The Oklahoma Sooners kick off the 2026 season at home on Friday night. After a long offseason filled with high expectations in Norman, it's nearly time for the games to begin. OU's opponent in Week 1 is the UTEP Miners, who will be heavy underdogs in the season opener.
UTEP is entering its first season in the Mountain West Conference, after coming over from Conference USA last year. The 2025 season was a rocky one for the Miners, as they went just 2-10. The season's only wins came over UT Martin and Sam Houston.
Head coaches Brent Venables and Scotty Walden will square off in primetime to begin the season, as Walden is entering Year 3 in El Paso. He took the job after three-plus seasons as the head man at Austin Peay, but he's struggled at the FBS
level. Walden's team has gone just 5-19 in his two seasons at the helm.
On offense, the Miners are led by new co-offensive coordinators Lanear Sampson and Joe Pappalardo, with Sampson calling the plays. He'll match wits with Venables' defensive excellence, and try to give OU's coach something he hasn't seen yet. Walden is an offensive-minded head coach, so it's sure that UTEP will be running his offense.
The offense starts with quarterback EJ Colson, an incoming transfer quarterback from Incarnate Word. Colson threw for 15 touchdowns and four interceptions last year, totaling 2,142 yards in the air. UTEP was excited to land him this winter. Colson's top weapons are tight end Judah Ezinwa and wide receiver Jeremiah Nash. The Miners struggled to run the ball last year, and they are going to try and change that in 2026.
On defense, the Miners are led by new defensive coordinator Kyle Beyer, who calls the plays. Kelvin Sigler is the co-defensive coordinator. That duo is matched up against OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who will be looking to get quarterback John Mateer and the rest of the offense off to a great start to 2026.
Linebacker Jayden Wilson is the player to watch on UTEP's defense, as he's a veteran who returned to El Paso this offseason. As the Sooners look to establish the run early and often, they'll need to account for Wilson's presence.
OU special teams coordinator Doug Deakin will go up against UTEP's Payton Pardee, who is the defensive coordinator/tight ends coach for the Miners. Wefense is what Walden calls his special teams; it's meant to emphasize players on offense and defense working together.
Oklahoma and UTEP have met five times on the gridiron, with the Sooners winning all five contests. In 2000, OU kicked off an undefeated national championship season with a 55-14 win over the Miners. In 2002, the Sooners earned a shutout 68-0 victory. The only matchup in El Paso was also the closest, as Oklahoma escaped with a 24-17 win in 2012. Lincoln Riley's first win as a head coach came in a 56-7 decision over UTEP in 2017, and Venables also got his first career victory in 2022 against UTEP, winning 45-13.
In all, this game should be a nice tune-up for the Sooners, as the schedule gets much harder from here on out. Oklahoma will be looking to put this one away early by establishing the run game and suffocating the UTEP offense, and the Sooners hope that plenty of young players and depth pieces get snaps in the season opener.
Kickoff for Oklahoma-UTEP is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Norman on Friday night.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Know Your Foe: Oklahoma vs. UTEP
