As the UTEP football team heads off to No. 19 Michigan's Big House to collect its $1.9 million check, UTEP is taking some comfort in that it has been in a similar situation before — two weeks before, in fact, when the Miners went to Oklahoma and got pounded 51-0.
The hope is that UTEP learned from that experience and can put it to almost immediate use, and also that they can draw motivation from the debacle in Norman. The Miners also head to Michigan with a win under their belt after a 51-10 rout over Texas Southern.
UTEP will draw on Oklahoma experience as it goes to Michigan
"I underestimated how many players who were on that (Oklahoma) travel roster had not played in an environment like that," coach Scott Walden said at his weekly news
conference that kicked off Michigan week. "The guys we commonly talk about have, but there were 78 guys who traveled with us, many hadn't been in that type of environment.
"This time around, while it's the Big House — what a dream come true to get to play and coach in an environment like that — but now they've felt that, they've played in front of 80,000 people, at least you know what that feels like going into it. You're not worried about the external stuff, you can set that aside and play. ...
"There's parts of the OU game we started to settle in. I expect us to settle in faster because we've been in that environment before."
Part of that will be embracing how tough this is going to be. Walden stressed the importance of that.
UTEP seeks big-game redemption
"It's a chance to redeem our performance from OU," he said. "What a challenge this is to prepare us for conference play," Walden said. "You have to look at it that way. I look at the advantages, not the disadvantages. We get to go play a game like this, we get to test where we are. ...
"I was telling them, they're blessed that they get to play FBS football. They are the 1% that get to play FBS football and they get to play in the Big House."
UTEP coach Scotty Walden: 'Focus on winning possessions'
As for what UTEP can do to give itself a chance as a 35-point underdog, Walden stressed honing in on small pictures that add up to the bigger one.
"Don't focus on winning the game, focus on winning possessions," Walden said. "What I mean by winning possessions is there's no wasted possessions. If we get a couple of first downs and we have to punt, we flip the field and we pin them. Let's play winning football. Let's not give them anything, let's take the football back on defense, let's get stops, let's get off the field.
"Just win the possession, then let's play the next possession."
UTEP has unique scouting opportunity against Michigan
One unique aspect of this game is that Michigan is coming off a win against the Miners' Week 1 opponent Oklahoma. Walden said that makes the tape of Michigan-Olahoma more valuable to UTEP.
"We've seen that (Oklahoma) scheme, then we saw them run their schemes against Michigan," Walden said. "We saw what they were thinking, what did work, what didn't work. That's very unique, I don't know if I've ever had that where all three of us played each other."
𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝟐: Luke Laufenberg Hustle Award winners! ⛏️#PicksUp | #WinTheWest pic.twitter.com/O3vNNrz2hh
— UTEP Football (@UTEPFB) September 14, 2026
UTEP names players of the week
The Luke Laufenberg hustle awards to the players of the week against Texas Southern were tailback Tavorus Jones for the offense, defensive back Adarius Hutchinson for the defense and linebacker Justin Lee for special teams.
Hutchinson took over in the second half for starting safety Kode Lowe after Lowe suffered an injury. Lowe was a full go at Tuesday's practice. Jones, a Burges alum, kept a streak going where El Paso has produced a player of the week for both teams. Linebacker Shay Smith was the Laufenberg award winner for special teams against Oklahoma.
Injured Texas Southern player recovering
The scariest moment of UTEP's 51-10 victory over Texas Southern came when Tigers safety Jaquavus Hallman suffered what appeared to be a serious head or neck injury and was taken off the field on a backboard after a 15-minute delay when players from both teams prayed together.
Walden said he didn't want to disclose the exact injury Hallman suffered, but said Hallman is doing well, returned on the flight back to Houston with his team and is on the road to a recovery.
No update on Solo Barnes
UTEP still doesn't have word on if safety Solo Barnes can be added to the roster. Barnes continues to practice with the team but Walden mentioned "pushback" from the NCAA as UTEP tries to get him eligible. Barnes, who exhausted his fourth year of eligibility last year, had a workout with the New Orleans Saints in the spring but didn't sign a contract.
After that, a court ruling that Barnes was part of, gave graduated players a fifth year of eligibility and Barnes is trying to make that reality.
Walden said UTEP will learn more on Barnes "hopefully" soon.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP seeks answers, redemption with Michigan's Big House test
