EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — UTEP football has hit a lot of low points in its program history. Another low point was reached over the weekend.
In its first home game of the 2024 season, its first home game of the Scotty Walden era, and a game where more than 40,000 fans showed up to the Sun Bowl, UTEP football laid an unexpected, yet expected egg.
UTEP was on the losing end of an FCS over FBS upset when it lost 27-24 in overtime to Southern Utah at the Sun Bowl on Saturday night. It was the fourth FCS over FBS upset of the 2024 college football season.
The loss stung UTEP even more as earlier in game week, Southern Utah’s head coach DeLane Fitzgerald took a shot at UTEP football, El Paso, and Juarez during his coach’s show.
The loss to Southern Utah was punch to the new-looking UTEP football program’s gut.
There was so much build up to the 2024 home opener. Walden and the program did such a great job promoting the program since coach’s arrival to El Paso last December.
But just like that, almost nine months’ worth of momentum and energy the Miners football fan base built up since Walden’s arrival, was gone after that game on Saturday night.
On Monday, Walden opened up his weekly press conference talking about the deflating loss in front of a packed Sun Bowl, keeping the fans’ support, and where the team goes from here.
“It was an unbelievable atmosphere. That was a Power 4 atmosphere all the way, and it just shows what this this place can be, but we got to uphold our end of the bargain and that’s what we didn’t do,” Walden said. “Obviously, for that, we’re going to get back to work and correct the details, but I just want the city of El Paso to know, I know it may be hard to see it, but I believe in this program. I believe in what we’re doing. I believe in our process, and I just ask that [fans] keep believing. Even though there’s going to have to be some blind faith with that, keep believing. We need your support, and we’re going to do everything we can to earn your respect and create a winning program.”
“We know it’s not made overnight, but our plan is to win every single game we play, and we’re going to prepare to win every single game we play. That’s going to be the standard, but at the end of the day, we know that everything we’re doing right now: we are building a program, building our brand and our culture and those things take time,” Walden said. “But at the same time, inexcusable loss, at home. But I am just so appreciative of the atmosphere that was created. It was unbelievable. First class all the way. And keep believing. And we’re going to keep, turning forward.”
It was an ‘inexcusable’ loss like Walden said and then to lose in front of a huge crowd at the Sun Bowl did not help at all.
This is a very new looking UTEP football team. It’s a whole new coaching staff and a majority of the roster is made up of new players, so these struggles were expected as UTEP is in year one of a rebuilding, or “building” phase as Fitzgerald said. The Miners have a long way to go, and this is just the beginning.
The road doesn’t get any easier for UTEP. Up next, the Miners will travel to Lynchburg, Virginia and take on Liberty, the reigning Conference USA champions, on Saturday.
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