yard PAT to give his squad a six-point advantage.

Boyd-Matthews INT helped set up Flabiano's third field goal to give UTEP a 30-21 lead with 2:30 left in the game.

UP NEXT
UTEP will conclude the midweek madness when it plays at LA Tech on Tuesday, Oct. 22. The Miners and Bulldogs will kick off at 6 p.m. MDT/7 CT in Ruston and will be televised on CBSSN.