UTEP football stresses importance of home opener win

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – With the departure of former head coach Dana Dimel followed up by the addition of Scotty Walden during the off season, this has caused the makeup of UTEP’s roster to look completely different this season.

With former Miners choosing to hit the transfer portal as a result of this coaching change, in addition to a handful of Walden’s previous players making the move from Austin Peay to the borderland – the team seems to be a melting pot.

Regardless of where they came from or what their background may be, all players now bleed orange and blue as Walden has created an exciting energy surrounding UTEP football no doubt.

After picking up a loss to Nebraska in week one, some returners spoke over the weekend to the team about how important it was to respond with a win. Especially, at the Sun Bowl for the Miners home opener.

“I had never been to El Paso and didn’t know anything about it before coming here in 2022,” said quarterback Cade McConnell. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve learned how special a place El Paso is and that’s why I wanted to stand up in front of the team. We have a lot of new faces in here and a lot of new guys, so I wanted to express to them how special this community is. I call it a community because El Paso is a huge city, but it has a really small town feel. Everybody has that really deep sense of El Paso identity and a part of that is the UTEP miners football team. For us to go out there, put a good product on the field and something that those fans in this city can be proud of is really important.”

UTEP will be looking for a vital win in order to put the team on the right trajectory for the remainder of the season, as well as walk with the victory for the Sun City as a whole.

Kickoff against Southern Utah is set for 7 p.m. Saturday, September 7th.

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