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Arizona Football heads to UTEP

Posted at 7:42 PM, Sep 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-12 23:28:32-04

Arizona Football heads to UTEP this Friday to renew an old conference rivalry with the Miners.

The Wildcats joined the Border Conference in 1931, while UTEP joined in 1935. The two teams then joined the Western Athletic Conference in the 1960's. Today, UTEP is part of Conference USA.

The Wildcats have been led on defense by junior safety Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, who has three interceptions in the team's first two games. 

Arizona is coming off a 19-16 home loss to Houston. UTEP has been blown out by both Oklahoma and Rice to begin the season.

The game at the Sun Bowl is the first of two straight Friday night matchups for Arizona. 

"I think Friday nights are mostly for high school football," said Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez. "But, you have to look at it from a program standpoint. It's an opportunity to be on national TV and you take every opportunity you can when you're in my position. So, I understand it but high schools are playing on TV, too. They're playing some Thursday nights and some Saturday nights and everybody is moving around so TV is dictating a lot of stuff."

The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.