UTEP Coach Issues Challenge to Team Ahead of Texas Longhorns Matchup

The Texas Longhorns' Week 3 opponent doesn't plan on just lying down and letting them win.

Nov 23, 2024; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; UTEP Miners football coach Scotty Walden yells during a game between against the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Angelina Alcantar/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images | Angelina Alcantar/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Saturday's matchup between the Texas Longhorns and UTEP Miners is a textbook example of a "buy game," in which a bigger program pays a smaller one to come to town and likely take a lopsided loss (though any college football fan knows that's not always the case).

From the smaller program's players and coaches, however, these games are far more than just a scheduled loss. They also serve as a way to showcase what they can do on a bigger stage, and potentially shock the college football world. Heck, some of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport have come from these types of games.

Sure enough, Miners head coach Scotty Walden is treating this game like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Scotty Walden Prepares to Give Texas Longhorns His Best Shot

Scotty Walden, UTEP head coach, celebrates the first win of the season with his team against FIU at the Sun Bowl on Oct. 16, 2024, in El Paso, Texas. | Omar Ornelas / El Paso Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In his pre-game press conference, Walden shared how special this game is for not just him, but for his players.

"I find a lot of value in it," Walden told reporters, per the El Paso Times. "I'm a Texas guy, from Fort Worth, and to play THE University of Texas means a lot to me and this program. Especially our kids, 70% of our roster is Texas high school football players. To play THE school in the state of Texas, that's really special for these kids, memories they'll create for a lifetime.

"Obviously, that's that side of it. We're going on a business trip, our expectation is to win the game and compete to win the game in everything we do. At the end of the day, that's a really awesome opportunity for our kids to get to do that."

Walden, 35, has actually been to Darrell K Royal before. In 2014, when he was the offensive coordinator at Division III school East Texas Baptist, he and his team had a practice at DKR, and he found himself wondering what it would be like to coach there. More than a decade later, that will finally become a reality.

Unsurprisingly, the Miners are massive underdogs against the Longhorns, but Walden isn't backing down.

"Sometimes it's not about being the better team; you just have to be better than them that day," Walden said. "Out of 365 days in the calendar year, we just have to be better than them on that one day. It may not mean we have the better team or better talent, but what kind of approach do we have? That's my challenge to our guys. I threw up every G5 (mid-major) that's beaten a P4 (power conference team) Monday to the kids. Why not us? Do you think Northern Illinois went to Notre Dame (in 2024) and said, 'We're going to bow down to them?'

"I've said this since the day I got here, that's never going to be our approach. People ask, 'What's your expectation?' My expectation is to win. We're the people in the arena; our expectation is to win the game. There is nothing wrong with having expectations."