UTEP Football Loss to Southern Utah Deflates El Paso Community

Last night, Scotty Walden had an opportunity to make an impact on the field that had not been seen since Mike Price. The Miners first-year head football coach was making his Sun Bowl debut against a lesser opponent in FCS. Those are the games that are usually marked as an easy win. However, nothing is ever easy when we are talking about UTEP football.

Southern Utah head coach DeLane Fitzgerald added more fuel to the fire when he put down the city of El Paso, neighboring Juarez, the UTEP football program, and the Miners fan base during his weekly radio show. His comments spread on social media like a wild fire burning out of control, and it ignited a fan base that would never have known or cared about the small football school located in Cedar City, Utah.

Miners fans did not just want a victory over the Thunderbirds. They wanted a total destruction of Southern Utah. After all, nobody can just insult the Borderland and get away with it. Suddenly a game that was seen as a tune-up for Walden's UTEP team became a lot more important. This was not just about winning your first game as Miners head coach. This was about your team defending El Paso, Juarez, and all the fans that had suffered through losing season after losing season all of these years.

We all know what happened, since we have seen this same script play out so many times. UTEP built a 17-6 halftime lead, but the Miners stalled on offense over the final two quarters, while the defense eroded. Southern Utah came all the way back and took a 24-17 lead, but Coach Walden's trick play as time expired tied the score and forced overtime. Then, after holding the Thunderbirds to a field goal, UTEP's offense had multiple opportunities to win the game in OT, only to have Buzz Flabiano's 32-yard goal sail wide left to give Southern Utah the 27-24 win.

In postgame interviews, UTEP players and coaches mentioned that the 2024 season is just underway and there is a lot of college football left to play. That is true, since the Miners still have 10 games to play and all of their Conference USA contests. After taking a closer look at their remaining schedule, the Miners will likely be underdogs in every game they play moving forward. There is not a "winnable" game on their schedule like there was last night against Southern Utah.

The loss to the Thunderbirds is the latest setback for a UTEP football program that has seen their loyal fan base come back to the Sun Bowl time after time only to leave the stadium upset and disgusted with their team. What makes this loss worse than any previous defeats is that the team let down their city, neighboring city, and their fanbase. There are no consequences to Fitzgerald's insults after last night. In fact, his program collected $300,000 to come to El Paso and beat the Miners.

As for Walden, his apologies to city of El Paso and the UTEP fan base will not change the outcome of another terrible loss to a lesser FCS opponent. We have seen it before. The loss to Cal Poly in 2003 that help cost Gary Nord his job. Dana Dimel felt the same thing during his first season when his Miners lost to FCS Northern Arizona. But those two games did not have the kind of pressure that this one had after the derogatory comments made by Southern Utah's head coach. The saddest part of all of it is that DeLane Fitzgerald is right. UTEP has not been relevant in football in nearly 20 years. Based on last night's outcome, they are a long way from changing that script.

From the moment Scotty Walden arrived in the Borderland, his enthusiasm, demeanor, and infectious and likeable personality made it easy to see why he is the right person to help restore the UTEP football program. He overhauled the Miners roster and he added over 40 players from FCS. Many of those were key contributors for his Austin Peay squad that won nine games last season. As a result, some people expected a quick turnaround for the UTEP football team. Last night, the young head coach had a chance to get one of the biggest wins of his coaching career because he was fighting for the community that he just became part of. Instead of a victory and defining early moment for his program, it was another setback that will end up costing UTEP hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue over the course of the season had they won the game. What makes this loss one of the worst in program history is the circumstances that surrounded it. Nobody in college football will take UTEP serious until they start to show that they belong. If there is one silver lining, it is that there is nowhere to go from here but up.