UTEP faces Sam Houston as Miners seeks first win of season in nationally televised game

The UTEP football team begins the October mid-week games portion of the schedule Thursday against Sam Houston in the Sun Bowl , and count Miner coach Scotty Walden as a fan of the prime-time, nationally televised games to come.

Walden has never dealt with this type of schedule before and admits that it will be a learning experience, but he's excited to get started.

"No. 1, I love it because it gets our brand, our program on a national scale," Walden said at his weekly news conference to kick off this short Sam Houston week. "That's what I love the most: We get to be on national television (CBS Sports Network). It gives our kids, our program, our recruits, Texas high school coaches, a chance to get a glimpse of what we're building as we build a championship culture at UTEP.

"They get a chance to see that on national television and what a great opportunity. Conference USA has done a great job of that, it sets us apart and gets all of our team on a national scale. I really like it."

As for how preparation changes, "You have to adapt," Walden said. "It's like anything: You have to modify and adapt. It gets harder when you go Thursday to Wednesday (which UTEP will do in two weeks); you lose a day of preparation. Our kids have handled the change really well so far."

Sam Houston football presents big challenge

One advantage UTEP will have is coming off a bye week, whereas Sam Houston is turning around from a Saturday game where it came back from a significant deficit to upset Texas State.

This is the Bearkats ' second year of FBS football. They lost their first eight games last season, culminating in a last-minute loss to UTEP. Since that loss to the Miners, Sam Houston is 7-2 (4-1 this season), while UTEP is 0-7 (0-4 this year).

Against Texas State, the Bearkats trailed 21-0 and then in the second half 39-21 before they scored the last 19 points of the game to win 40-39.

"They play extremely hard," Walden said of the Bearkats, who are led by quarterback Hunter Watson. "The thing that makes you honest on the defensive side, they run their quarterback a lot. They'll get traditional and go quarterback power at you.

"You look at the Texas State game, that's a phenomenal example of guys trusting their process. They were down big and they didn't freak out and start doing things they don't normally do. They trusted what they were doing. That showed me a lot about how they believe in what they are doing, to stay the course and weather the storm."

UTEP making the move to Cade McConnell at quarterback

The most notable change for the Miners this week is the move to Cade McConnell at quarterback , as he's taking over starting duties from Skyler Locklear. Walden said the transition has been smooth and he's pleased with how McConnell and Locklear have adjusted to new roles.

"I told both of those guys how proud I am, it doesn't feel like a change was made in regard of the way they responded," Walden said. "You're dealing with two mentally tough human beings. Skyler Lockler has every chance to come out to practice and go through the motions, but he's had maybe his best week of practice.

"I've praised Cade when he wasn't the starter, how he prepped. He never wavered. He's a great example; production does not define leadership. It helps it, but it's about your character and your demeanor every day that earns the respect of your team. That's something, McConnell never let his production affect his leadership.

"That's a winning habit. The team has done a great job of understanding."

Scotty Walden wants Miners to relax

Walden has made energy his trademark, and as the Miners look for that elusive first win, he wants his team to channel energy in the proper way. That's the theme this week.

"Edge," Walden said when asked the team's word for this week. "Playing with an edge. Three things I talk about playing with edge: Playing loose, playing free, playing fierce. Those three things are what I want them to play with. Playing loose, I feel at times we've played with a lot of pressure on ourselves and there doesn't need to be. We need to relax.

"Playing free means I am not playing in fear of making mistakes. I know my job so well I can relax and play free, go full speed. In the run game, let those guys come off the ball and play fast.

"Then play fierce. Play with an edge, be competitive. We have a chip on our shoulder from the way we played last time out in the Sun Bowl and it should be that way. We should have a chip on our shoulder from the way we played in Fort Collins. "

The Miners will look to turn that into a win in its first mid-week game of the year against Sam Houston.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP faces Sam Houston as Miners seeks first win of season in nationally televised game